After You (Because of You 2)

I nod, watching tentatively. Moving in wasn’t a problem, I figured she would be on board for that part. It’s the adoption I’m less certain of.

“What about my old mom?” she asks.

“Well, since she lives so far away and she wasn’t really ready to become a parent when she did

, she said it would be okay with her if we wanted to do it. All of us just want what’s best for you, and we thought maybe a mom who is here for you and who wants to be in your life forever might be more beneficial than one who lives far away and doesn’t really fill the role for you.”

Her eyes move across the table as she considers this, then snap to mine again. There’s no sadness in her tone, only matter-of-factness, and that makes my heart hurt. “What happens if you decide to leave, like she did?”

Placing my hand over hers on the table, I shake my head. “Never. Never ever. If I adopt you, you’re my daughter for real and forever. No matter what happens, that would never change. Even if things didn’t work out between me and your daddy—”

“Excuse me?” Derek interrupts, cocking an eyebrow.

“Which of course won’t happen,” I add to appease him.

“Damn right, it won’t,” he mutters.

Turning my attention back to Cassidy, I say, “But even if it didn’t, you would still be my daughter, and I would never leave you. Normally when parents split up, the mother doesn’t leave her children. Your mother is…” The worst. An evil, conniving slut bag. My least favorite person in the whole universe. “…an exception.”

Nodding rather easily, all things considered, she says, “Okay, you can adopt me.”

“Yeah?”

She nods, then looks pointedly at the crayon I abandoned on the table. “It’s your turn.”

“First I want to give you something,” I tell her, dragging the little white box close.

Cassidy brightens. “A present?”

“Yep. I figured a proposal should probably come with accompanying jewelry.” Lifting the top off the box, I tilt the silver necklace to show her. It’s a double heart necklace—a big heart to represent the mom, and a smaller heart to represent the daughter. On the back there is an inscription that reads, “My daughter, always a part of my heart.” It is intended for an adult, but I bought a smaller chain and swapped them in the car so I can draw it right out of the box and fasten it around her tiny neck.

“Ooh, it’s so pretty,” she says, tipping her head down and looking at it around her neck. “We should take a picture,” she informs me.

I smile, reaching into my purse for my phone. “We could do that.”

Derek holds up his phone. “I’ve got it. I’m always ready to take a picture of my girls,” he says with a wink at me.

His girls. My heart fills up and I squeeze Cassidy with a big, cheesy smile on my face. She giggles and Derek snaps the picture. She reaches across the table and grabs his phone to make sure it’s a “good one.” It’s not just a good one, it’s perfect.

---

I am trying my damndest to get through the first chapter of Derek’s naked bedtime story, but his proposed touching rule is already becoming a problem. From the first utterance of the first word in the first paragraph, he began eyeing me wolfishly. I managed to flip a page before his big, rough hand covered my bare breast.

I’m about halfway through the chapter when he takes touching to a new level, prying my legs apart and sliding a finger inside me.

“Derek Noble,” I reprimand, cocking an eyebrow at him.

Sliding his finger deeper, he reminds me, “Touching is allowed. I’m not breaking any rules. I can get you off while you read about this crazy chick eating a stranger’s Twizzlers. Who does that?”

“I warned you everyone in this book was crazy,” I state. “If you’re expecting anything else, you should adjust your expectations accordingly before we proceed.”

“All I’m saying is, she’s gonna get murdered.”

“Maybe,” I say, reaching down to push his hand from between my legs. “But unless you let me finish at least a chapter a night, it really will be a year before you find out. We’re halfway there. You can handle a few more minutes before sex.”

“Unlike Joe,” he mutters. “This asshole’s ready to fuck her because she has a broken phone. This book is weird.”

“It is delightfully weird,” I agree. “Embrace the weird and take the journey.”