Page 130 of War

Aiden: I’m with Lex. Best chat ever.

Ava: Oh, it has a hot tub!

Hannah: None of you couples can get naked in it.

Hall: What about us singles?

Hannah: You wish, Baby Hall.

War: Fine, I’ll stick around.

Hall: You can’t let her talk to me like that, Daddy War. Tell her to be nice.

Fitz: Why am I in thischat again?

Dad: Tyler, I just want to let you know that Xander has been fired. I can never apologize enough for what he did.

Tyler: He almost cost me my child. I’m not sure how you and I move forward from here.

Dad: What he did was unforgivable. I’ll never stop trying to fix our relationship, though. I’ve left Dory. I’m not sure what else I can do.

Tyler: Keep trying. I’m not closing the door on a relationship. We just need time to rebuild.

Dad: Whatever you need.

Beckett: Xander Warren of Warren Financial was arrested on Friday morning after the IRS received an anonymous tip. According to sources, Warren has been defrauding dozens of clients in the largest Ponzi scheme Boston has ever seen.

War: Ava always said you were her favorite Langfield. You’re officially mine. Thank YOU!

Tyler: One more night until I’m backhome with you and the kids.

Ava: Have an awesome game. The kids and I will be wearing our number 7 jerseys while we watch.

Tyler: Picture or it doesn’t count.

Ava:

Tyler: Just saved it to my home screen. Want that blown up in the living room.

Ava: I love you.

Tyler: Love you more.

Ava: Pinky promise?

FIFTY-TWO

AVA

“So this iswhere you disappeared to,” my husband mumbles as he appears behind me. I bite my lip as I take in his strong form in the mirror. I can’t help but appreciate the way his black T-shirt stretches against his muscles. The black lines of the tattoos that cover his toned arms. The flex of his jaw as he catches me ogling him. Those blue eyes that always light a fire inside me, so bright and hopeful in comparison to his menacing form. “See something you like?”

I bite down harder, trying to fight a smile, but it’s no use. “Very much so,” I tease, remembering the words uttered between two strangers who had no idea where that conversation would take them.

It brought us here. To a ballet studio in a house this man purchased for three children he probably couldn’t have imagined raising back then. With me, the woman who works to drive him mad on the regular.

Tyler steps closer, the heat of him at my back, but his eyes never leave mine in the mirror. “You smell like heaven.” Angling lower, he kisses my neck and nuzzles against me in a way that sends shivers cascading through my body. The goose bumps that erupt are visible since my arms are bare. I’m comfortable in my own skin in a way I never was until him.

He snakes a hand down my side and cups my breast, then settles the other on my stomach. “I missed you.”

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