Page 231 of Never Die for a Sinner
Her brows furrow in that familiar way they do when there’s more on her mind than she’s willing to let on. If there’s anything I’ve come to know in the last six months we’ve been married, it’s that my wife likes to worry about things that don’t need to be worried about.
I lean back, taking her face in my hands. “What is it, Ava?”
Her throat bobs as she swallows, but her doubt lingers, written all over her face. “Are you sure?”
“About what?”
She glances around nervously, biting her lip.
“All of it.”
My chest tightens because I know exactly what she means. She isn’t just talking about the baby. She’s talking about me. About us.
“Sweetheart, you’re the only thing in this life Iamsure about.”
She smiles then, and it’s like looking into the center of the sun. Fucking breathtaking.
I glance at the clock on the bedside stand behind us. We were supposed to be at the family reunion twenty minutes ago, but she was just too fucking tempting in her little yellow sundress. I had to have her—again—before we left.
“Come on, Mrs. Cross. I know you’re hungry.”
She smiles, letting me take her hand and pull her towards the door.
“There had better be chocolate cake, or I’m starting a riot.”
I pull her out to the car, helping her get situated before I cross to my side. The little cottage where she grew up is coming along nicely. We spent the last year renovating it. Adding another bedroom and an office. We installed new flower beds and even repaired the old, busted garage out back.
It’s become more than just a house. It’s a home—our home, and it’s more than either of us ever imagined we’d ever have.
Fuck, looking over at Ava—my wife—I still have a hard time believing it’s all real.
The leather creaks under me as I slide behind the wheel, but I don’t start the engine right away. Instead, I glance at her—bare legs tucked under her, one hand resting over her stomach like it’s second nature now. The late afternoon sun filters through the windshield, catching the tiny gold flecks in her eyes, and damn if it doesn’t knock the breath right out of me.
She turns, catching me staring again, and that slow, knowing smile spreads across her face. The one that says she sees right through me. The one that undoes me every single time.
“What?” she teases softly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
I lean back, taking it all in—the woman who survived hell, the woman who chose me anyway, the woman who somehow became my wife. “Nothing,” I murmur, even though it’s everything. “Just can’t get over the fact that you’re mine.”
Her eyes soften, but there’s a spark there too, like she knows exactly the power she has over me. “Forever,” she whispers, lacing her fingers through mine on the console.
Forever. A word I never believed in until her.
I finally twist the key in the ignition, but my chest feels too full, like it might split wide open. The little cottage behind us isn’t just walls and paint and flowerbeds—it’s proof. Proof that no matter what we went through, no matter who tried to tear us apart, we built something no one can take away.
It doesn’t matter what comes next. We’ll figure it out.
The drive to Cross Estate is short, and by the time we pull down the long drive, the party is starting. The family reunion was Mila’s way of bringing together all the people that she cares about, and I guess, I’m happy to be a part of it.
We’ve become a family. One big, messy family, but family all the same.
Her siblings from all over the country flew in, and now they’re staying at the newly renovated lodge. Her mother, Monica, is fussing about, trying to ensure everything is perfect, while Mila rolls her eyes at her.
It’s normal. I fucking love it.
“There’s Donovan,” Ava points out her brother, where he’s talking to Jake, the husband of Mila’s sister’s best friend. Cherise is on his arm, looking at him longingly. I’ve got to say, that’s a couple I never saw coming, but I’m happy about it. Mainly because, as much as both of them have pissed me off in the past, I know they’re good people, deep down, who deserve some joy in this life.
“Oh my God, you’ve finally made it,” Mila groans when I open Ava’s car door and take her hand. “I thought I was going to have to deal with my mother on my own.”
