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“That’s for me to decide.”

I nodded and took a deep breath. “I do love you, Gina, and if you want me, I’m in this for the rest of our lives.”

“I should be mad at you,” she said as she stood up and approached me. She reached up to cup my face with her hands. “But I love you for putting aside your happiness for your family.”

“Does that mean that you’ll take me back?”

Gina smiled and leaned into me as I wrapped my arms around her. “Of course.”

I grinned and stood, picking her up and spinning her around in a tight hug. She laughed and wrapped her legs around my waist.

“I love you, Gina.”

“I love you too.”

When I captured her mouth in a searing kiss, all felt right with the world. Her hands sank into my hair, holding me to her as I carried her across the beach and into the house.

I nipped at her bottom lip, and our tongues tangled as I took her down the hall. She moaned as I spun and pinned her against the wall, rolling her hips and grinding her core against my hardened cock.

With a groan, I pressed harder against her, kissing my way down her throat and across the tops of her breasts. Her fingers kept running through my hair as she writhed against me.

“Don’t tease me,” she said as my hands trailed over her hips and beneath her shirt. “Take me to bed and love me.”

My heart pounded against my ribcage as I pulled us away from the wall and carried her into the bedroom. Our mouths slanted together, only parting long enough to take off our clothes before we fell to bed.

I hovered over Gina, looking at how her hair fanned around her like a halo. She warmly looked up at me as she hooked a leg over my hip.

With a roll of my hips, I teased her, my cock grazing against her clit. She raised her hips, her back arching off the bed.

I kissed her as I pushed inside of her, burying myself to the hilt. Her inner walls clenched around me while her nails raked down my back.

A shiver ran down my spine as I started thrusting. The strokes were long and slow at first as I worshipped her body with my mouth, kissing and nipping her skin until she was writhing beneath me and soaking my cock.

I rocked my hips faster as I sucked on the sensitive skin at her collarbone. Her fingers dug into my shoulders, and her ankles locked behind my back.

She met me thrust for thrust until we both collapsed to the bed in a sweaty pile, satisfied and in love.

I pulled her into my embrace, holding her tight against my body as if I was worried she would disappear at any moment.

When I started running my hands over her body, reaching up to massage her breasts, toying with her stiff nipples, she rolled over to look at me.

“If you keep doing that, we’ll never leave this bed.”

I slipped a hand between her thighs, teasing her clit. “I think that sounds great to me.”

Gina laughed and wriggled away from me, getting out of bed and heading to the washroom. “Amalia is going to be here in a couple of hours, so we can spend the night hanging out together.”

I groaned and fell back into the pillows. “I could think of better ways of spending our first night back together.”

Gina smirked at me from the doorway. “Well, I was going to invite you to shower with me if you don’t want to.”

I sprang up from the bed and followed her. Her sweet laughter had warmth spreading throughout me. I grinned as I followed her, feeling like the luckiest man in the world.

Our relationship may not have been conventional, but it was perfect.

Gina

One Year Later

As Brandon drove, I sang along with the radio, enjoying the sun beating down from above while our son screamed in the backseat. But, of course, there was nothing wrong with him — he was just in that phase where babies loved calling.

I could only do nothing about it but listen to my favorite songs and try to relax.

“I don’t know why you can’t tell me what the surprise is,” I said as I looked over at Brandon.

“Because I still want it to be a surprise. If I tell you what it is, that defeats the purpose.”

“Are we getting close?”

“Not too far now.” Brandon chuckled and reached over to take my hand. “You’re going to love it.”

Brandon pressed a button on the steering wheel, turning the music up louder so I would stop asking him questions. Instead, I laughed and rolled my eyes before continuing to sing along.

I didn’t care where we were going. On the contrary, I was happy we were together — especially now that Maverick was asleep.

I twisted in my seat to look at our perfect baby. He was only a few months, and he was the love of my life. The moment I held him in my arms for the first time, I knew that my love for him could never compare to my love for anyone else.

Brandon squeezed my hand as he turned into a driveway. My mouth dropped open as I saw my dream house before me. It was the first home he and I had ever toured together. It backed onto the woods, and there was a massive yard.

The house was far more significant than anyone would ever need, but it was beautiful inside. Everything was sleek and modern. Windows made up most of the walls.

The natural light in every room was one of my favorite things about the place.

“Welcome home,” Brandon said.

“You bought the dream house?” I asked, looking over at him with tears in my eyes.

“I thought that our little family might need a bigger house.”

“Brandon, this place was over five million dollars.”

He shrugged and parked the car, looking over at me. “It was worth it. This is going to be the house that we grow old in. I wanted it to be everything that you wanted.”

I leaned over and kissed him quickly before getting out of the car. It took a minute to get Maverick out of his seat and bundled back into his little jacket, but once I did, we took off toward the house.

I couldn’t believe it as I stood in the front yard, staring at the house. I had fallen in love with this house from the first moment I saw it; now it was mine.

“There’s something else you need to know,” Brandon said as twigs crunched in the grass behind me with his approach.

I turned to face him only to find him on one knee with a little box in his hand.

My free hand flew to my mouth as I held Maverick with the other arm. Tears sprang to my eyes as Brandon flipped open the lid to the little box and showed me a ring nestled inside.

“Gina, you brought love back into my life when I thought I was destined to be alone. I’ve never met anyone like you. Someone whose ambition rivals mine and who has the guts to go after everything she wants regardless of what might get in the way. Will you marry me?”

“Did you ask Amalia about this?” I asked.

While I wanted to say yes, I knew she supported us to do this. But, unfortunately, our relationship started without her approval; I wouldn’t let our marriage start that way too.

“Just say yes!” Amalia shouted.

I looked around to find her standing behind a tree with a camera in her hand and a massive smile.

When I looked back at Brandon, he shrugged.

“I knew how important it was to you that she would be involved. I wouldn’t dream of marrying again if Amalia wasn’t on board.”

“Then yes,” I said as the tears started to roll down my cheeks. “I’ll marry you.”

Brandon grinned as he stood and took the ring out of the box. He slipped it over my finger before leaning down to kiss me. In the background, Amalia pretended to gag.

When he pulled away, I smiled up at him and wiped my tears.

“This is all too much.”

He shook his head. “Gina, I would give you the moon if I could.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Alright,” Amalia said as she took Maverick from me. “Enough with love. I let the caterers in an hour ago, and we’ll be lucky if Mateo hasn’t eaten all the appetizers yet.”

I looked at one of the windows and saw Mateo standing inside, stuffing a sausage roll into his mouth.

With a smile, I shook my head and followed my family inside.

Our little family may not be conventional, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Falling in love with Brandon had shown me everything I had missed.

Now, my life felt complete.