Page 26 of His Aries Heiress
“Like I said, I think it’ll take time. I’m not ready to give up on us just yet, so I’m willing to work through these trust issues with you.”
“Word?” Marcellus asked. He couldn’t stop the goofy grin on his face if he wanted to. “So that mean you wanna be my woman?”
She tilted her head back and laughed. He loved to see it. He wanted to see her like this more often. It was so unfortunate that they met at such an emotional time in their lives, but he looked forward to seeing the good times with her in the near future.
“Not quite yet. So much has changed for me recently. I really want to slow down whatever this is between us and really get to know you. I been thinking about looking for my own place?—”
“Yeah, nah. That ain’t gon’ happen. Sorry, sweetheart, but I draw the line there. We can go as slow as you want for now, but we definitely live together.” Marcellus wasn’t even going to play with her like that. He needed to be up under her every chance he got. That was nonnegotiable.
“How did I know you weren’t going to go for that?”
He kissed her lips. “You know your man well.”
“You aren’t my man,” she whispered before she kissed him again.
He pulled back. “Ew, stop kissin’ on me then,” he joked.
She giggled and slapped his shoulder. “Boy, whatever. We might not be official, but we definitely go together real bad.”
Marcellus cocked his head to the side. “What do that even mean?”
“It means we go together real bad.”
He chuckled. “Man, whatever. Long as you know where home is, I ain’t trippin’. Real talk, we can go as slow as you need.”
She peered up at him. “You know if we’re ever going to work long term, you need to tell Tato you’re his father, right?”
Marcellus nodded his head slowly. “I planned to do that anyway. Will you help me with that?”
“Of course.” She placed her cheek on his chest, and he squeezed her tightly.
“I love you.” The words came out of his mouth so quietly, she wasn’t sure she heard them. But she knew she did.
She smiled with her face still pressed against his chest. “Even though you ain’t my man, I love you too, Marcellus.”
He chuckled as he rubbed her back. A comfortable silence overtook them as they got lost in the view and lost in each other.
Aries men know how to take life’s hardest lessons to the chin. They’ll never bow to a difficult task.
Marcellus’s kneebounced as he watched Tato play with his toys on the floor in the living room. He couldn’t recall a time hehad been this nervous before. Confidence normally exuded from him, but telling Tato he was his father had him out of sorts.
Despite his nerves, after the night he had with Cassydie, he wanted to do everything he could to move forward with his family. Cassydie urged him to take a few days to think about what he wanted to say to Tato, but he knew more time would only stress him out. It was bad enough he had to sit through breakfast with them without blurting the shit out.
Cassydie reached over and grabbed his hand. “You okay?” Marcellus relaxed slightly because of her touch. He lifted their hands and kissed the back of hers before he nodded. “You ready?” she asked. He nodded again. Cassydie gently tugged on his beard and gave him a quick peck before turning her attention back to Tato. “Tato, can you come here for a minute?”
Tato stopped playing with his plastic dinosaurs and quickly did as he was told. “Okay, but hurry. The dinosaurs need my help so they don’t all die.”
Marcellus watched as Cassydie giggled at Tato. He wondered how she could be so calm in this moment, but he quickly realized two things. Underneath that calm demeanor, she was probably a nervous wreck. Aries had a way of hiding their emotions really well when they wanted to. The other thing he realized at that moment was that Cassydie had been through a lot, and spilling the news to Tato about his lineage really wasn’t her burden to bear. It was his. Something like this was probably considered lightweight to her. At least nobody had died this time around.
“We need to talk to you about something serious, okay? And when we’re done, if you’re up for it, me and Cell will play with you.” Cassydie always knew the right shit to say. If Marcellus wasn’t already stupid in love with her, this moment would have made him so. She was just so . . . feminine and nurturing. Exactly what he had been missing in his life.
Tato’s eyes lit up. “Okay, but do you know how to play dinosaurs?” He eyed Cassydie suspiciously.
“I’m not sure, but you can teach me, right?”
“Right,” Tato agreed.
Cassydie looked at Marcellus and uttered, “Go ’head, baby.”
