Page 71 of Married to Number 22
Her expression tells me that she’s not so confident about that, but before I can reassure her further, she says, “But I don’t want to talk about them tonight.”
Me neither.
I don’t want to talk at all.
Iwantto?—
“I’m struggling,” she says and my focus snaps away from my hardening dick, arrowing back to her, worry knotting my insides. “Because it feels like you’re doing a lot for me and I’m doing nothing but dropping into your life, creating chaos, and dragging you into my mess.”
I open my mouth, but she’s still talking.
“You married me, for God’s sake!” She pushes out a sharp breath. “And you’re giving up your freedom to help me after I broke up with you and we didn’t talk for years, and I don’t know what kind of person does that?—”
I start to speak, but her words keep coming.
“Except that it’syou,” she says, tone softening, eyes gentling, fingers tightening around mine. “It’s the Aiden I knew then and the Aiden you are now who I’m only just learning, and I just figured…” Her throat works, fingers tightening further. “While I don’t know everything about the man you are today, I do knowmyAiden, and so—” She waves her free hand to the mugs. “Hot chocolate.” A beat. “And someone here to drink it with you.”
My heart is suddenly pounding. “Luns.”
Her voice is gentle. “You said that when your practices ran late and you got home after your siblings were asleep, your mom would wait up for you with hot chocolate.”
My pulse speeds.
“She would sit with you and catch up on your day—what went on at school or at the rink—or she’d help you with your homework if you didn’t get it all done before then.” Luna nudges a mug in my direction. “Or sometimes, she would just sit here and let you talk about practice or off-ice being hard or help you work through whatever your coach yelled at you about on the ice.” A soft smile. “And she’d always do it with hot cocoa.”
Pulse still speeding, I fill in the rest. “She said hot chocolate took the edge of the day off.” My lips twitch. “Now as an adult, I’m half-convinced she drugged it with melatonin so I’d finally chill out and go to sleep.”
Luna giggles. “Well, I didn’t think about the drugging part—though I do have some melatonin in my purse.” A wink that has me chuckling. “And I have my own special touch too.” She slips her hand from mine, goes to the fridge, then pulls out a can of whipped cream, squirting an almost obscene amount on both of our hot cocoas. And just when I think she’s done, she squirts some more, making us both laugh. “And for thepièce de résistance…”She lifts a container of sprinkles, undoes the cap, and liberally douses both of our hot cocoas with the rainbow-colored candies.
“Now drink up,” she orders, screwing on the cap andoh so gentlytracing her finger beneath my healing cut, as though just her touch can mend the injury. And maybe she doeshave magical healing powers because the nagging ache in my cheek disappears—or maybe it just relocates elsewhere. Somewheresouth. “Then,” she murmurs. “I want you to tell me all about how much of a pain in the ass Smitty was on the way home.”
Fuck.
It hits me like a ton of bricks then.
Why I didn’t freak out about her showing up, why I didn’t even question stepping in and marrying her.
Because we might have spent a decade apart.
But I never stopped loving Luna.
And that doesn’t change as we finish our hot cocoa, as I loop my arm around her waist and taste the chocolate treat on her tongue.
As I lift her up and carry her to the bedroom.
Where I love her another way until we’re both too exhausted to move.
Twenty-Eight
Luna
“I truly am sohappy for you, my dears!” Kathy exclaims as we descend the steps of the Black family house. “But I need to see the ring again.” A wink. “Just to make sure my boy treated you right.”
“And because she’s like a magpie who likes shiny things,” Matt quips, earning himself a swat across the chest.
Grinning, I allow her to draw me to a stop at the end of the walkway, to gather in a little half-circle as I hold up my hand and let Aiden’s mom examine my ring for the umpteenth time since we showed up for lunch an hour ago.
The spread of sandwiches and soup, salads and a fruit tart for dessert was delicious.
