Page 101 of Never Really Over

“Should be for another hour. Think you can be quiet?”

“I’m becoming a pro at quiet,” she replies with a wink then ducks under my arms, running toward the house.

The game of cat and mouse is on again. I’m a predator on the chase.

It takes us no time at all to tear each other’s clothes off when we get to my bedroom. She lies on the bed, completely naked and all for me. When she feels my erection brush against her inner thigh, she whimpers, wiggling around for more.

I nudge at her opening, her wetness brushing against my tip. “Is this what you want?”

“You know what I want,” she pants. “Now give it to me.”

Without more teasing, I give her exactly what she’s begging for.

Our bodies connected, she pulls my face down to hers, her eyes wide and sparkling as she stares at me.

“I love you, Colton Samuelson. I never stopped. I don’t want to go through the steps slowly.”

“I love you, too, Layla. So damn much.”

When we come together, our eyes never stray from one another. Just like our hearts never did.

A thought occurs to me and I grumble.

“That’s not exactly a sound I like hearing after what we just did,” she says, her head on my chest after we used the bathroom to get cleaned up.

With another groan, I say, “I just realized something and it’s gonna suck.”

“What’s that?” Her fingertip is making a figure-eight on my left pec.

“Dalton’s never going to let us live this down.”

Her finger stops and she looks up at me, her cute little nose wrinkled.

“Worse yet, he’s going to think he’s going to be my man of honor.”

* * *

Layla squeezesmy hand when we pull into the driveway of my sister’s house twenty minutes before three. She gives me time to process before I’m ready to go inside.

“If you’re not ready, we can tell Dalton to wait. This isn’t anything you need to rush.”

“Well, I can’t burn the house down and selling it is the only way I’ll be able to move past it.”

“Burning it down would probably not be a wise decision. Plus, I feel better knowing that Dalton and Bridget will raise their family there. That’s what Natalie would want.”

She gives me a reassuring smile and in the back seat, Poppy babbles.

“Oh, shit,” I mutter quietly. “I didn’t even think about bringing Poppy back here. Do you think it’s a bad idea?”

Layla thinks for a few seconds. “I don’t think so. It’s been four months and even if she remembers the house, it won’t be a bad memory. Her stuff isn’t in there anymore since you brought it all to your house, which might help. Besides, you plan to keep Natalie’s memory alive and you talk about her all the time. This will be a good thing.”

“You think so?” I ask, still not sure.

She turns in the seat to face me, holding my face in her hands. “Listen to me, Colt. You are Poppy’s everything. She adores you and you’re doing not just the best you can, but an absolutely amazing job with her. You’re an amazing father to that little girl and walking into that house isn’t going to change anything.”

Hearing her call me Poppy’s father doesn’t hurt like it should. If anything, it fills me with pride. A pride that swells and when I hear Poppy shout, “Dada!” in the back, Layla gives me a knowing smile.

I kiss her, her soft hair sliding through my fingers.

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