She blinked at the moisture in her eyes and reached up to brush the mussed hair off his forehead. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”
“I should’ve done it right away.”
“I think this is the way it had to be. And I’m okay with that if you are.”
He smiled as he ran both hands down her back, cupped her ass, and slid her up until her lips met his. “As long as you’re happy.”
“As long as we’re both happy.” After a long, deep kiss, she rested her chin on her fist on his chest. “Speaking of happy, have you spoken to your parents?”
“This is an odd time to bring up my parents.”
“Have you?”
“No. Not since before my trip.”
“I did. Well, your mom, anyway.”
He pressed his head back against the pillow, forehead furrowed. “When did you talk to my mom?”
“Yesterday. She stopped by your house, and ended up at my house doing shots of tequila with my mom.”
His eyebrows rose in disbelief. “My mom was drinking tequila? How in the hell did that happen?”
“My sister knew about you, and she told my mom, whose remedy for a broken heart is to get drunk and cry it out.”
“Okay…?”
“I had just invited your mom over for coffee when my mom showed up, and we all got to talking—”
“Between shots of tequila?”
“Yes, between shots of tequila, and it turns out my mom is shockingly wise when it comes to relationship advice.”
“The woman who’s been divorced four times.”
“I know, right? But she really nailed it, and your mom finally realized that things happened the way they were supposed to happen so she would end up with you and your brothers and sisters. There was more than that, but the gist of it is, she loves your dad and the life they’ve had together, and I’m pretty sure if they haven’t worked things out already, they are in the process.”
“Wow. Really?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s…” He blew out a breath and gave her a tremulous smile. “That’s so good to hear after the past month.”
“I know.” Seeing the emotion in his eyes had her blinking back tears again. “You should probably call them and see how it’s going.”
“Hmm.” He cut his gaze to the alarm clock on the nightstand, then lifted both his hands to frame her face so he could plant a kiss on her lips. “How about later—when we’re not naked in bed.”
“Yeah,” she agreed with a grin. “I’m good with that.” She held his gaze, and her smile widened as she thought about something he’d said before. “So…whatever it took, hey? What would that have looked like?”
He tucked her hair behind one ear and traced her earlobe. “I was going to start with flowers and chocolate.”
“It’s a good start, but…” She lifted one bare shoulder. “It’s a little generic.”
“Begging would’ve been next. And when that didn’t work—because God knows it didn’t work the first time—I would’ve moved on to brow-beating and kidnapping so—”
She raised her eyebrows.
“—I could seduce you with cake.” He grinned as if proud of having come up with that tactic. “Lots and lots of cake.”