when his gaze meets mine, unsure what the look in his eyes means, but I do know it makes me feel warm all over. “What?”
“How many kids do you want?”
The question catches me off guard, and my mouth opens and closes before I shake my head. “What?”
“I want at least two more,” he says, and my heart starts to pound. “Do you want more than that?”
“Two is good,” I reply quietly, and he nods while stepping toward me.
“Have I told you how much I fucking love you today?” He cups my cheek once he’s close, and I rest my hands against his chest, needing him to hold me up, because my legs are suddenly feeling weak.
“I love you too.”
“I know you do.” He bends down to kiss me, and when he pulls back, my lashes flutter open. “Every day, I fall a little deeper in love with you, and I imagine that’s gonna keep happening until the day I die.” His thumb sweeps the edge of my jaw. “I got a lot to look forward to, baby, and just a couple of them are making you my wife and putting my babies in you.”
“Tide,” I breathe. Leave it to him to take something I’ve been nervous to bring up with him and just put it out there like it’s not a big deal and make it sound inevitable.
“Don’t worry. This isn’t my proposal.” His hand covers mine and his thumb runs down my ring finger. “I’ll ask you to marry me properly, and not when we’re covered with pumpkin guts.”
“Okay.” I laugh, dropping my forehead to his chest “But you should know that even covered in pumpkin guts, the answer would still be yes.”
“Good to know.” He kisses the top of my head, and I squeeze my eyes shut, pretty sure I might pass out from happiness, something I didn’t even know was possible before him.
Chapter 19
Tide
“IT’S HALLOWEEN!” I hear Olivia shout, and I jolt awake right before the bed bounces, and she lands on my chest, making me grunt. “Did you hear me? It’s Halloween.”
“I heard you.” I smile at my beautiful girl and brush her hair off her cheek. “Good morning, angel.”
“Morning, Daddy.” She touches her nose to mine, something she’s never done before, then she looks to my side where Aria is curled up against me, and whispers, “It’s Halloween Aria.”
“I heard.” I feel Aria’s cheek move against my bicep and know she’s smiling as she reaches out to touch Olivia’s nose with the tip of her finger.
“Aren’t you excited we get to eat candy all day?” She rolls off my chest to her back, which places her between Aria and me, and I move to my side and rest my head in the palm of my hand. Since she was little, she’s loved Halloween more than any of the other holidays. I thought as she got older it would change, but it hasn’t, which is why I’ve given up Christmas Day most years. As much as I love seeing her open gifts Christmas morning, I know she really looks forward to today, eating junk and dressing up with me, and I want her to have that for as long as this time lasts.
“You don’t get to eat candy all day, angel.”
“I kind of do.” She holds up her small hand and ticks off one finger. “You always make me Reese’s chip pancakes on Halloween.” She holds up another finger. “Then we always go to Grandma’s, and she gives me lots of candy when I help her.” She holds up another finger. “And tonight when I get done trick-or-treating, I get to eat all the candy I won.”
“Right,” I mumble, and Aria laughs, then Olivia rolls her way and rests her hand against her cheek, the contact causing Aria’s expression to gentle and my heart to squeeze.
“Can we finish carving our pumpkins before we go to Grandma and Grandpa’s?” Last night, it took forever to get the mess we made cleaned up, so by the time we were done and showered, we headed into town to pick up pizza, then came home to eat it and watch a movie.
“Yes,” Aria says quietly, and Olivia crawls forward to touch their noses together like she did with me, then she pushes up to stand and begins jumping up and down.
“Why don’t you go brush your teeth, and when you’re done, we’ll head down to make breakfast.”
“Okay.” She bounces on to the edge of the bed, lands on her bottom,