“I was just kidding,” he says, his teeth still flashing. “Been there, grew up in that nuthouse. That much madness isn’t for me. Two or three kids would be plenty.”
“Good to know,” I say, my brow furrowing. “But the number wasn’t the only thing freaking me out, Nash.”
His smile fades a watt or two. “Yeah? What else is freaking you out, Red?”
“I don’t know. All of it?” I flop my arms at my sides. “None of it? The fact that it doesn’t sound as crazy as it should. I mean, it really is crazy. We’ve barely been back together a week and we haven’t really been together, we’ve been pretending to—” I break off with a sigh as Felicity lets out a squawk of annoyance and tosses her skunk at my legs.
“I agree, Skeeter,” Nash says. “Mama’s thinking too hard.”
“Maybe I am,” I fetch the toy and hand it back to Felicity before standing and rubbing two fingers into the knot forming at my temple. “I’m not sure my brain is up to this much excitement after two glasses of wine.”
“Then let’s head home.” Nash reaches for the stroller handles “We’ll get you a glass of water, put Felicity to bed, and let things sit for a while.”
“Sleep on it?” I ask, following him toward the truck, as he pushes Felicity in front of him.
“Maybe. Though I can think of a couple things that might be more fun than sleeping.” The look he shoots me over his shoulder would be enough to make my panties damp if they weren’t already. “What about you?”
“Maybe one or two things,” I murmur in a dangerous voice.
A part of me whispers that we shouldn’t rush into anything too fast, but the part that’s been dying for Nash Geary to touch me again since the moment he stopped twelve years ago insists we’ve waited long enough. I’m dying to be alone with him. Nothing but him, me, and a door we can lock to make sure we’re not disturbed until we’ve done all the things I’ve been dreaming about since the night he swept back into my life.
Nash stops by the truck and turns to fix me with his full attention, making my heart race as he presses a kiss to my forehead before whispering against my skin, “I’ve been dying to touch you, Aria. I want to kiss you everywhere.”
“Everywhere?” I echo, blood going fizzy in my veins.
“Everywhere. I want to taste every inch of you. Think that can be arranged?”
“Yes,” I whisper, fighting a wave of desire so intense it makes my head spin. “I think that can be arranged.”
Chapter Eighteen
Nash
Until tonight, I’ve enjoyed being a part of Felicity’s bedtime rituals: listening to the happy sounds from the bathroom as Aria gives the baby her bath, inhaling the scent of lavender as she crawls into the living room in a fresh sleeper, the warm, heavy feel of a little one in my lap as Felicity snuggles close while Aria reads her picture books on the couch beside us.
It reminds me of bedtimes around my house when I was a kid, except a thousand times less chaotic.
One baby, instead of three or four under the age of five, means more time to savor each smile, to relish the sweet moments, to appreciate the milestones that can fly by way too fast when you don’t have the luxury of paying close attention.
Felicity is already so different from the baby I met at the BBQ weeks ago. She’ll be walking before we know it and speaking her mind with a bigger vocabulary than “mama,” “no,” and “deer,” not long after. She’s a sweet, funny kid, the kind it’s impossible not to lose your heart to.
But tonight, she’s also a child I can’t wait to tuck into her crib.
I need to be alone with her mama.
I swear bath time lasts a hundred years and the pre-bed stories drag on for a full-blown eternity. An eternity in which it’s impossible to concentrate on anything but Aria sitting so close that her thigh presses against mine, so close I can count the freckles on her arms, and imagine all the new freckles I’ll discover once I get her out of that sexy green dress.
I can’t wait to have her all to myself, to show her there’s nothing to be afraid of when it comes to the two of us. We’re going to be a perfect fit. She was made for me and I was made for her. I knew it the first time I laid eyes on her. From day one, being happy with Aria was easy. It’s fighting her, resenting her, clinging to old misunderstandings that’s been hard.
I don’t want to cling to those things anymore.
The only thing I want to hold on to is her, for as long as she’ll let me.