“You’ll never know how fucking happy I am that you’re taking this chance with me, Dee. This is a huge step—for all of us—but whatever you need, whenever you need it, I’m here. Okay?”
“I love you.”
“Thank fuck for that. Otherwise sharing a bed for the next fifty years could’ve been rather awkward,” he replies with a smirk.
I tilt my head and scrunch my nose. “Fifty years?”
“Yeah. I figure if I can keep you till I’m ninety, then I might deserve you.”
“Fuck,” I whisper, placing my hands on his chest and leaning on him. “Now I really do want to lock that door. Stop turning me on when I can’t do something about it.”
As we’re about to kiss again, the cross-house yelling match resumes, and Rhodes chuckles against my lips, which might just be right up there with my favorite kisses.
“Flynn and Sophie are here,” Jake calls out.
“Mommy, Dad’s here,” Harvey repeats.
“Coming!”
“You will be,” Rhodes says before giving me a hard and fast kiss.
I giggle and step around him as I walk toward the bedroom door. “And that will have to tide you over until I do.”
“I get you in my bed and in my life. Just knowing that is all I need.”
I stop and look over my shoulder at him. “You say I changed your life, Rhodes Anderson, but while I was doing that, you restarted mine. And I’ll love you forever for that reason alone.” Then I move toward the front door to help my ex-husband and his girlfriend move the last of our stuff into the house my boyfriend and his son lived in with his late wife; the house that Rhodes and I are going to make our own.
Once again I’m stuck with how the most complicated situations on paper can turn out as if they were destiny in reality.
All I know is that I’m happy, my son is happy, and the man who caught my attention with ‘Are you okay?’ almost six months ago will never have a life without happiness again, because that’s what we both deserve.
A few hours later, after Harvey’s new bed has been successfully constructed under the watchful eye of project manager Jake, Rhodes and I walk onto the porch with Flynn and Sophie to see them off. “Thanks for your help today. We really appreciate it,” I say to both of them.
“You’re welcome. And we’re all set for dinner at Delish next week?” Sophie asks.
I nod. “Yes ma’am. Table for six on Thursday, Rhodes’s night off.”
“Awesome. Well, have a good first night together in your new home, and we’ll see you tomorrow.” She turns to Flynn and kisses his cheek. “I’ll just wait for you in the car, babe.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Rhodes follows her and leaves Flynn and I standing on the porch alone.
“So,” he says, facing me, his lips turned up on one side. “This is it, I guess.”
“I don’t know how to feel. Is that weird?”
Flynn chuckles and shakes his head. “Thank god. I was starting to get a complex that this was easy for you.”
“It’s not. It’s . . . different. But it’s good.” I reach out and grab his hand. “It’s the next step.”
“It is. And I’m happy too because I can finally move on and not worry anymore.”
My entire body jerks. “What?”
“Dee, all I’ve been waiting for is for you to find your happy. You’ve got a man who would move heaven and earth to see you smile, and that’s all I ever wanted for you. Knowing you’ve got that . . .” He looks to where Sophie is getting into his car. “. . . I can enjoy my happy too.”
I wrap my arms around him and hug him tight as he does the same to me. “We had a good run, but it’s the right time.”
“Yeah.” He shifts back and presses his lips to my forehead. “And don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily. I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart, and neither are you. We’re still Dee and Flynn. You’re still my best friend. We’ve just expanded our circle. And Harvs is gonna be fine.”
“I know. You might even lose him to Jake at this rate. He idolizes him.”
Flynn grins. “Maybe. But then again, I get a week of non-Jake time in between to win him back.”
I laugh and shake my head. “True. So you’re all set for tomorrow?” As part of our discussion about Harvey and I moving in with Rhodes, we decided that Flynn and Sophie would live in our old house and Harvey would switch between the houses
“Yep. We’ll swing by tomorrow night and pick him up.”
“Awesome.”
“Okay. Time to go. I’ll see you both tomorrow,” Flynn meets Rhodes’s eyes as he steps onto the porch, the two men sharing a look. Flynn holds out his hand to Rhodes. “Good luck with this one,” he says, shooting me a wink.
“Thanks. Something tells me I’m gonna need it.”
Oh my god. It’s like I’m not even here.
Flynn laughs. “Have a good night.”
Then he walks down the path to get into his car.
Rhodes wraps his arm around my shoulders and turns me into his side, dipping his chin and brushing his lips against my temple in that way that makes me melt. “Guess you’re stuck with me now, sweet cheeks.”
I tilt my face to his and smile. “Funny, I can’t imagine ever feeling stuck when I’m with you. Just lucky.”
Rhodes quirks a brow. “You offering to help me get lucky tonight?”
I snort and brush my lips against his. “Let’s go get the boys, and we can talk more about how lucky you’re gonna get once we’re home from dinner.”
Rhodes’s eyes flash and suddenly my back is against the house and his body is pressed hard against mine. “Say it again.”
“Lucky?” I whisper, earning a growl.
“Not that.”
“Home . . .”
“Love hearing that from your lips. Home. Mine. Yours. The boys. Ours.”
To stop him being so damn sweet I might jump him, I kiss him instead, which is exactly
