sleep shirt is stained.
Scrunching up the spot, my laugh is a little foolish. “I… er… I spilled my Milo last night.”
He steps closer. “Cute.”
I step back. “It’s not cute. It’s piggy.”
He steps closer again, a predatory glint in his eyes. “Cute piggy.”
“Wait!” I hold up my hand. “We need to talk first.”
Will wraps his fingers around mine and brings my wrist to his lips, his eyes still alight with mischief and lust as he presses a kiss to my skin.
My knees wobble.
My eyelids close.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” he whispers.
My eyes snap open again, and I snatch my hand back and place it on my hip. “Oh, yes, there is! I need you to take this seriously.”
“I am.”
“No, you’re not.” I point at him. “You have sex eyes. Nothing is serious with you when you have sex eyes.”
Will chuckles and waggles his damn sex eyes.
Growling, I turn on my heel and head back to the kitchen. “Coffee?”
I don’t wait for his answer; he’s having one whether he likes it or not.
Grabbing the coffee and sugar cannisters, I lift an eyebrow when he stops in the doorway and speaks.
“I am taking this seriously, Elizabeth.”
“Just because you used my full name does not mean you’re taking this seriously.” I open the cupboard, pull out a coffee mug, and slam it on the benchtop. “I won’t have kids, Will. Ever.”
“I know.”
“And I might get cancer again.”
He pushes off the doorframe, moves to where I’m standing, and takes my hands in his, his voice calm. “I know.”
“My life isn’t simple. It’s an ugly time bomb that might explode or simply tick forever. I don’t have a choice in this, but you do.”
“I know.”
Tears prick my eyes. “Stop saying that.”
“What else do you want me to say?”
“I… I don’t know… that it scares you as much as it scares me.” A tear spills from my eye onto my cheek.
Will reaches up and wipes it away. “But it doesn’t.”
“Well, it should.”
“Why? Because all men and women should want kids and live the perfect, cosy life?”
“Yes!”
“Believe it or not, not everyone wants that.” He trails his fingertips along my hairline then tucks a tendril behind my ear. “It’s boring.”
I scoff. “That’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid. I don’t want boring; I never have. I want fun, excitement, the unknown. I want a challenge, not what everyone else wants or has. I want the good times and the hard times. I want you.”
“But why?” I sob. “Why do you want me?”
“Because you’re hot as fuck.”
I shove him. “I’m serious!”
He grabs for me again. “I know! I’m sorry. I know.”
We stare each other down before he says, voice calm, “Because you’re serious when I’m not. Because you’re short and I’m tall. Because I make you smile when you don’t want to smile. Because you’re fierce and see the world for what it is. Because you’re smart, funny, beautiful, kind, and fucking annoying. Because you’re you, sweetheart. That’s why I want you. That’s why I choose you.”
“But you shouldn’t have to choose.” I close my eyes, inhaling deep before slowly breathing out. “I’ll be the reason you’re not a father, and one day, you’ll resent me for it. You’ll regret this choice you were forced to make, and I can’t…. I just don’t think I can live with that.”
“You’re not forcing me to make this choice. It was made long before you came along.”
I close my eyes, praying he’s telling me the truth. “So this is why you never settled down, because you told every woman you dated you didn’t want children?”
“Yes, and no.”
“No?”
He smirks. “None of them were you.”
I can’t help the smile that lights my eyes. “Are you sure?”
“There’s no question here.”
“We’ll never have the fairy tale we deserve.”
Will shakes his head and smiles. “You don’t get it, do you? We can make our own fairy tale, together.”
“But—”
“No buts. You get me, and I get you. We fit. Sometimes it’s a squash—” He looks himself over then gives me a sheepish grin. “—but we fit. Like a pipe to an elbow joint.”
I blink. “A what?”
Sliding his fingers under my arms, he hoists me onto the benchtop and settles between my legs, his hands on my thighs. “Not all pieces that connect are the same.” He tips my chin up. “You’re one piece, and I’m the other.” Leaning forward, he softly pecks my lips. “We’re not the same, but we connect.”
I’m about to tell him he’s the sweetest man I’ve ever known, when he lifts his hand and makes a circle