“My name is Paul Reed, and I’m a friend of Friday’s. Well, she’s my girlfriend. I’m going to marry her if I can ever get her to say yes.”
The line goes silent.
“Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“I was hoping that maybe we could talk.”
“Yes, I think we should,” she replies, and my f**king heart soars.
###
I hang up the phone and swipe a hand down my face. Either I just sealed my fate and made it so that Friday will never marry me, or I made her love me a little more. I won’t know which until tomorrow.
I go back to Hayley’s room and stare down at them for a little longer. They’ve rolled now so that they’re facing one another on their sides, and Hayley’s hand is still tucked in Friday’s. Click!
I bend over and run a hand down Friday’s hair. She stirs, her eyes opening slowly. She blinks up at me and smiles. “We fell asleep?” she whispers.
“Yeah.” I extricate Hayley from Friday’s grasp and slide my daughter under the covers. Hayley could sleep through a tornado as long as it’s still dark outside, and I don’t worry about waking her up at all. Friday leans over and presses her lips to Hayley’s cheek.
“I had fun with her tonight,” she whispers.
I jerk my thumb toward the big house they made. “I see you were busy.”
“We made a fortress for Barbie.”
That word makes me smile. “Did Barbie need a fortress?”
“All girls need a fortress. Barbie doesn’t have a dad, so she needed one more than most.” She shrugs. “Hayley and I discussed all this when she tried to convince me that girls with strong daddies don’t need big walls.” She lays a hand on my chest and looks up at me, blinking those green eyes. She’s so f**king beautiful. “You’ll always protect her heart. And if anything ever happens to you, you have four brothers who will do the same. So Hayley won’t need a fortress.”
I get it. I so get it. “You guys went that deep?”
She nods. “We did. It’s a kick-ass fortress, don’t you think?”
I kiss her forehead. “Badass. Just like you.”
She leans her head on my chest, and I palm the back of her head. “I’m not, though, Paul. I’m afraid every single day. I just hide it well.”
“Do I scare you?”
“Sometimes.”
“How about now?” I ask.
“I’m not afraid right now.” Her voice is so soft I can barely hear it.
I scoop her up, and she wraps her skinny arms around my neck.
“How about now?”
“Nope.” She grins at me.
We walk toward the door. “Light,” I say.
She flips the light off, and I carry her into my room.
“How about now?” I ask.
“No,” she says quietly. I let her legs drop, and she slides slowly down my body. “I want what you want,” she whispers.
I freeze. I take her face in my hands, and she stares up at me, my palms bracketing her cheeks. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
I kiss her. Kissing Friday isn’t like kissing any other woman in the world. She tastes like everything I’ve ever wanted, and I drink her in. She pushes back against me, wrapping her arms around my neck as she puts her tongue in my mouth and tangles it with mine.
“God,” I breathe out, and I have to set her back from me for a second so I can get a breath.
She smirks and pulls her pajama shirt over her head. She’s not wearing a bra, and it makes my mouth water. But before I can touch her, she’s shoving her pajama bottoms down, too. Then she’s naked, and I was right. She’s almost completely shaved down there but not quite.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, her eyes following mine toward her tiny little landing strip.
“You’re just so f**king pretty,” I tell her. “And I love you so f**king much.”
Her gaze drops for a second, and she climbs onto my bed, her round bottom up in the air for a second. I reach forward and slap it, and she squeaks in protest.
“I cannot believe you did that!” she cries, looking affronted.
“Oh, believe it.” I strut over to the bed and shove my jeans down over my hips. Her gaze goes to my dick, and she licks her lips. I came in her mouth this morning, and I want to come inside her this time. “Do I need to get a condom?” I ask.
“You think you’re going to get me more pregnant?” she asks, her lips tilted in a quirky grin that’s a-fucking-dorable.
“No,” I grunt out. “I just didn’t know if you’d be worried about other stuff.”
“I’ve seen your test results and you’ve seen mine,” she reminds me.
We work in a business where plasma sprays into the air, so we have to get tested regularly for everything.
“I haven’t done it without one in a really long time,” I admit. “I might not last for shit.”
She laughs. “Then we’ll have to do it twice.”
Hell yeah. “If you insist.” I chuckle as I climb over her and prop myself up on my elbows on each side of her head. I look down into her face and I know, inherently, in my soul, that I’m going to be with this woman for the rest of my life. I’m going to climb into her bed every day until I die. And when I’m too old to be able to f**k her, I’m going to hold her. And she’s going to hold me. Forever.