Page 119 of Playboy

“How do you do it?” She sighs.

I press another kiss to her wrist, then loop her arm around my neck and rest my hands on the globes of her ass. “Do what?”

“Make everything better.”

My heart stumbles, and a wave of confidence washes over me. “Because I love you. If I can make it better, I will. Anything. So what can I do to make this better? Want to go shopping for new furniture? Make this place feel more likeourapartment?”

Head tilted, she giggles. “You trying to move in with me, Playboy?”

“I’m not sleeping anywhere else when my girl and my baby are here, so we can play this game where we don’t call it what it is and I’ll pretend that I’m just visiting, or…”

She arches a brow. “Or?”

In one quick move, I flip her so she’s on her back and I’m hovering over her. “Or we can do it the fun way. I get rid of my apartment. We stop living life with one foot out the door, and we admit that we’re doing this. You and me and eventually our little guy…” The last word sticks on my tongue. I’m ready, but is she? Either way, I swallow and push it out. “Forever.”

“That didn’t sound like a question,” she whispers, studying every inch of my face.

“It wasn’t. I’m telling you what I want. A question implies that I’m unsure.I’m not.I’m sure about us, Hannah. I’m sure that in fifty years, I’ll be coming home to you. Whether this is my home or not,you are.”

Her lips lift in the most magnificent smile. “Okay. Let’s go shopping tomorrow.”

Pushing my luck, I add, “Come with me to Vegas for the game next weekend. I know you can’t travel with me all the time, but we can fly out a day early and stay an extra night.”

Lips parted, Hannah blinks at me. “You think the team will let you?”

I nod and swallow down my nerves. This wasn’t the reason I planned to go a day early, but now I can kill two birds with one stone. “Already cleared it with Gavin. So what do you say? Want to come to Vegas with me?”

Hannah throws her arms around my neck. Based on the kiss she gives me, I’m pretty sure that’s a yes.

CALLIOPE’S COLUMN

November

The Greeks Really Did Know Best

This should come as no surprise, but Calliope isn’t my real name.

Don’t get too excited. I don’t have any intention of stepping out from behind the pseudonym. I prefer the anonymity. It gives me the freedom to say exactly what I want without censoring myself.

However, I want to share the reason why I chose the name Calliope. I thought I was creative, if I’m being honest. Maybe it’s the writer in me, but I wanted to use the name of a Greek goddess, because hello, if you don’t believe yourself worthy of goddess status, what are you doing with your life? And Calliope is the perfect goddess to represent me. Or at least the me I show the world.

Unlike the other goddesses, she wasn’t a virgin. She was divorced. Like me.

Though the true reason I went with the name is because she is the goddess of the arts and the chief muse.

I truly believed that my only partner in life would be writing. That nothing and no one could compare to the words I dream up.

That books would be my first and only love. That I didn’t need a man or a love story of my own.

Oh, how foolish I was.

Because of course a woman who writes about epic loves truly craves one for herself. I was just too scared to admit it.

And then I fell in love with my greatest muse. The man who will likely be the inspiration for many columns going forward. The man who is about to give me the best love story of all as we prepare to become parents.

This column may look a little different going forward. Or maybe it won’t, because who says moms can’t have epic sex lives?

FORTY

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