Page 210 of Wild Then Wed
“Wren,” I say gently, reaching for her face again, grounding her. “You’re all I want. Babies or no babies.”
Her mouth pulls into a soft pout, her brow furrowed. “You only say that now because I just gave you the best blowjob of your life.”
A laugh bursts out of me before I can stop it.
She frowns. “I’m serious.”
“Me too. It was the best blowjob of my life.”
Her eyes narrow into little slits. “You know what I mean.”
I do. And I look at her—really look—and there’s fear there. Not of me, not of us right now. But of the future. Of letting herself want something she doesn’t think she’s allowed to have.
I smooth my thumb across her cheekbone. “I don’t love you for your uterus, Wren. Or lack of one.”
Her eyes flick up to mine, cautious. Still not fully believing.
“I love you because you’re the strongest, kindest, most stubborn woman I’ve ever met. You walk into a room and I swear to God I breathe easier just having you in it. You make me laugh. You make my whole life better, every single day.”
She looks up at me with those wide, glassy eyes like she’s waiting for me to take it back. Waiting for the part where I change my mind.
So I give her more.
“I honestly don’t even know if I want kids anymore either,” I say quietly. “That version of my life—the one where I’m a dad with a little girl—got buried with Violet. I don’t think I’ve let myself picture anything past that since.”
Her lips part slightly, like she wasn’t expecting that.
I swallow hard, my thumb tracing the curve of her jaw. “But if my future looks like this? You and me brushing our teeth together at night, tripping over Hank, figuring out how to make each other laugh when we’re tired—if it’s just that, Wren…then that’s more than enough for me. That’s everything. That’s more than I ever thought I would get again in this life.”
Her throat works around a swallow.
“I don’t care that biology handed you a shitty hand. I’m not in this for what I can get out of you. I’m in this because you’re the first thing that’s felt like home for me in a long, long time. You could have zero reproductive organs and I’d still wake up tomorrow loving the hell out of you.”
I take a breath, letting that settle.
“Kids or no kids, uterus or no uterus—you’re it for me, Wren. End of story.”
Her face crumples just a little, just enough for me to know I hit the spot that hurt. I lean in and kiss her forehead, gentle and quiet, like I’m sealing a promise I don’t plan on ever backing out of.
“You don’t have to be anything but you,” I whisper.
“You love me?” she whispers.
It hits me then—I hadn’t even realized I’d said it.
But it doesn’t surprise me either. That’s how natural it feels. Like breathing. Like existing next to her this long made it inevitable.
I nod, brushing my thumb under one eye again, then the other. “Yeah,” I say. “I do.”
She doesn’t say anything at first, just blinks up at me with those glassy, blue-on-blue eyes like the whole world’s shifting under her feet.
I shake my head a little, smiling softly. “I should’ve planned it better. Lit a bunch of candles or said it while we were slow dancing or put rose petals on the bed or something. But Wren—” My voice breaks a little. “I’ve been in love with you for a while now. Not because of what just happened or what you said. It’s just…you.”
I step closer, taking her hands in mine.
“You’re the one I wait to come home to, even when we’re in the same place. You’re the one I find in every room without even trying. And I keep coming back to you because nothing in me knows how not to.”
Her lips part like she’s about to say something, but I keep going because I need her to hear this—need her to know.
