I Crave You - C.C. Wood Page 0,108

then. Our lives were starting now. He'd made it clear that he wanted a serious relationship. That he wanted to marry me one day.

And I couldn't wait.

"Do I really get to have you forever?" I asked.

He leaned over me. "Only if I can have you too."

We were both smiling when he kissed me.

Epilogue

Several months later...

I parked my car in the garage next to Brody's and dragged myself out of the driver's seat. I tried not to touch my clothes at all. Because they were covered with a sticky green substance that had once been pistachio ice cream.

Originally, I'd planned to just come home for dinner with Brody and Jacks, but the incident-that-would-not-be-named had occurred and now I needed a shower. A really long shower where I would have to wash my hair multiple times to get rid of the remnants of the hot fudge sundae that had somehow ended up on top of my head.

I'd had to call in Sierra because there was no way I could clean myself up at the shop and I wasn't going to walk around the rest of the night with bits of hot fudge and dried, flaking whipped cream on my face and neck.

Then, when my former best friend showed up and saw me, she immediately laughed and took several pictures with her cell phone. I knew that no matter what I threatened her with, those images would end up on the shop's Instagram account. At least Lee would edit them first so I would look my best in my ice cream-covered glory.

Too bad I hadn't thought of that the night she'd had her ice cream mishap with Ben.

I closed my car door and trudged into the house.

A month or so after Brody and I had gotten back together, we'd talked to Jacks and she didn't seem upset by the idea so I'd started sleeping over once a week.

That had slowly morphed into several days per week until I was now basically living with them. I still went home at least once or twice a week to spend time with Sierra, but I rarely spent the night. She'd threatened to move into my room just so I'd stop pretending like I lived there and just move in with Brody. Not that she was any better because she spent most of her nights at Ben's place.

The problem was, I was waiting for an invitation. Brody knew Jacks better than I did and he would have to be the one to make that decision. I told him that when I'd started spending every night with them.

Now, several months later, I was still waiting.

But I would wait years if I had to. He and his daughter had become my entire world. And he made it clear that I was just as important to him as his daughter.

He also made sure I understood that I was allowed to be involved in parenting Jacks, too. Especially when the supervised visits with her mom faltered and finally stopped because Monica was too consumed with her partying and jet-setting lifestyle to spend time with the little girl who loved her.

I didn't want to take Monica's place. I wanted Jacks to have her mother. But I couldn't control Monica, either. She had to make the choice to be involved.

So, I did the best I could to be there for Jacks. I spent time with her. I showed her that I cared about her. I helped her with her homework and tucked her into bed.

And I loved every second of it.

She was also the first thing I saw when I walked out of the mudroom and into the kitchen.

"Hey, Cam!" She had a huge grin on her face and her eyes sparkled. For some reason she was extra happy to see me.

The sight of her smile was enough to make what had been a trying evening a little bit better.

"Daddy and I made you a special dinner," she said.

Brody appeared in the kitchen behind her and stopped short when he took in my appearance. The corners of his mouth turned up for a split second before he controlled it. "What happened to you?" he asked. I could hear the need to laugh vibrating in his voice.

"Pee Wee football league night. Apparently, the teams decided to play the last quarter all over again, with ice cream this time."

Brody snorted but quickly suppressed it. "Please tell me you have video."

I did but there was no way I was going to tell him because he would