anything,” I argued.
“I know—because it’s not going to happen.” He blew out a long exhale and rested his chin on my shoulder. “I love you. I want a future with you. I want a family and maybe even a fucking dog. But, most of all, I want a bedroom where there isn’t a ghost sitting in the corner. So get some sleep and hopefully some separation. Hadley will always be a part of our lives, but not here. Not in this bed. Not when I’m inside you. And especially not when I’m making love to you for the first time knowing you are my Willow.”
God. This man.
My chest ached. “What if she’s always here?”
“She won’t be.”
“But Rosalee—”
He shifted closer, sliding an arm under my head so we were touching at every possible point, head to foot. “She’s not in here, either. When that door closes, Willow, it’s me and you. Only ever me and you. And that’s not because of Hadley. If by some miracle we have kids sometime down the road, they won’t be in here, either.”
I screwed my eyes shut. “Caven, I can’t…”
He kissed my shoulder. “There are other ways, Willow. You’re twenty-seven and the world changes more every day. You said you have one ovary left. I looked it up. There are fertility treatments and surrogacy. Adoption. Foster care. The options to start a family are endless. Though I’m not suggesting we start trying any time soon. I’d kind of like to have sex with you more than once first. Maybe take you out on a date that doesn’t involve zebras giving birth and quesadillas hidden under the couch.”
I let out a choked laugh. “I’d like that too.”
“What part? Sex, kids, or quesadillas?”
“I don’t know. Maybe all three.”
“Okay. Then go to sleep. Get some distance from the things we talked about tonight, and we can start working on some of those hopefully sooner rather than later.”
I smiled and snuggled in, tangling my legs with his.
My heart was overflowing.
He loved me.
He wanted a future with me—a family even.
And a life that didn’t involve the ghosts of our past.
And God, I wanted all of that more than I wanted my next breath.
He rolled to the side, hitting something on his nightstand and plunging the room into darkness. Then, when he came back to me, he reached over with his cell phone in his hand. On the screen was a live video of Rosalee, fast asleep in her bed, a unicorn stuffed animal tucked to her chest.
Smiling, I took the phone from his hand to get a better look at her. “Wow, you are such a creeper.”
“I’m her father. It’s my job to creep. Just wait until she’s a teenager.”
I put my chin to my shoulder to catch his gaze. “Are you going to be the dad hiding in the bushes when she goes on her first date?”
“Nope.” He plucked the phone away and gave it one last glance before setting it aside. He used his arm around my hips to drag me deeper into his curve. Caven clearly took his job as the big spoon very seriously.
I intertwined our fingers. “And is that because she’s never going on a date?”
“You got it.”
I giggled until he inched our joined hands down to my scar. It didn’t quite line up with his given our height difference at the time. But it was a solid line, a thread that connected us in ways that could never be altered.
Our relationship was born in a tragedy, but I had faith we could flourish in the fortune of the seconds on the other side.
The baggage we both carried was daunting. And it was the permanent kind that wasn’t going to disappear into nothingness. But maybe it would fade. With time. With happiness. When the good times we’d create together finally outweighed the bad. We were going to have to fight for every moment of peace from now until eternity. But there was no one in the world I would rather have on my side.
Life was crazy and confusing, filled with twists and turns, change and the unexpected being the only constant. Though, in that second, that one second with his arms wound around me, linking us as one rather than two individuals, life finally felt beautiful again.
“Hey, Caven,” I whispered.
“Right here, babe.”
“She’s asleep. Does that mean we can finish our date now?”
He chuckled. “No. Go to sleep, Willow.”
I waited a few seconds and pressed my ass into him. “What about now?”
“Sleep,” he grumbled, but the