Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 104448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 522(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Dev quickly set Lellie down before she launched herself out of his arms. She came trundling toward me on drunken baby legs with her arms outstretched and her dark curls flopping in tangled wisps.
“Babygirl!” I cried, swooping in to grab her and hold her close. She smelled like warm graham crackers and lemon-scented hand wipes. Her chunky little body felt like perfection in my arms, the best feeling in the world.
The best… with one very notable exception.
I glanced at Dev. Hope thundered like rabid mustangs in my chest. “What are you doing here?”
His grin was easy, as if he wasn’t on the verge of losing everything and breaking his heart for good. “This is where my heart is.”
For a split second, I thought he meant his heart was in Texas. It was where he was from, after all, and his parents were still here. But then I realized he hadn’t meant Texas.
He’d meant me.
“Dev,” I whispered.
Lellie struggled to get down, so I leaned over and set her on the ground next to two big empty boxes. She immediately began sliding them around on the hardwood floor. Automatic toddler bait.
“We came to get you, Tully Bowman,” Dev said, moving closer as if he had all the time in the world. I glanced behind him to see Susanna hanging back but grinning from ear to ear.
“You didn’t have to come all this way,” I told him, stepping forward and running my hands up his chest to his shoulders. “I have tickets to Majestic booked first thing tomorrow.”
His eyes lit up. “Yeah? You were coming to visit us?”
I tilted my head toward the half-packed living room and the empty boxes. “Little more than a visit, cowboy.”
Dev leaned in and kissed me slowly. I vaguely noticed Susanna talking to Lellie as she led her to the kitchen to give us some privacy.
“I love you,” I said shyly. I was unsure if he was ready for that, but he needed to know I was all in on building a life together. I already knew he was it for me. I wanted it all. Him. Lellie. Majestic.
Dev’s hands came up to cup my face until he forced me to meet his eyes. “I fell for you the night we met, Tully. But I wasn’t ready for you yet. I am now. I’m ready to tell you how much I love you. How much I need you. And how much I want to share my life with you. Come home with me and help me build a family for Lellie. A family we can be proud of.”
My eyes filled and overflowed as I nodded frantically. I swallowed around a lump in my throat. “She’s your baby, Dev. Biologically. I have proof—”
Dev kissed me to shut me up and then pulled back and grinned. “I know she’s mine, and I don’t need proof. But your lawyers called Susanna an hour ago and told her everything that happened with Orris. They’ve started an investigation into the witness at the clinic. And meanwhile… well, meanwhile, Susanna now has DNA tests from six clinics all over the country that prove Eleanor Kathryn Scott is my daughter.” He paused. “I hope one day very soon, she’ll be yours, too.”
“You want to share your daughter with me?” I whispered, overcome.
“I want to share everything with you, baby,” Dev said. “Jesus Christ, you were willing to give up your dream career for me and Lellie—” He shook his head.
There were a lot of realizations I’d come to that I wanted to share with Dev eventually: that I’d focused on career success because I’d wanted to never feel powerless again, and I’d almost lost myself in the process; that the sense of rightness and peace I felt about my choice made it no sacrifice; that I didn’t feel like I’d given up a dream, I felt like I’d gained one.
But instead, I focused on another truth. “I made the best choice for all of us because that’s what family does.” I grinned up at him. “That’s what our family will do anyway.”
“Yeah, we will,” he agreed. He kissed me, a brief brush of lips that left me wanting more. “Besides, Lellie is already your daughter. She might have her Daddy’s eyes and stubbornness, but she has her Papa’s argumentative streak. You should have heard her babbling at Jo the other night, trying to convince the woman to take her to see the horses even though it was bedtime. Fortunately, only her fathers actually understand her.”
I laughed. We were in for a world of trouble once she actually learned to speak.
And I was so here for it.
“Now, do I have to get Lellie in here to convince you to come home with us?” Dev demanded. “You still haven’t answered me.”
Like there’d ever really been a question.
I threw myself into his arms and held him as tightly as I could. “Yes. Please. I want that. I want that so much. I… Dev, fuck.” My words were strangled and raw. It was impossible to get across just how strongly I felt about him. About us.