Page 148 of Attached At Heart
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “That’s just, that’s all I wanted for you when I planned it. All I’ve wanted you to have.”
She laughed. “A work-life balance?”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“Thank—”
“Don’t.” I pressed a finger to her lips. “Don’t you even dare.”
Moonlight streamed through the bedroom window, making her eyes glitter. Her lips tempted me, swollen from all the time I’d already spent kissing them tonight. But I knew I shouldn’t interrupt this conversation. Nothing was more important than the thoughts, the words, the worries she had right now. And I didn’t want to do anything to push those down when they were just coming up to see the light.
“Everything will work out, Delaney. If we can’t get your inheritance money, then we’ll find another way. There’s always another way.” I shrugged. “I do have a massively wealthy brother who has been known to make philanthropic donations. Mostly to animal shelters, but I think he might be open to adding a new foundation to his list.”
Delaney laughed but immediately shook her head. “Absolutely not. The last thing I will ever do is become one of those women who dates you and also wants something from your brother.”
“Dates?” I repeated with a scoff. “Baby, we’re married.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“I do. I do know.” I grinned. “And actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you if you’d let me take you out soon.”
“Take me out?”
“On a date.” I brushed my fingers over her lips, tracing them lightly. “I’d really like to take my wife on a date.”
“Okay.” She nipped at my fingertip teasingly. “What dress would my husband like me to wear on our date? The red one from Amsterdam or the black one from graduation?”
Flashes of Delaney stripping that red dress off her body danced through my head, and I had to swallow hard before I could talk.
“Fuck, I have to choose?”
“Yeah.” Her grin was wicked. “You have to choose.”
I pictured the black dress next. Pictured it on Delaney. Then pictured it on the floor for the very first time and sucked in a breath.
“I think maybe I’ll just have to take my wife on two dates, then,” I decided.
“That would work, too.”
“Glad you agree.” My fingers moved to trace her jawline. And then her neck. And her collarbone. I wanted to commit the lines of her body to memory. “And then I can buy her more dresses.”
“And go on more dates?”
“Exactly.” I still hadn’t wrapped my head around the fact that this wasn’t a dream. “It’s like you can read my mind.”
She pursed her lips before correcting, “I think I can finally read your heart.”
Finally.
“You have always been a very talented cardiologist, Dr. Delacroix.”
Delaney shook her head, and when she spoke, her voice was thick.
“Why the hell did it take two cardiologists this long to figure out the way each other’s hearts worked?”
I was speechless for a moment, swallowing regret, pushing it down and refusing to let it sour this moment.
“That sounds like the beginning of a joke,” Delaney added, a shaky laugh following her words. It didn’t sound convincing.
