“Eric—”
“Kate.” I take her free hand and hold it to my chest. “You don’t need another loose cannon. I know that. I also know that you are the woman for me. I want to share a bed with you. I want to make breakfast with you. I want to run laps around the neighborhood and go pick up yogurt or whatever you yogi types do for fun on the weekends. I don’t deserve you, Kate. I have spent my entire career watching people fuck over the person they were supposed to love. I didn’t want to ever endure that. You’re the first person who gave me hope that maybe it didn’t have to be that way.”
I search her face and see the intoxicating warmth in her eyes and in the corners of her mouth. She’s smiling at me, just a little. It splits my heart in two and I want to kiss her and pretend these last few weeks never happened.
“You have every right to tell me to fuck off. I hope you don’t. I hope you accept my apology and let me spend the next however long making it up to you. I hope you feel the same ache in your chest for me. Geoff tells me that means I’m in love. I never knew what that felt like until I met you, Kate.”
I take her other hand and press them both to my lips. A small gasp slips from her lips and her eyes are damp. I cup her cheek and stare into the eyes that have haunted me for weeks.
“I love you, Kate. I am a stupid man who wanted to run, but I don’t want to run anymore. I just want to love you.”
The elevator behind us dings and slides open. Neither one of us move, but I watch Lily step out, look at us and turn right back into the elevator. It slides closed, leaving us alone again.
“Eric. I want… God, this is so complicated.” Her voice cracks.
“I know it’s not ideal, but we can work around it. I don’t care that you slept with David before mediation. I don’t care that he’s my client. He doesn’t matter. You, Kate. You matter.”
She takes a deep breath and reaches into her bag. I have no idea where she’s going with this until she presses a glossy strip of paper into my hands.
“What is this?” It’s black and white, a bunch of blobs that I don’t understand until I see the words Due Date in the top corner. The fifth of February. My birthday. Everything goes startlingly silent. “What…”
“It’s our baby.” Kate whispers, her voice thick. My entire body feels like someone slammed on the brakes. “I thought it was David’s and it was kind of terrible. Today, they told me the dates were wrong. I’m, um, I’m five weeks along. This whole time, I haven’t slept with anyone but you.”
“I don’t understand.” It’s a stupid thing to say and I know it, but my brain feels heavy and jumbled.
“The night you came over. You told me I was a fever—”
“A fever in my veins.” I look at the pictures and then at Kate. My Kate. My sweet Kate carrying my baby. Our baby. “I needed you so bad I forgot the condom.”
“Surprise.” She whispers and tries to take back the pictures. “Look, I know this is a big deal, but if you don’t want to deal with it, it’s okay. I’ll figure it out.”
Tears pour down her cheeks but I have never felt so much love — that stupid thing I spent most of my life avoiding — before now. I place one hand on her stomach and another on her waist.
“I’m going to be a dad?” I feel something wet around my eyes and I can’t help but smile. “We’re going to be parents? Together?”
She nods and smiles through her tears. I pick her up and spin her around in circles, kissing her neck and cheeks until I finally find her lips. I kiss her with all the emotion I’ve suppressed for weeks.
I kiss her like I love her. I kiss her like we belong together.
I’m finally home.
EPILOGUE
KATE
SIX MONTHS LATER
“Girl, we really outdid ourselves.” Lily all but squeals next to me and claps her hands. “This gala is our best yet. Have you seen the numbers yet? We passed a half million within the first hour. It’s still coming. All these swanky assholes are just dumping their cash into our hands!”
“I saw! It’s our best event ever. You are the best partner I could have ever asked for.” My cheeks hurt from grinning and my back hurts from standing, but nothing can temper the pure elation I feel tonight. Months of planning and scheduling, postponing while my divorce finalized, handling everything last minute — all worth it.
Eric dropped David turned his Google investigation skills against David. He found a mountain of proof that David cheated on me years before he claimed I started the cheating. When presented with the evidence, David agreed to settle quickly for more than I’d even been pursuing him for to save the further expenses of lawyers.
I never did show David the video of Eric and me, but an image of us passionately kissing was plastered all over the internet. I only wish I’d been there to see his face.
Interestingly, and unlike David, neither of us has heard from him since, and he paid Eric’s bill without whining. I guess he finally realized how badly he lost.
“Lily, partner with boobs, anyway. We all know I’m otherwise the best partner.” Eric gives my ass a light squeeze and hands me a glass of water. “For the woman of the hour.”
“One of the women of the hour.” I shoot Lily a wink.
“Definitely the sexiest.”
“I’m huge.” I groan and give my behemoth belly a rub. “Every week she tells me there is only one in there, and every week I
