My Best Friend's Dad - Flora Ferrari Page 0,48

becoming each other’s air, all we’ll ever need.

Then I grab his shoulders and break off the kiss, shooting him a sassy look.

Nerves don’t invade.

Anxiety has no say here.

Because I’m finally ready to admit that I’m a sexual, sexy person.

And I won’t let my self-consciousness tell me otherwise.

“You’re wrong about one thing, Flame,” I fire.

“Oh, and what’s that?” he says.

“Now it’s my turn to show you what being my man means.”

He swallows. “Jesus, Sadie, I didn’t think it was possible to be more attracted to you.”

I guide him into the bedroom, my soul soaring, my heart content.

Epilogue

Three Weeks Later

Saul

I guide the car around the track, an ear-to-ear grin on my face as I take the corners, remembering the night I brought Sadie down here and our lives changed forever.

I can’t help but let my mind drift over these past few weeks, the way we’ve sunk into bed together every night, exploring each other with hands and teeth and tongues that will never tire of it.

But it’s not just the sexual, I reflect as the car gives a satisfying thrum. It’s the long walks the four of us have taken together, too, Jasper, Fiona, Sadie, and me walking through the forest in our thick winter boots as the world throws more snowflakes down on us. Sometimes Jasper and I will walk behind, and I’ll watch my daughter and my woman talk animatedly together, about a million words per minute it seems at times.

“Can you believe it boy?” I’ll say. “I’m the luckiest man alive.”

I think back to this morning as I begin my tenth lap, pushing the speed now, my reflexes primed and honed at the prospect of being Sadie’s husband.

It’s as though life has taken on a starker, brighter quality, every moment amplified in a way it never was before.

I feel like I want to live more than I ever have before, as though being in love with her is slowing down time, turning each day into a saga.

It makes sense. You fell in love with her in a minute.

That’s the goddamned truth.

People who say, love, at first sight, doesn’t exist don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.

This morning, when she turned to me, her eyes brightened with emotion.

“I’m just going into town,” she murmured. “And then I think – well, maybe – we might have to talk.”

It was the tone she used when she said it, half-hopeful, as though she was—

“Jesus Christ,” I roar when she comes running into the track.

I quickly bring the car to a stop, leaping out and shaking my head at her. She stands in the center of the track with something gripped in her hand, her chest rising and falling frantically, still dressed in her winter gear. A heavy jacket and pants and boots, her hair bundled atop her head, and yet none of it does a damn thing to hide that smoking body beneath.

Her cheeks are flushed as she walks toward me.

“I love you too much for you to take risks like that, Sparkplug,” I say.

“Sorry,” she pants. “I just had to tell you. Right away.”

My heart begins to pound in victory, my mouth going dry, my world spiraling, and awakening into a new beginning.

“Please tell me this is what I think it is,” I whisper, placing my hands on her shoulders and looking into the deep wells of her eyes.

She opens her hand to reveal the pregnancy tests … four of them in a bunch, and each of them positive.

“Oh, God, yes,” I roar, stepping back and punching the air. “Yes, yes, yes.”

I grab Sadie and spin her around, catching her in my arms and kissing her deeply.

“I knew it,” I declare. “You’ve smelled different lately.”

“You are so wonderfully weird, Flame,” she thrills, letting the tears slide down her cheeks. “You’re going to make an amazing father.”

“If I can be half the parent you’re going to be, I’ll count myself a goddamn expert,” I say, leaning down and claiming her lips with mine.

Like I always will.

Every day for the rest of our lives.

Extended Epilogue

One Year Later

Sadie

I can’t help but smile with heavenly contentment as I watch Aaron cradle, Lacey, to his chest, grinning over her head at me, his eyes widening as though in amazement. He came back from overseas last month, but he still looks downright stunned every time he cradles his niece.

“She’s got Mom’s eyes,” he mutters for about the hundredth time.

Not that I resent him for it.

I could hear that exact same sentence a million times and never tire