Page 98 of Love Me

“Fine,” she huffs. “What do we name her then?”

“He’s actually a boy kitten and his name should be Penny, obviously.”

Hannah starts laughing hysterically from behind us and I slowly turn my head in her direction, arching a brow and giving her a devilish grin.

“Oh, it’s actually perfect. Of course his name is Penny. It has to be.”

“So we’re keeping him? He’ll be best friends with me and Garb-Billy.”

Hannah dips down next to where we’re crouched and looks at the tiny ball of fluff in the crook of my arm.

“Yeah, we can keep him. But no more animals after this one. The next one you find we have to place in a new home,we’re not a rescue,” Hannah tells her, but I give her a look that suggests that becoming a rescue isn’t a half-bad idea. We’ve got the space for it. She picks right up on that and stands, walking in the direction of our house.

“Not a chance, Mr. Hayes,” she singsongs.

“I don’t know, Ms. Hayes, I’m kinda digging this idea.”

She turns to face me, her expression a mix of surprise and satisfaction. I walk up to her, Charlie trailing right behind us, dropping my head so that my mouth is right next to her ear.

“Oh, baby. You like that, don’t you, wife?” I whisper, causing a chill to spread through her body. “Do you want to change your name?”

“I never thought I did. I always wanted to stay a Haven because of the shop, but nothing has ever sounded so right before.”

“On that note, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about. Let’s get inside.”

Nerves suddenly plaguing me, we walk into the house, Billy meeting us at the door and wagging his tail, already smelling the little furball we just found. After getting him thoroughly washed and warm, which was not a good fucking time, Charlotte is fast asleep in her new bedroom with Billy, and the new furball is snuggled in a blanket next to the fireplace. Hannah and I sit down on our bed, her pretty hair now dyed a slightly darker shade of lavender floating around her face haphazardly.

“C’mon, let me hear it.”

“I want to adopt Charlie.” Deciding to just go for it.

Hannah’s mouth falls open forming a little “O” as tears fill her eyes.

“Beauty, don’t you dare cry. It kills me.”

“You really mean that? You want to adopt her?”

“I’ve loved that little girl since the moment you told me shewas inside you. I hope I’ve proved to you that I’m not going anywhere and that whether you say yes or no, nothing changes.”

“Yes. Fuck, Liam, yes. How would that even work?”

“I wanted to talk to you first, but I have an attorney ready for me if I got the go-ahead from you. Levi is either going to agree, or I’m taking him to court. A judge will hopefully look at him as a parental abandonment case and grant the stepparent adoption, but I don’t want to leave it up to chance. I’m confident he’ll sign the papers.”

Hanah looks at me with so much love and affection, something I had only allowed myself to dream about. All I’ve ever wanted was for her to love me back, and now that she does? My life’s complete.

“I love you. I couldn’t love you more.”

“I love you, beauty.”

“Now fuck me so we can go watchScream.”

“How about I fuck you with the mask on while you watchScream?”

She pulls away from me, moving her head back far enough so she can read my face and see I’m dead serious. Her eyes are heavily lidded, her red, puffy lips pulled up in a shocked smile. I know she can tell how serious I am, I’ve been thinking about it since that morning at the bakery.

“Tell your husband what you want. Let me make my wife feel good.”

“Yesss, Liam.”

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