Page 144 of Hidden Memories

I stay quiet, letting her say it all. Letting her feel it.

“But you don’t make me prove anything. You don’t make me fight for it.” Her smile is pure light. “You just love me.”

I cup the base of her skull, pulling her closer. “I always have, and always will.”

“I will always be yours, too.”

Her words mean everything to me. The weight of them settles deep in my bones. “No more waiting. No more walls. No more ‘someday.’”

Her lips brush mine. “Then let’s stop talking.”

I groan, picking her up by her asscheeks and heading to the bed.

I throw her down and crawl on top of her. “Now where were we…”

Then the front door slams and boyish voices echo below.

I groan, dropping my forehead onto hers. “Damn it.”

Kat bites her lip, trying and failing to suppress a laugh. “Next time,I’mwriting the treasure hunt clues. Your dad made it too easy.”

“Yeah, remind me to have a talk with him about that.”

Reluctantly, we peel ourselves from the bed, piecing together our clothes, spraying on too much deodorant, andrunning damp fingers through our hair to look somewhat presentable. I bump into Kat when she has one foot off the floor trying to slip into her jeans. She giggles, tilting her chin up to toss me a fake glare.

God, she’s beautiful. That soft, post-love haze clinging to her, hair messy, cheeks still flushed.

Then her phone buzzes.

She grabs it from the nightstand, scanning the screen. A slow, knowing grin spreads across her face. “Ava,” she whispers. “She is something else…”

“What is it?” I lean over, curiosity creeping in.

Kat shoves the cell against her chest, grinning. “For me to know and you to find out.”

“Oh, we’re playing this game?” I chase her around the bedroom until I finally catch her, throwing her onto the bed, my body on top of hers again, my cock already stirring in my unzipped jeans. I slide my hand up her bare arm to the wrist where she grips her phone.

“Is it a secret?” I ask.

She’s still light but more serious now. “I have no secrets from you.”

She releases the phone, and I take it.

Ava

Santi might want to check his email. I tried him, but he didn’t answer.

“Shit. My phone’s downstairs…”

I rush to my desk, lifting my laptop open and fumbling for my email, scanning for whatever Ava is talking about. And then—there it is.

A message from the foster agency.Approved.

I don’t breathe. I just stare, rereading the words over and over. My fingers hover over the keyboard, shakingin a way they never have before, and the joy crashes in, nearly bringing tears to my eyes.

Kat sits on my lap and kisses my head. “Santi?”

I turn the laptop toward her. “Ava must have done something…”

---