Page 124 of Perfect Alpha

“Hey, angel,” Cade says, as he settles on the rickety back porch swing beside me. He’s holding the video monitor that will let us keep an eye and ear on Aidan. “It won’t be long before we aren’t looking into your parents’ backyard every night.”

I laugh. “We’ll still be ten minutes away from them. Hard to escape in a town this size.”

“They’re awesome, though, so I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

It warms my heart how much Cade loves my family. We’ve adopted everyone important to the other person into our own lives. Our relationship is the same in the sense that it’s familiar and secure, but it’s also so much different because we’ve matured.

And now everything about Cade and me together just – fits.

“I still can’t believe I convinced you to live with me,” he continues.

“It’s only because you have a big dick,” I tease. “Oh, and you’re a doctor and shit.”

And one day soon, I’ll be a teacher, which was always my dream. I took a long detour from the path I wanted, but now I’m back on it with more experience and a better sense of who I am and what I want.

“With that deadly combination, it’s no wonder I’ve got you on lock,” Cade says.

I have to believe that things work out how they’re supposed to and that the time apart from Cade wasn’t wasted or it will drive me absolutely crazy.

As much as I hated a lot of my lonely life in New York City, it was necessary for my personal growth. Without it, we wouldn’t be sitting in this moment right now.

I became a strong, independent person who could overcome heartbreak that hurt enough to kill me. And then earned the clarity of mind to choose Cade as my life partner despite his flaws, giving him a second chance to make things right and be the man I need.

I lean into him and rest my head on his beating heart, the rhythm comfortable and familiar. After a day with a toddler, sometimes it’s nice to just soak in the silence and bask in the physical comfort of being close to the person you love most.

Sometimes, I still can’t believe this perfectly ordinary fantasy is really my life. But it’s the hardest won battles that mean the most, and Cade and I are meant to be united.

We always were.

Like I warned Cade, I gave Gemma a long notice period because it’s not easy to find and train new literary agents, especially one who perfectly fits with the team. I’m still flying back to New York, but not nearly as often.

My time in the big city has come to an end.

Even though it never felt like home, that decision was bittersweet, too. The girls at Gemstone were there for me through a lot of hard times and gave me a chance to spread my wings and find my confidence as a woman rather than a lovesick girl.

They are such an important part of my life.

But that’s just it – they’re a part of my life.

The man beside me and the child sleeping upstairsaremy life.

Cade gently disentangles from me and rises from the swing to start preparing the fire pit for our nightly post-Aidan’s-bedtime ritual. When we add more kids to the mix, it will be harder to find “our” time, but it’s so important to me that we carve away moments together.

“I bought chocolate-covered espresso beans,” Cade tells me, as he busies himself arranging the kindling. “They’ll help me make perfect Victory s’mores.”

“You might just convince me to marry you yet.”

He turns to give me a wink over his shoulder that speeds up my heartbeat to dangerous levels. I still don’t know how I got lucky enough to do life with this man, but I’m forever grateful that we found our way back to each other.

The loss of Hannah is still very raw, and it makes me ache that losing my best friend is what crashed my life into Cade’s again.

But that’s the thing about life – no one said it wouldn’t be hard or that it wouldn’t hurt. You just have to make the best of it and find slices of happiness in the chaos.

“If I proposed right now, you wouldn’t even say yes,” Cade grumbles.

“I might.” He starts to drop to a knee, and I squeal. “No! Oh, my God, I’m not even wearing real pants.”

Cade chuckles. “Don’t worry. I’ve got it all figured out.”

---