Page 93 of Badges
Squeezing my legs around his fingers, I let my own trace the inside of his elbow. “You’re a good daddy.”
His heavily lidded gaze finds me, then he drags his eyes back to the road. “I want a million of ‘em, Elena. Can we do that?” His words are quiet, but the meaning behind them resonates in an echo in my mind.
“You really are serious?” I guess if I was worried about kids, I should have made him wear a condom.
Except, I’m not.
He grunts and pulls his hand away. “When you call me ‘daddy’, it hits me here.” He reaches down to cup his groin with a hungry grin in my direction.
I have to fight the laugh.
“But when she calls me ‘dad’?” A low rumble climbs out of his chest as he pats his heart. “It hits me here like a damn spear.” His fingers tuck back between my legs high enough his pinky brushes the swell of my pussy. “I want that, with you, a million times over.”
“Wade—” I bite my lip to try and hold back the tears that are suddenly making my vision blurry. “—you know that means you’d be stuck with me?” I can’t blink fast enough to keep the droplets from spilling down my cheeks.
He glances in the rearview mirror, then slows the truck down and pulls off the shoulder.
Before I can protest, he’s on my side flinging my door open.
He reaches across me, unbuckling my seat belt and pulling my legs out to face him.
I love it when he manhandles me, but am also completely confused when he lifts me easily to set me on the small incline.
Except when he digs in his shirt pocket and drops to his knee, it hits me what he’s doing.
The diamond glimmers in the sun between his thick fingers.
“I love our family, Elena. I don’t ever want to wake up another morning without you. Will you let me be your daddy forever?” His brow furrows seriously, reminding me of when Cynthia is concentrating on one of her drawings.
“You better say ‘yes’!” Cynthia yells out.
She’s unbuckled and draped between the two front seats to watch.
“How can I argue with that?” I grab the brim of his cowboy hat and tilt it back far enough I can kiss him. “Of course I will.”
His arms crush me against his muscular body until I can’t breathe. As he loosens his hold, his lips brush my ear. “I was afraid this was all too fast. I didn’t want to wait though. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
I’m not sure why it makes me wince. He’s talking about Mom.
But then I realize, it’s okay that he loved her.
If he hadn’t, none of this would have happened.
So, yes. I can love him fully, without jealousy over his past. Because it is giving me a future I never dreamed could have existed.
“Today is the best day of my life!” Cynthia squeals, bouncing in her seat.
Wade chuckles as he lifts me into the truck. “Hold that memory tight. We’re on our way to meet your grandpa next.”
Her face falls. “Is he mean?”
Wade snorts. “Only to me. He’s gonna ask you what color horse you want.” He turns, bracing against my backrest to look at her. “In all honesty, he’s just as excited to meet you as I was.”
“Great,” she groans, buckling her belt. “Now you made me cry happy tears, too.”
I haven’t spent much time around Wade’s father, but each short visit was pleasant enough.
He’s been polite, yet stand-offish.
