Page 41 of Don't Hurt Us
“I love waking up with you in my bed.I think you should move in.”
“I can't just move in with you.”I roll my eyes.
He’s ridiculous.I'm fairly certain if I agreed to marry him, he’d plan a wedding for tomorrow and happily say ‘I do’ after only a week of us dating secretly.
“You can, you just feel like this is moving too quickly.I’d love it though.You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Syd.I wish you could understand how much I want you here.”
“Maybe we can stay here on the weekends you don’t work,” I say softly.I don’t want him thinking I don’t want this just as much as I do.
“I’ll never work another weekend in my life,” he teases me.
“I’m serious!”
“So am I, Syd.I’ll hire more people if I need to.I want to make sure I can spend as much time with you guys as I can.”He tugs me into his arm and presses a lazy kiss to my lips.
“I don’t want you completely changing your life for us.”
“Baby, I’ve been waiting for the right woman to come along and make me want to change my life.I figured while I was single, I’d work a lot to keep myself busy.As soon as I found the woman of my dreams, I planned to work a lot less and focus on my family.”
“So, you always planned on having an instant family?”I smirk at him.
“Nah, but after I met you, I changed my mind.”He presses another soft kiss to my lips.“I think we need to get up and make some breakfast though.I'm getting pretty hungry.”
“I'm sure Danny’s already awake.He’s an early riser.”I sigh, pushing the covers off my body and stretching one more time.
“What about Bree?”
“That little girl would sleep her life away if I let her.”I chuckle.
“So… We wanted to talk to the two of you…” I begin, but don’t know where to go from here.It feels weird to talk to my kids about my dating life.
I glance up at Maverick, unsure of how to break the news to them.He silently asks me if I want him to do it and I nod my head.I trust him to do this.
“How do you guys feel about spending more time here or with me at your house?”
“I’d love it!”They both say at the same time.
“Why?What’s going on?”Danny glances from me to Maverick and back again.His brows are furrowed as he tries to figure out what’s going on.
“Your mom and I are dating.We really like each other and we want to see where a relationship could take us,” Maverick explains slowly.
“So… What does that mean for us?”
“Well, Maverick will be around more.He might pick you up from school or take care of you while I'm working.We’ll probably see him more and more.Maybe spend the weekends here when he has off.”Sydney nibbles on her bottom lip, unsure of how the kids will respond.
“Will you still help me with baseball?”Danny’s brows pull low as he thinks about what this means for him.
“Of course.It will be nice to be able to come to your games too.”
“You mean you plan on coming to my games?”His brows shoot up his forehead and he stares at me for several long seconds, waiting for me to answer.
“I plan to come to every game, but I can’t guarantee I’ll make it to every one of them with work.”Maverick glances at Bree.“I plan to come to every ballet recital I can too.”
“Really?”Her eyes fill with tears almost instantly and the sight makes my chest ache.
Like me, they’ve learned to expect very little from the men in their life.They’re used to being disappointed so they stopped thinking Rob would show up.It’s easier to pretend you don’t care than to allow the pain of knowing you aren’t important enough for your own father to show up.
“My dad never did any of that,” Danny murmurs.
