Page 501 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
He laughed. “Obviously.”
“How many kids do you want?”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he busied himself with tracing the rise and fall of my ass once more. I didn’t mind, not even a little bit. “To be honest? I haven’t thought about being a father much until recently.”
“Really? Why?”
“Because of you,” he said. “Life before you was good, but life with you? Damn, Tinsely. You changed everything. It was like you reached into my chest and grabbed my heart and shook it up. I was living inauthentically before and didn’t even realize it. Everything was surface level and instant gratification. Nothing felt earned. But you? You changed all that. You made me want to be better. And ever since that night in front of my fire, I’ve wondered what it would be like to have a child, or two, or three.”
“We’d be good at it, the whole parenting thing.”
“You think?”
“I’d be better,” I said, “but you’d hang in there by the skin of your teeth.”
He rocked back on the mattress with laughter.
Giggling, I snuggled in close to him and ran my hand over his chest. “Where would we live with these imaginary kids of ours?”
“The estate,” he said.
“Your dad’s house?” I asked, puzzled.
“Right,” he breathed, “I didn’t tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“My dad is signing the estate over to me. He wants to travel, and he wants the house to stay in the family for obvious reasons. He thinks the time is right and I’m ready to move back home and make it my own. He wants me to fill it with kids, I think. Our kids.”
My eyes burned. “He knows about me?”
“I think he knew you were right for me before I did, to be honest.”
I sniffled. “That’s actually really sweet. But back up. You’re moving into the estate? When is this happening? Isn’t that going to be a huge undertaking?”
He shrugged. “Not really. Nothing will change until the new year when he starts traveling and we finalize everything with the lawyers. I’ll hire a moving company to make it as seamless as possible. The house is enormous. I won’t lie, living there alone might feel a bit strange.” He looked down at me. “You should move in with me.”
Move in?
In the new year?
To the estate?
With Chadwick?
At what point had my life become a dream? When was someone going to cruelly pull the rug out from under me? Did I really get to just say ‘yes’ to an offer like that from the man of my dreams?
“Tinsel?”
“I… I…”
“You don’t have to,” Chadwick said hurriedly. “I know it’s fast. We can wait. I just thought I’d put it out there. There’s no pressure. You can think about it, or say no. I’m good with whatever. Just say the word and—”
“Hush.” I put two fingers over his lips to stop his spiralling. Giggling, I shook my head at him. “You silly man. I want to move in with you. I want everything that comes with a life with you.”
For the briefest flash of a moment, I saw raw emotion in his eyes. His smile chased it away and he pulled me up against him. Our naked bodies under the blanket fit together perfectly, and I draped a leg over his hip as he cupped my cheek in one hand and kissed me.
“I should tell you,” he whispered between kisses.
