not what I expected her to say.
Based on the fact that part of her motivation in keeping Luna from me was to keep our daughter from the perils that come with this career path, I figured she’d believe the worst. She’d believe I shared a bed with that girl who tagged me on social media in that horribly incriminating photo.
But nothing happened.
She looks like she isn’t wearing a top in the picture, but she was. We were at a club, for God’s sake. She pressed herself against me and was bold enough to try for a kiss as she snapped a selfie of us, so it looks like I’m kissing her. The reality is that I was doing what I could to respectfully push her away. It’s not like I was going to fuck her by the bar, even though the picture makes it look like I wanted to. But I’m a father now. I’m in love with my kid’s mother. I wouldn’t jeopardize that for the world, let alone for a one-night stand.
The fact that she trusts me tells me she’s putting her faith in me.
I think it might be time to reciprocate that. It’s time I start to believe the story I’m telling everyone else, that she kept Luna from me so she could give our little girl a father while I was forced to be on a tour I didn’t even want to go on. In a way, I’m starting to believe that she had a motivation there to protect me, too—to protect me from knowing what I was missing out on. Ignorance is bliss, right? Maybe it was.
It’s as that light dawns on me that I realize something I didn’t even know.
I’ve already forgiven her.
“You do?” I ask.
Her eyes soften. “Of course I do. If you’re telling me nothing happened, then nothing happened.”
I stand and walk around the table between us. I sit on the couch beside her, a little too close. Our thighs touch. “Just for the record, Dani,” I say, my voice low and gritty, “we may have said we’re not ready to make a commitment, but I’m committed. To you, to our daughter, to moving forward once we’re both ready to.”
She glances over at me, and there’s heat in her eyes. “I’m ready,” she says softly. “And I’m committed, too. I know we said we’d wait until my divorce is finalized, but it’s not like I’m going back to him. It’s over. It’s just a legal waiting game now.”
Those are the only words I need to push me into action. I slide a hand around her neck and pull her closer to me. Her lips are inches from mine. “I love you, Dani Watson.”
“I love you too,” she says, and then my mouth crashes to hers.
I dive right in, the urgency between us only exacerbated by the fact that it’s been far too long since my mouth has been on hers. I lean her back on the couch as I take position over her, and I slam my hips against hers as our tongues batter against one another. Her hips shift up to meet mine, and it’s all still there—our rhythm, like our bodies were made for one another. The connection between us that spans back more than a decade compounded with the fact that we’re an actual family now.
Jesus.
I knew I wanted her, but this is something else entirely. This is need and desire and heat, of course, but it’s also love and warmth and family. It’s the future. And it’s all rolled into one carnal connection.
All this from something as simple as a kiss.
Well, and a little humping.
I’m ready to rip her clothes off when the alarm on my phone starts blaring.
Fuckkkkkk.
I slow the kiss then stop as the jarring sound completely interrupts the moment.
But also...thank God for that stupid ass alarm. I was so caught up in the moment with Dani that I definitely would have missed the entire reason I set my alarm in the first place—to remind me that I have a band meeting in a half hour at Tommy’s new place. I set it last night before I went to bed in case I slept in.
I sit up and silence the damn thing. She looks as disappointed as I feel.
“Sorry,” I mutter.
“Band stuff?” she guesses.
I nod. “It’s launch day. We have a band meeting in a half hour, plus we have our rituals, you know?”
“Like what?” she asks, sitting up and settling back against the cushion.
“Well, we