Page 62 of Single Mom for the Firemen

I stare at them. In the warmth of the sunshine around us right now, it almost doesn’t look as though they can be real, but I know they are. My guys—these men who have come into my life and made everything better, who have made everything make sense, even when I don’t know if it should.

“But I do,” I finish up, simply. “I do. I love all of you. And I’m so glad I get to be here with you now.”

Those words just hang there between us for a long moment—I guess it’s not exactly where they imagined this conversation would go, but at the same time, how could they not? Killian is the first to reply, a smile that nearly splits his face in two filling his expression.

“I love you too,” he says, taking my hand and pulling it to his lips to plant a kiss against me. “Never thought I would be a one woman kind of guy, but…”

“Shit, neither of us did either,” Mason laughs, as he presses a kiss to my temple. “But you’re very loveable, Vanessa. I should know—I’m in love with you too.”

I lean into him, silently letting him know how much his words mean to me. And then, as Jake looks up at me, I know what he’s going to say before he so much as parts his lips.

“And I love you too,” he says quietly. “I never thought I would let myself close to someone again, not after what—not after what happened with our family. But you and Callie, you came into our lives, and you just…” He shakes his head. “You made everything make sense.”

A lump rises in my throat. I know it’s silly to get tearful, when this is all actually as beautiful as it could be, but I know how much it means for him to say something like that—how much it means for him to tell me that he really does see Callie and me as family. All four of us, we have lost the people close to us, and that’s changed who we are. But it’s made us, at the same time, more understanding, more careful, more suited to each other in the process. I wouldn’t have wished the pain that we’ve struggledthrough on anyone else, but I guess, right now, all that matters is that we’re together.

“I love you guys so much,” I blurt out once more, and I quickly wipe away the tears that are threatening to fall.

“You’re crying?” Mason asks, sounding concerned, and I shake my head and wave my hand.

“No, no, I’m not, not really,” I assure him. “I’m just…I’m just really happy right now. That’s all.”

“Me too,” Killian remarks.

“Me three,” Jake adds. And as I gaze around at my three men, a sense of peace settles over me. Because I know it’s not just the forest that they’ll do everything they can to protect—it’s me too, and my daughter.

“I guess we should be getting some clothes on you,” Mason tells me finally, breaking the spell for a moment.

I pout at him playfully. “You’re saying that I shouldn’t be lying around the forest naked in the middle of the day?”

“I’m telling you that it’s my duty to protect this place from fires,” he replies. “And you are allkindsof a smoke show…”

“Oh my God,” I laugh at his terrible pun, shaking my head. “I don’t know if I can still be attracted to you after that, I’m sorry…”

“I guess I’ll have to find a way to make it up to you,” he murmurs, flashing me a grin as he goes to grab for my clothes. All four of us readjust ourselves until we’re decent enough to start the walk back home, though my legs are still a little shaky from the three consecutive orgasms these guys just gave me.

“Let me take the bags,” Jake insists. “You don’t look like you’re in any fit state to be walking right now.”

“Yeah, and who’s fault is that?” I shoot back.

He chuckles. “You got us there. Come on, let’s get back to the cabin, and you and Killian can get ready to pick up Callie from school…”

I let the guys lead me down the trail once more, and I find myself falling a little behind them as I watch them follow the track back to the cabin.

It’s hard to believe that I really get to call them mine—all three of these men, all in love with me. I’m sure there are some single girls in the city who’d be less than impressed if they knew I was taking up a whole trio of men at once, but honestly, I couldn’t care less. Each of them fulfills something in me I need—each of them gifting me something I know I couldn’t live without.

Killian glances over his shoulder, lifting a hand to shield his eyes to see why I’ve managed to fall so far behind.

“Come on!” he calls to me.

Jake and Mason pause, both of them looking back at me as they wait for me to catch up. And as they all stare at me expectantly, a smile half a mile wide cracks over my face, and I lift my hand.

“Coming!”

EPILOGUE

VANESSA

I double-checkthat I’ve saved the document before I close it, and then, with a triumphant click of the track pad, I shut down the word processor.

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