Kiro closed his eyes tightly. “Fuck, Emily.”

I crawled over to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. “She’s really nice. I liked her a lot. She was nothing like Georgianna. I think in another time, she could have made you happy. But y’all have a child together now. Don’t miss out on that.”

His arms finally came around me. “No one but you could have made me happy. Your love is what makes life worth it, Emily. And if you want me to know the kid, I will. But I won’t be playing family with them. You’re gonna be the only family I have. You and the kids I have with you. I can love the boy, but his momma means nothing to me. You know that, right?”

He had said the kids I gave him would be our family. I wanted that, too. So much. But he did have other family. It was time he faced it and accepted it. “She is the mother of your son. Deep down, that means something, but I am OK with that. I know you love me. I don’t doubt it for a minute.”

“If you’ll go with me, I’ll go. I want my son to know you, too.”

I wanted that, and Mary Ann seemed like she was OK with it. She even liked the idea of me coming. “I want to know him. He’ll be a part of our life, Kiro. We can love him, too. There’s enough love in both of us for that.”

Kiro sighed and tucked me against him. “I think that I know all the beauty that’s inside you, and then you go and fucking show me more of it. How the hell did I get you to love me?”

“You watched Indiana Jones with me,” I said simply. Because that day, I saw the real Kiro underneath. He hadn’t kicked me out for being a virgin. He’d respected it. Then he’d made me feel welcome.

He chuckled. “Don’t be giving me any awards for that one, angel. I was too damn selfish to let you go. I would have watched every chick flick in the world if it meant I’d have gotten to keep you close a little longer. I just got lucky that you had good taste in movies.”

Kiro

Mase looked just like me. And Emily fell in love with him at first sight. Then Mary Ann fell in love with Emily the moment she watched my angel talk to Mase and play with him like it was the most natural thing in the world.

It’s weird seeing a one-night stand you hardly remember mother a child who is undoubtedly yours.

Then to see Emily with him put a seed of hunger in me. I wanted this with Emily. I wanted a family with her. I wanted to see her with our little boy playing on the floor and laughing with him.

She was right. I could love this kid. He was mine. I didn’t want to let him down. I wanted to be a part of his life. Dean was a part of Rush’s, and he hated Rush’s mom. At least I didn’t hate Mase’s mother. I just didn’t know her.

Emily could have a relationship with Mary Ann. I’d just get to know my boy. But more than anything, I wanted Emily’s stomach big with our child. I wanted to feel our baby inside her and know we made that kid. She’d be mine forever. They both would.

I had hired a private jet to take us to Texas, so when our visit was over and Mary Ann and Emily had set up some visitation times for us, I’d hugged Mase and told him I’d see him soon.

Emily had been smiling from ear to ear the entire car ride back. She kept babbling about how much he looked like me and how he had watched me with his serious eyes. She had talked about how he had clapped his hands and gotten excited over the horses outside. Everything Mase did amazed her.

And fuck if I didn’t fall even deeper in love with this woman. I didn’t think it was possible. But apparently, when it came to Emily, I could fall in love more every day. She had so much to fucking love.

I kept my hand on her back as we got on the plane. I liked touching her. Mary Ann had noticed that, too, and smiled at me. She seemed happy that I had found Emily. It was strange, but it also felt good. Maybe I could be friends with Mary Ann after all.

“I’m so glad we came,” Emily said for the tenth time, as she sank down onto one of the leather sofas in the jet.

“You mentioned that,” I teased her. I lifted her and put her in my lap.

“You were great with him,” she said, as I nibbled on her neck.

“You were, too,” I said, because in truth, she was amazing with him. I was pretty sure he liked her more than he liked me. I slipped my hand up between her thighs. “I kept thinking about you being pregnant with my kid. Made me fucking hard. I like the idea of knowing we could make a life together. That I’d have a kid that you gave me. That was a part of both of us.”

She stiffened in my arms and turned to look at me. “I can’t . . . I could never do that. My momma is already worried about me, but that would break her heart.”

What the fuck? “Your momma doesn’t want you having kids? Or she doesn’t want you having my kids?”

She sighed and laid her head on my chest. “My momma wants me to have kids one day. But she’ll expect me to be married when I do.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Married? Well, fuck. I hadn’t even thought about that. I was keeping Emily forever. That was for damn sure, but I hadn’t thought about the fact that we needed to get married. It wasn’t something people in my world did often, because when they did, it always ended badly.

Emily would never get to divorce me. I wouldn’t let her. The idea of her ever wanting to leave me was terrifying. But marriage?

“I’m not ready for marriage right now, Kiro. Relax. That’s not what I’m saying. I am just saying that talking about babies is out of the question for me. I’ll do that one day when I’m married.”