is too much to ignore.
“Ooh, that was nice,” I say teasingly. “What did I do to deserve that?”
“Well, even though we aren’t exactly going out anywhere tonight,” he declares with his hands firmly on my hips. “I thought this could be like our first official date. What a way to spend a New Year’s Eve, don’t you think?”
God, he’s sweet, too sweet for words. I can’t stop myself from beaming from ear to ear. I feel like the cat who has got the cream, like I’m the happiest woman alive.
“Sounds perfect to me. I might even go and dress up nice for it.”
Marc nods and sends me on my way, taking care of Travis while I have a moment to myself to get dressed. Something that I haven’t had at all in the last few years. I feel incredible as I take a shower and I get myself all dressed up nice. I feel a bit like a princess heading out in the night to the ball rather than dinner downstairs. But I would rather be going to the dinner table in this house, than to any fancy ball. Here is where my happy ever after lies. And here is where it will stay unless I do something stupid and mess it all up somehow. I’m determined not to, but I’m scared that I will.
“Not tonight,” I reassure myself happily. “Tonight, is going to be a whole lot of fun.”
And I’m not wrong, it really is so much fun. We all don’t seem to stop laughing all night long. Even as we watch the fireworks on the television, and some out of the window, we can’t stop laughing and having a good time. It feels like the sort of happy, family time that I have always craved.
It makes me think about the future, like really think about the future. I consider this being mine and Travis’s future forever. I know I made a big deal out of letting Marc know that it probably wouldn’t be a long-term situation, but now that we are here, I don’t know if I ever want to go anywhere else ever again. I like it here, it’s the closest place to a real home that I have ever felt. I suppose it helps that I’m living next door to the last home I was actually comfortable in, and this place isn’t too different, so it makes me feel at home, but still, I think the main reason I find this place more comfortable is because of Marc. He makes this feel like my home.
God, how cheesy is that? How ridiculously romantic have I become? It wasn’t that long ago that I wouldn’t let anyone in, I never even had a friend because I was too scared, and now I’m actually considering a happy ever after with this man. He has really climbed under my skin and changed everything in my life.
“Happy New Year,” he tells me softly once midnight has passed. “I’m so happy that you are here.”
“Happy New Year,” I say back to him. “And I am too...”
But I have to take a break from the romance for a moment because it’s time for me to get Travis to bed. He’s been so excited since being in Marc’s home, and he wanted to watch the fireworks, so I haven’t made him go to bed sooner. But now he’s practically falling asleep on the couch. I need to get my boy to bed before he collapses where he is.
“I will be back soon,” I half whisper to Marc. “Then we can pick the date up where we left it off.”
I hope he can see the twinkle in my eye, and he knows where that is going to lead. After the day I have had, I am lighter than air, ready to really have fun with the man that I have claimed as my own.
“Sounds good,” he replies in a voice that lets me know he is feeling the same way as well. “I am looking forward to it.”
A shiver races down my spine as I head up the stairs because I know what is waiting for me. I know my gorgeous man is excited for my return and that we are going to have a whole lot of fun.
This really is going to be the best New Year’s Eve of my life. How the hell did I get so lucky?
19
Marc
January 23rd
I can’t get over how much I enjoy having Aisha and Travis in my house.