Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“We’re having babies,” she says flatly. “Not Greek demigods.”
“What about Nolan?” I offer eventually, but at this point, they’re going to be Baby A and Baby B forever if we can’t find names we all like.
Roxie gives me a soft smile. “I like Nolan, but I’m not sure.”
Chance mutters, “It’s better than Perseus.”
Dillon throws a grape at him. By ten, we’re all exhausted and still no closer to choosing names than we were when we started. When eleven rolls around, we give up for the day, and we’re in bed with her between us, enjoying the last few weeks of just being able to be together without someone having to get up to do the diaper drill.
Sometime close to midnight, she pokes me, whispering, “Boone?”
“Mmm?”
“Ice cream.”
I crack one eye open. “Which kind?”
She shrugs. “Yes.”
I snort. “We have, like, eight different flavors, sweetheart. Which one would the babies like today?”
Chance and Dillon sit up behind her, but I shake my head. “It’s fine. I’ll get it.”
“No, I’ve got it,” Dillon says.
“Move,” Chance says, already halfway to the door, surprisingly fast for a man who’d been snoring three minutes ago.
Roxie giggles, burying her face in the pillow as Chance disappears downstairs with single-minded determination. I roll onto my side, propping my head on my hand. Dillon lies on her other side, whispering something to her belly.
The two of them together, naked and tangled in the sheets, laughing softly and both so happy, is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. So beautiful that, frankly, I’m still struggling to believe this really is my future.
This is everything I didn’t know I could have back when I married Tessa, thinking that I had to give up the part of me that had always wanted a future with Dillon and Chance in it. But as I watch Dillon press a kiss to her belly and whisper to our babies, I feel something settle deep inside me.
This is what I’ve been made for. Not violence or shadowy fighting venues or simple survival, but this.
A home filled with love, laughter, and acceptance. I’ll spend the rest of my life protecting it with everything I have and loving every last minute of it.
EPILOGUE
ROXIE
Saturday mornings have become my favorite kind of chaos. The house smells like coffee, baby shampoo, and whatever ridiculous breakfast the boys have strong-armed Dillon into making this week.
Joshua is starfished across my stomach, Logan curled into my side like a sleepy little fox. Both are snoring in two wildly different pitches, which is bizarrely adorable even after almost three years of hearing it.
I shift a little, brushing back hair the exact same shade of blonde as mine and just as wild as Dillon’s from Logan’s forehead. The boys’ eyes could’ve come from any of my guys, and their features are similar as well.
We still have no clue who fathered them and even though I think they’ll eventually get curious, we don’t care to know. Down the hall, I hear Chance murmuring to Hailey Anne as he tries to coax her into going back to sleep for a bit longer.
She’s eight months old now, a mini-me with nothing but dimples, big eyes, and loud opinions she can’t even voice yet. She had them all wrapped around her tiny finger from the moment she was born.
“Please, sweetheart,” Chance whispers, his voice low and rhythmic. “Just close your eyes. Daddy’s right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
I smile and let the sound settle deep into my bones. A minute later, the bedroom door cracks open.
“She’s down,” Chance whispers, triumphant and exhausted, then his eyes soften at the sight of the boys sprawled over me. “Well. Mostly down. I give it five minutes before she demands a rematch.”
“She’ll win that one too,” I whisper back.
He chuckles, leans over, kisses my forehead, then both boys’. Even half-asleep, Joshua smacks his lips like Chance has just fed him pie.
Before I can wriggle out from under them to make space for him with us, the door opens the rest of the way, Dillon and Boone standing there.
“All right,” Dillon murmurs dramatically. “Who ordered the flying service?”
Logan lifts his head immediately, his sleepy eyes going wide. “Me!”
Joshua doesn’t even open his eyes, but he thrusts both arms up and yells, “Up!”
I laugh. “I knew you weren’t really asleep anymore, you little tricksters.”
Boone scoops up Logan, Dillon grabs Joshua, and with perfect, choreographed precision, they zoom down the hallway making airplane noises. The boys shriek with laughter all the way to the kitchen.
Chance shakes his head. “I’m never beating them in the favorite parent contest.”
“You won last night,” I remind him. “Hailey only wanted you.”
“That doesn’t count. I have special privileges with the tiny one.”
“That’s because you still haven’t learned to say no to her,” I tease, rolling out of bed and changing into leggings and a sweater. As I pull my hair up into a messy bun, I meet his eyes in the mirror over my dressing table. “You know it’s going to have to happen sooner or later, right?”