Until Cece (Happily Ever Alpha World)

“You have a deal,” Win says, holding his hand out to her, and she places her little hand in his palm. They shake, and she spins around, her ponytail flying out behind her, and takes off up the stairs.

I turn my narrowed eyes on him.

“One down, two to go,” he taunts, and then his lips are on mine, right there on my front porch in the middle of the afternoon for the whole world to see.

A few minutes later, Winston is sitting on one of the new barstools I picked up at Walmart for the kitchen island, and I’m adding the sugar to the tea I just made. The steam rises from the jug, and I stir it until the sugar melts, and then I take it over to the new refrigerator Talon installed a couple days ago and start to fill the gallon with cold water.

“Did the girls not go to school today? Nick doesn’t get out for another hour,” he asks, and I look at him over my shoulder.

“I was a bad mom today and let them stay home. I just… needed them close after last night, you know?” I shrug one shoulder.

“Naekkeo, that is the opposite of being a bad mom. And I completely understand. When things like that happen, when your mortality is spotlighted in a way you can’t ignore, it can affect you for quite some time,” he tells me, and it makes me feel better.

But I have to ask, “So you’ve had more than one hit put on your head in your lifetime?”

He lifts a brow, one corner of his lips turning up. “No, but being in the military, my mortality was highlighted more times than I cared to count when I was deployed.”

I squint at him. “But you were a cook,” I point out, confused, bringing the jug to the island so I can stir it.

“I was a cook in the middle of a warzone, baby. I lost track of how many times our base was either shot up or even bombed,” he explains, and my eyes go wide.

“Seriously?” I squeak.

He nods. “Seriously.”

I put the top on the jug and grab two of the six new plastic cups I got from the dollar store out of the cupboard that still needs to be painted, filling them with ice. I pour us each some sweet tea and slide one across the island to him.

“How did it affect you? I mean, since you said it can for quite some time,” I prompt, curious to delve deeper into this man’s psyche. I’ve always, always found Win interesting, fascinating really. He’s taught me so many things since I met him, and I can’t wait to learn so much more.

His eyebrows bounce once as he looks toward the ceiling then back at me. “Well, it was a major reminder that life is short. I think that’s why when Corina got pregnant, I didn’t really think it all the way through when I agreed to marry her. And when I signed the prenup. I was thinking short-term. In that moment, it was the right thing to do—at least according to her and my family. It was… like the next step, you know? I was in the military. I went to college. I opened my restaurant. I was in my thirties, so getting married and having kids was like… the next thing on the life to-do list. I did everything right, in the ‘smart’ order, or whatever.” He shakes his head and sighs.

I nod. “I can understand that.”

He looks at me closely over the rim of his cup as he takes a drink. “I guess that played a part in my pursuing you too, even though I knew it was horrible timing and could stir up a shitstorm of trouble.”

“How so?” I ask, bending at the waist and placing my elbows on the counter, lacing my fingers together.

His eyes fall to my chest before rising to my eyes once again, and I become hyper-aware of just how deep the V-neck of my comfy T-shirt is. But I don’t make a move to hide my cleavage from him, no longer worried about someone seeing us flirt. It feels… liberating.

“Well, the mortality thing calling attention to how short life is. Did I really want to waste three years of my life waiting for the prenup to be null and void? I know you didn’t want me to, but I was willing to give up everything to be with you. And—”

“I couldn’t let you do that, Win—” I try to interrupt, but he cuts me off as well.

“No, no, let me finish, Cece. I know you didn’t want me to. I know that. I know the guilt would’ve eaten you alive, so I was willing to wait for you. I was going to wait it out. But in my heart, I knew I would’ve given it all up if you couldn’t wait for me. We have no idea how long we get on this earth. We have no clue if we’d even be alive when those three years were up. Did I really want to waste all that time I could’ve been spending with you?” He shakes his head. “The answer was a resounding no.”