Puck (Broken Hill Boys 1)

Joy shines through her eyes and I find myself kissing her once again. “I love you too,” she murmurs between our kisses, the words getting scrambled between crushed lips.

When I finally give her a chance to collect herself, I duck down and grab her clothes before handing them over and watching as she puts herself back together. “Do you have to watch me dress?’ she laughs, clasping her bra behind her back.

“Damn straight, I do,” I tell her, putting myself back inside my jeans and fixing my belt. “You’re fucking gorgeous. I don’t want to miss even a second of it.”

Courtney rolls her eyes and a flush spreads over her cheeks that has me wanting to do it all over again, but not wanting to rush her and take things somewhat slowly, I scoop my shirt up off the ground instead.

“You know,” Courtney says as she hoists herself down from the shelf, putting herself right in front of me as she grins up at me, taking my hands in her. “You didn’t need to go to such extremes. I would have still said yes if you asked me without the whole school watching.”

“I know, but it was necessary,” I explain. “I’ve spent years being the guy who never had a girlfriend and I built a reputation on it, then a few weeks ago, I hurt you when I told you we weren’t going to happen and it killed me when I realized that I was trying to protect some ridiculous part of whom I thought I wanted to be.”

“What do you mean?” she whispers.

“That’s not who I am anymore. Maybe it never was and I wanted to prove that to you. It’s important for me that you know that I’m all in and I wanted to show you that. Now every girl in this place knows that I’m yours and every guy knows that you’re mine. There’s no going back for me, Court, I’m all in and what better way of proving it than declaring it in front of the whole school?”

“All in?” she questions with hope.

“All fucking in, babe,” I tell her. “Now, what do you say I take you out for lunch and take you back to my place so we can do that all over again?”

“My, oh my,” she teases, reaching for the door handle. “I never realized you were such a romantic.”

“Shut up,” I laugh, watching as she steps out of the supply closet with a wide grin. I follow behind her, watching her ass as she walks before tugging on her arm and pulling her back in beside me.

“You know,” she murmurs low to keep our conversation private. “We could skip the whole ‘lunch’ thing and go straight back to your place…”

I raise a brow, looking down at her. “You sure, babe?”

Courtney shrugs as a mischievous grin spreads across her face. “I mean, as long as there’s pizza in it for me afterward then I’m down.”

“Fuck me,” I laugh. “You’ve got yourself a deal.”

And just like that, I lead her straight down to my car and spend the rest of my afternoon showing her over and over again just how much she means to me.

Epilogue

Courtney

Six Years Later

I curl Decan into my arms, looking down at my son with such adoration. He’s going to be two next month and I’m not going to lie, it’s been challenging. Decan is hard work. He’s like a little fireball of energy that just doesn’t stop going, except for times like this where his temperature is soaring and he’s screaming out in pain.

It kills me to see him like this. His big blue eyes that look so much like his daddies are filled with unshed tears and all he wants to do is crawl into bed beside me so I can hold him until the pain settles.

I get up off the couch, propping him on my hip as I go, knowing that there’s no way in hell he’s about to let me leave him behind. I make my way into our messy kitchen that’s been begging for a clean since last night when Decan’s fever first hit and I get him some pain-killers, hoping that this can help him settle into his afternoon nap so I can get a bit of work done and possibly clean the house while I’m at it.

I’ve been an interior designer for the past few years and just as I graduated college and went to find a job, I found out I was pregnant which is when Puck suggested starting my own business. It was hard at first, but I quickly worked it out, and I’m not going to lie, working from home has been incredible, especially when Decan was first born.

After fighting with Decan for a few minutes and tricking him into taking his medicine, I head back over to the couch and rock him in my arms until he falls into a much-needed sleep. I place him down in his little bed and stand back while watching him sleep.