Page 79 of Impending Consent

She nodded and stepped around me, sliding a plate in my direction. "I was thinking we could eat outside."

“Yeah that works.”

We took our food out to the back porch and settled in the Adirondack chairs I'd built last summer. The energy between us was relaxed and the vibe felt chill as hell. Being like this with her was easy.

"How was your first day back?" I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich.

"Fine. Busy. Skylar stopped by the office with my niece Skylynn. That kid is always on ten." She smiled before lifting her beer.

"Sounds like her aunt.”

Sailor grinned wider. "Pretty much because she’s beautiful and brilliant. Definitely a mini me."

"I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not?"

“It’s a great thing. The world could use more of what I bring to the table.”

I chuckled and nodded. “You like kids.”

We’d grazed over the conversation a few times but never really did a deep dive. I wanted a family. If she didn’t…

She shrugged. "In small doses. When they're related to me and I can give them back when they get cranky."

"So no real mini-mes in your future plans?"

"Hell no." She said it so damn quickly that it took a minute to catch herself. "I mean, I never thought about it. My career has always been my focus."

I nodded and struggled to keep my expression neutral. "Yeah."

"You want kids?"

"Yeah, I do, and it doesn’t have to be right now, but eventually."

She studied me for a minute. "You’ll be a good dad."

“That’s a compliment from someone who just said hell no to the idea of children."

"I didn't mean it like that. It's just… I’ve never seen myself as a mother. I'm too selfish, too focused on my own goals."

"Being focused doesn't make you selfish. More like self-aware. More people need to be that way instead of having kids they don’t want or for the wrong reasons."

"Most men aren’t that understanding."

"I'm not most men."

“You're definitely not."

“But in all honesty, just as much as I want us to make it beyond this one year, I want kids, with you. Even if that’s not something you’ve considered before, I would like for you to consider it now, with me.”

She frowned and nodded before lifting her beer. “I already have.”

“Then that’s good enough.”

She grinned. “But in order to have kids, you can’t keep holding out on me. Seems like you’re the problem.”

I chuckled and my eyes did a slow crawl over her body. “Trust me, that won’t be a problem.”

When we finished eating, Sailor cleared our plates and took them inside. I headed out into the yard and returned with an armful of firewood.

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