Page 142 of From Us, Forever

“Daddy, when do I get to kiss the prince?”

I stifled a laugh as I watched Jay stiffen. He looked ridiculous like a large, looming monster in her frilly poster bed.

“You will do no such thing, princess,” he firmed.

“But, Daddy, I want to kiss Aaron. He’s my prince charming; I know it.”

Jay cursed under his breath, and I knew he was trying so hard to keep his cool. “Remember, boys are bad, and my princess is better than that, and that little brat doesn’t deserve you.”

Aaron was Katy’s eldest, who was as broody and as mysterious as his dad. My little princess took one glance at him and decided that he was her prince. And that didn’t sit well with her daddy, at all. And now he was mortal enemies with an eight-year-old who didn’t even spare a glance at my daughter.

I watched as Jay whispered something in her ear that made her giggle, and before he could read her another story, she dozed off. A warm look crossed his eyes, and he tucked her in, kissing her forehead before checking in on Jasmine, making sure she was doing okay.

At the end of the day, he walked toward me with the same smile he had all those years. He kept his promise. Every single moment of our life, he loved me unconditionally, and I never once doubted him.

He softly shut our daughter’s bedroom door and leaned toward me. “I swear I love our children, but I think they willbe the death of me,” he groaned, gathering me in his arms, and I melted like a puddle under his touch.

“I think it’s just the one who gives you trouble.” My chin dug into his chest as I tilted to meet his eyes. “You spoil her too much.”

“I know.” He sighed, his gaze softening. “But can you blame me? That kid got her mommy’s eyes, and can I ever say no to that?”

I laughed. “But you do when she wants Aaron.”

He stiffened, glaring at me. “And she’ll never have Lan’s psychopathic spawn. Don’t you dare encourage that. My girl is not dating anyone till she is twenty-five or more, maybe thirty. But no man deserves my girls, so they can stay with me for life.”

I laughed harder, pinching his side. “Only if they knew all the dirty things their daddy used to do to me when I was sixteen. And our girls will fall in love. Don’t you want them to experience the most beautiful feeling in the world? Their mom did with the best man in the world.” I raised to my tiptoes, kissing his nose.

“Exactly.” His grip tightened around me. “Not every man can be their father,” he whispered against my lips.

I had to agree that was true. I was lucky. There was no one as devoted as my man on planet Earth. “Fine.” I kissed his lips, and just then, an angry kick fluttered through my stomach, and my eyes widened.

“Is that little strawberry?” he asked, his eyes round.

We decided not to find out the gender of this baby, so we called him/her little strawberry in the meantime.

“Yes,” I mumbled as I smoothed his hand over my belly, his palms splayed over, and the light caught the thin gold band around his finger. It was the only one I could afford back in the day, and after I had made a substantial amount of money, I wanted to get him a better one. But he outright rejected that idea, saying the ring meant a lot to him and he wasn’t trading it. He was very partial to the, ‘Your sweetheart, forever, Evelyn’ that I had engraved inside the ring.

“God.” His eyes looked up at me in wonderment as he felt little strawberry kick again. “I could never get used to that.”

“Me too.” I broke into a yawn. “Let’s go to bed.”

He laced his fingers with mine, and we walked to the end of the hall toward our room.

And it wasn’t long before we both ended up naked under the sheets, with me writhing and moaning under him. Sex during pregnancy required a little maneuvering, but my man took care of that. Although it was hard to find the time these days with five running children, we ended up naked almost every night with the same spirit as we were in our twenties.

The attraction and flame never died between us. Even after I gained weight and was riddled with stretch marks, Jay looked at me like I was the most desirable human on the planet.

He told me my pregnancies only made me more sexier, and he found it irresistible that my body changed because I gave birth to his children.

“You’re so beautiful.” He dragged his nose along the length of my neck. “And you smell incredible.”

I giggled, feeling his stubble brush along my skin, and another yawn escaped my lips. I stretched out on my back andgroaned as the cloudy mattress smoothed over the small of my back.

Jay lay on his front beside me, watching me with a frown. “Is it your back?”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “Little Strawberry is curving my spine at an angle that my body can’t handle, and I’m old.”

“No, you aren’t.” He kissed my shoulder. “I was thinking of a seventh?” He wiggled his brow suggestively.

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