Page 116 of Howl for Me
“Come on,” she teases, rubbing her chest against me again. “Don’t you miss it? Come on, take a sniff.”
“Stop,” I choke, half-laughing, half-gagging. “You’re going to give me PTSD.”
She presses her forehead to mine, still breathless with laughter. I settle beneath her, my hands squeezing her ass as I drive my hips up into her. She laughs again and the sound always warms my chest.
“You’re evil,” I whisper, kissing the corner of her mouth.
“You love it.”
I meet her eyes. There’s something quieter in them now. The room stills. My hands drift down to her waist, then slide under her shirt to splay across her stomach.
“I do,” I murmur. “I love you.”
She goes quiet. Her eyes flicker, because I haven’t said the words out loud yet. Not really.
“I love you too.”
She kisses me, sweet and open, and something in my chest finally exhales and bursts all at once. But my hand doesn’t leave her stomach.
“You think there’s a chance?” I ask softly.
She doesn’t play dumb. She knows exactly what I mean. Her eyes drop to where I’m touching her.
“It’s only been a week,” she says. “I don’t know yet.”
“I feel like I robbed you sometimes. You have your whole career taking off and now..”
“And now what?” she interrupts, covering my hand with hers. “Johnny, If I’m pregnant, it won’t change a thing. I can have it all. You make me feel like I can have it all. The career, the baby, you. The only thing this changes is that we have a family. I never thought I would ever want that, but I do.”
I search her face. “You sure?”
She nods. “I’m not scared either. At first, I felt like I should be, but I can’t force myself to feel that way. It all just feels right. Like fate.”
My throat tightens, and for a second, I can’t speak. I just look at her; this woman who walked into my life and turned everything upside down.
“I’ve never had anything feel right before,” I say, my voice low, rough with emotion. “Not the pack. Not the studio. Not even myself.”
I slide my hand along her cheek, brushing my thumb across her lips.
“But you?” I whisper. “You feel like the only thing that’s ever made sense. If you are pregnant then our baby is the luckiest in the world. Because you’re the strongest, smartest, mostimpossible woman I’ve ever known. And I swear on everything I am, I’ll protect you both with my life.”
She exhales shakily, and I feel her heart beating hard under my palm. Then I kiss her like it’s a vow, because it is. My mate. My everything.
Epilogue
Cassidy,FourYearsLater
I sit in the driveway for a moment longer than usual. The engine’s off, my purse still in my lap, keys in hand. But I can’t move. Not yet.
I’m staring at our house. The one with the slightly crooked mailbox Johnny swore he’d fix three years ago. The one with a wind chime on the porch that only rings when the breeze is just right.
My home, with my husband and our sweet, messy-haired, car-obsessed baby boy.
I think back to a time when I was convinced I couldn’t have it all, when I believed that love and family were luxuries that came with chains. That I had to choose. That wanting more was greedy. But here I am four years later. I am the lead director atMoonlight Magic Studios and I get to come home to them. My little family. To everything, I never thought I could have.
I finally step out of the car and head up the walk, the scent of honeysuckle blooming from the side yard. The door creaks a little when I open it, and I’m greeted with… Oblivion, the good kind. Johnny and Benjamin are sitting at the coffee table, hunched over a model car kit. There are tiny plastic pieces scattered everywhere. Stickers. Paint. Glue. Concentration is so fierce on both their faces that they don’t even notice me walk in.
A tiny part falls from Ben’s fingers and bounces to the floor. He stares at it for a second, then mutters, “Fuck.”
