Page 267 of The Baby Bargain
He nods. "Ariel Ballard, I'm madly in love with you. And I want a life with you." He motions to the crib. "Maybe we did this out of order, but I don't care. I want to be the father of your child. I want us to be a family."
"You do?"
"More than anything."
I blink and a tear catches on my lashes.
Chase brings his hand to my cheek. He catches a tear on his thumb. "Those happy or sad?"
"I love you too." I wrap my arm around him. "And you… you don't think you're going to ruin this?"
"I'm scared. But I'm getting there." He stares back at me.
"How fast?"
"I don't know, princess. But I promise I'll go to you with those fears. If you promise you'll tell me what I need."
I nod. "I will."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." I move closer. "And right now—" I slip my hand under his t-shirt. "I really need you to take off your clothes."
"I'm trying to have a romantic moment."
"All of your clothes." I reach for his waistband. "As quickly as possible."
He chuckles. "Are you ordering me to strip?"
"It's a request." I look up at him. "I'd rather stick with you issuing the orders."
"But naked?"
I nod. "Is that a problem?"
"No, princess." He breaks our touch to pull his t-shirt over his head. "Your wish is my command."
Epilogue
Chase
"You sure it's not too late to switch to all black?" Wes holds out my purple tie. Shakes his headoh, the horror. "This isn't you."
"It's not?" I try to find a teasing tone, but it's impossible. Every part of me is buzzing.
I can't tell if it's nerves, excitement, too much coffee.
Lack of champagne.
Hunter insisted there was no reason to keep the groom's suite dry, but… well, I guess I'm still over-protective.
He tells me it's ridiculous every other day. I actually talk to my brother enough he can tease me every other day.
It took a while to get there. Months of weekly dinners. Me officially joining Inked Love full time. (I'm still managing the shop. I'm good at it and I fucking love it). Hell, that was the turning point. Once I stopped seeing Hunter because I had to and started seeing him because I wanted to, something changed. Shit was easier for both of us.
Don't get me wrong. It was tense for a while. Dinners were quiet. Then they were nonstop debates on comics (with Wes providing plenty of eye-rolls about our terrible taste). Everyone gushing over Charlotte. Everyone teasing about the new shop.
Then, one day, it was easy. We talked about everything and nothing. We teased like we used to. Mentioned Hunter's sobriety like it was the weather or a new pair of jeans. We didn't have wine at dinner. No big deal.
