Page 66 of Under My Skin

Even after everything, all the pain and heartache and confusion of the past week, she still loved me. She still wanted this. Wantedus.

With a smile that was like I’d just won the lottery – because Ihad– I claimed Dani’s lips again, immediately licking at the seam of her lips and begging for entrance. She all-too-willingly opened for me, letting me deepen the kiss, and I just drank down her quiet whimpers and moans like a starving man at a banquet, lost to the passion and emotion that swirled around us, so thick that I almost felt like I could reach out and touch it.

Even though I had her pulled flush against me, it still felt like we were miles apart. Because all I wanted to do was erase every millimeter of space, every barrier between us and show herexactlyhow I felt about her. Take my time worshiping every inch of her and making her come undone over and over again until she just couldn’t handle it anymore.

And then Isaac started to fuss, making us break apart, panting for breath.

“Um…I’m not done with dinner yet. Do you want to give him his bottle while I finish cooking?” Dani murmured.

“Abso-fucking-lutely,” I said with a grin.

She leaned up to peck my lips one more time, then disappeared down the hallway and returned with a burp rag.

“Do you know how to burp him after he’s done eating?”

I nodded. “Cousin’s kids, remember?”

Walking over to the baby swing, I unstrapped my grumpy son and lifted him into my arms. As I looked down at his chubby little cheeks and into those brown eyes, I wondered how I could have been so blind. How I hadn’t seen the similarities right away. Because this kid was my spitting image.

“Hola, little man,” I said softly, then looked up at Dani. “I took ASL in high school. How do you say ‘I’m your dad’ in Spanish?”

She chuckled and smiled. “‘Soy tu papá.’”

“Soy tu papá,” I told him. “And I swear to God, I’m going to do my best to make sure you don’t turn out anything like me.”

Dani walked over to me, wrapping an arm around my waist and leaning against my arm. Shifting Isaac so I could hold him with one arm, I returned her hug, leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

“Don’t say that,” she mumbled. “If he turns out to be even half the man you are, I’ll be thrilled.”

I looked at her with a raised brow. “There arewaybetter people for him to turn out like.”

Such as someone who hadn’t fucked his way through half of Kansas City, Lawrence, and Orlando. Someone who hadn’t let his anger get the best of him and ended up getting led away in handcuffs. Someone who hadn’t gone almost a whole year completely oblivious to the fact that he’d knocked a girl up and had a fucking child he was responsible for.

“No, there aren’t,” she said. “You’re a good man, Braden. Kind. Thoughtful. Generous. You thought I didn’t notice when you quietly dropped fifty bucks in the tip jar at the coffee shopor left massive tips when we went out to eat, but I did. The first thing you thought of when you were planning a date night for us was a way to help me let out my emotions and process everything I’d been through. And no matter how hard I tried to push you away, you refused to abandon me and your son. So, yeah. If Isaac turns out anything at all like you, then we’ll have done right by him.”

Damn.

Why this woman – this fuckinggoddess– had chosen me to love, I’d never understand. But I knew I’d spend the rest of my life trying to be the man she saw. A man she and Isaac could be proud of.

I leaned down and stole a kiss. “I don’t deserve you, beautiful. But I’ll never stop trying.”

Dani chuckled. “I could say the same thing to you.” Then she gave me a slight squeeze before disentangling herself from my hold and heading toward the kitchen. “Let me warm up a bottle for him before he gets hangry.”

I followed her and just smiled as I watched her mix up our little man’s formula and put the bottle in the warmer on the countertop, singing along to the chorus of Taylor Swift’s “Style” that was playing on her Bluetooth speaker and even doing the dance moves from the Eras Tour clips I’d seen come across my social media feeds. Once again, lost in the music. Carefree. Happy.

And this time? This time, there wasn’t a single part of her that was holding back. No sadness lurking behind her eyes. She was beaming with a smile that could have lit up a whole stadium, letting the joy consume her, and fuck if it wasn’t the most glorious sight I’d ever seen.

“So, what smells so amazing?” I asked as Dani and I walked out of the nursery, where we’d just put a very sleepy Isaac down…with the huge baby-safe plush Drake the Dragon – the Dragons’ mascot – that I’d gotten him now sitting in a corner of the room.

“It’s called ropa vieja,” she said, setting the baby monitor screen on the table before heading back into the kitchen. “The first time you took me out, you said you wanted me to make real Cuban food for you sometime. You can’t get more authentic than ropa vieja con arroz, frijoles, y plátanos fritos.”

Seriously, why was hearing her speak in Spanish, even just telling me the name of a dish, so fucking sexy? I suddenly wasn’t hungry for food anymore…and now there was nothing stopping me from showing her exactly what Iwashungry for.

I walked into the kitchen and slid my arms around her waist, pulling her close as I brushed her hair away from her neck and kissed right above her pulse point. I could feel her shuddering in my arms, and I smiled against her skin before moving my lips to her ear.

“You have no idea what hearing you speak Spanish does to me,” I whispered, ever so slightly pressing myself against her so she could feel how hard I was for her.

She giggled. “¿Ah, sí?” She turned halfway in my arms, brushing her lips against mine before lowering her voice to a murmur. “Eres el hombre de mis sueños.”

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