Page 80 of Starting Back
I dropped a kiss on her shoulder and wrapped my arms around her waist.
“I missed you so much.”
“I missedyou.” She looped her arm around my neck and tilted her head back to kiss my cheek.
I followed her inside and locked the door behind me.
“Feels a little surreal to have you here. In my house, not my vacation suite.” She came up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist with a gorgeous and relaxed smile that I hadn’t seen since her last night in Florida.
“Feels weird to be here. Weird in a good way.” I rubbed her back. “After all those nights of me wondering where you were and what you were doing.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she whispered into my chest.
“I’m glad you let me in.”
I meant that in every way. From the time she’d kissed me tonight, everything had felt real and familiar between us.
And right—so damn right.
“This is a big house to have all to ourselves.”
She burst out laughing when I waggled my eyebrows.
“Don’t get used to it.” She huffed out a laugh. “I’m never alone. At least not usually. Being with me is being with my girls most of the time.”
“That’s more than fine with me. Why would you think it wouldn’t be?” I squeezed her shoulders until she lifted her head.
“That was part of my hesitation. When we met it was a lot of”—she nodded to the front door—“that. I’m not saying the connection wasn’t real, but things were a lot easier and more fun when it was just me. Now I come with all this.” She let out a sad laugh.
“Why would you think I would consider that a deal-breaker? I want the girls to know me. I think I’m good with Emma already, but with Chloe, I get the feeling I’m going to have to work at it.” I took her face in my hands. “And I’m happy to rise to the challenge. Because I want you—all of you. I thought we had that settled.”
“We did, we do.” Her mouth quirked into a smile. “Being this happy makes me a little nervous. Not used to it.”
“Well, get used to it. I’m not going anywhere.”
She pressed her lips to mine, smiling into the kiss before she backed away. “Take your jacket off, and I’ll give you the tour.”
I shrugged off my jacket and hung it on the rack by the door. Every inch of wall space heading up the stairs was filled with a picture of her and the girls. My eyes landed on a framed photo on an end table. Kristina held a baby wrapped in a pink blanket, and a younger Chloe sat on a man’s lap next to her.
“That is the only photo left in this house of Colin,” Kristina told me when she caught me staring. “And it’s only there because Emma won’t let me take it down because it’s of her original birthday.” She picked it up, gazing at it with a sigh. “Chloe’s tried to move it a few times, and Emma gets upset.” She shrugged and placed it back on the table. “I usually keep it more hidden, but Emma likes to take it and stare at it sometimes.”
She chewed her bottom lip as she studied my face.
“I think Emma likes it so much because her parents in one place and not arguing is a fascinating anomaly to her.”
“Is he still being a dick?”
Rage had run through me the night he’d called her in Florida and after everything she’d confessed to me about how he treated her, all that she didn’t tell friends and family. They’d probably want to kick his ass as much as I did, and I’d have to keep myself in check when we eventually crossed paths.
“He has a girlfriend now, or so I hear. When I came home, I found it easier to ignore him so we don’t fight in front of the girls anymore. Or at least, we haven’t for the past few months. I finally realized that maybe I wasn’t such a shrew and he was just a jerk.” She shrugged. “Although when tonight gets back to him, I bet he’ll have something to say.”
I backed her against the wall and slid my hands down her arms. She shivered against me as I laced our fingers together and pinned her hands above her head.
“Then, he’ll have two of us to deal with if he does. But you aren’t going to worry about him—or anything else.” I slanted my mouth over hers, smiling as she fought against my hands. I kissed her slowly enough to drive us both crazy.
“Let go of my hands so I can touch you.”
I laughed against her lips and dropped her hands. “If this is our only night alone here, we should make the most of it.” I lifted her shirt over her head and threw it behind me.
