Three hard swallows and a swipe of my thumbs across my cheeks, I finally looked at him. His eyes searched mine, gentle and tender and oh so filled with love. They truly were. They were just filled with love.
But I wasn't sure if it was because of Lexi or if it was because of me …
"Both," he whispered.
I tilted my head to the side in confusion.
"I love you, and I love Lexi. I love you both."
"What am I supposed to do with that, Wes? You told me you didn't want this, us. You told me you couldn't handle it."
"I was an idiot," he answered, not the least bit prideful. "You scared me, Win. You are so strong and so beautiful, and every day I was falling more in love with you. Every day, my feelings for you got stronger, deeper, more intense. Just one glimpse of your soft smile or to hear your rare, girlish giggle was enough to melt my heart. It all happened so fast. One day I'm content with everything in my life, and the next, there you are making it all seem like sh-crap."
He reached his hand out and caressed my cheek. "But I'm not scared anymore. I'm ready. I'm all in. I want you and I want Lex and I want us to be the family we shouldn't have ever stopped being. I want to continue falling more in love with you every day. I need you, Winnie. I need you and I love you and I will do whatever it takes to win you back."
I couldn't help but grin at his choice of words. "Win me back?"
"I'm really hoping this is going to end up a Win-Win kind of scenario, sweetheart." He grinned. "I'm hoping you'll forgive me, and I'm hoping you'll let me love you for always. I never want to go a day without you."
My heart couldn't deny that everything he was saying was truth. He was pouring his heart and soul out for me, and I knew with every fiber of my being that this was Wes.
He was handing me his heart. He was giving me everything.
"I love you, too, Wes," I whispered, choked up on the sheer volume of how much I meant those words. It was an all-consuming kind of love, an I can't go back from this kind of love.
He pressed a soft kiss to my lips. "Enough to let me be your boyfriend again?"
I giggled and nodded.
"Enough to let me propose to you some day in the very near future?"
I nodded again.
"Enough to let me be your husband?"
My breath got caught in my lungs, but I still managed to nod while my heart was literally staring back at him through my eyes.
"Enough to let me call Melinda to watch Lexi so we can have a little time to ourselves?"
I raised an eyebrow. "A little time?"
"A lot of time?" he asked with a sexy smirk.
"How about all night?" I countered.
"All. Night. Long?"
I kissed him softly and whispered against his lips, "You bet your sweet ass you're going to be Lionel Richie-ing me all night long."
He chuckled. "God, I love you, Win."
"Save it for tonight," I whispered and stood up from my seat. "All right, Lexi Lou, we need to leave here in two minutes."
She crinkled her icing-covered nose. "Where, Mommy?"
"You get to hang out with Melinda today."
"Yay!" she squealed and hopped up from her seat a lot quicker than I expected. "Let's go now!" She yanked her little coat off the chair and had it on faster than I could've said, Okay. And her little legs were already heading in the direction of the door.
Wes stood directly behind me and held my jacket open so I could easily slip my arms inside. The second I was bundled up in my black pea coat, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my back tight to his chest. "All night long … " he started to quietly sing the chorus into my ear. "All night long … " He punctuated that statement by softly kissing the sensitive spot behind my ear, before patting my ass and ushering me out the door.
Bossy bastard.
Goddammit, I love him.
"Oh, Jesus," I exclaimed as I rounded the corner from the elevators at Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas and came face-to-nipple with Cassie's obnoxiously large breast. Coral coloring coated the walls, accents of sea life abounding-I knew from the hours we'd already spent here-but right then, I couldn't see any of it.
Thatch hovered over Cassie's shoulder, looking on as his son Ace got ready to feed, but at my shout, his head jerked up and, when he saw the direction of my gaze, his eyes got bubbly with rage. I knew my own had to look nearly schizophrenic.
"Breastfeeding shaming, bro? Not cool."
"What?" I panicked. "No!" I looked to my side to try to enlist Winnie-clad in nothing more than a bikini, cover-up, and my avid affection-in my defense, but she was too busy trying not to choke on her chortle.
Traitor.
"I figured, with you basically being a father and all, this is the kind of thing you'd understand."
I shook my head with a little laugh. "Lexi's six." How was she relevant to my understanding of breastfeeding?
"Did I ask for her age?" Thatch threatened at a near shout. I held up both hands in a peacemaking
gesture.
"I'm not shaming anything," I tried to explain. "Breastfeeding is beautiful."
Winnie squeaked, and I flashed hard eyes in her turncoat direction before looking back to a still brooding Thatch.
"I'm just offended by your wife's breasts."
Not good, Wes. Not good.
"Oh shit, baby!" Winnie snapped under her breath. "Are you trying to get killed?"
"Excuse me!" Cassie snapped. Thatch stood up abruptly off the wall, all casual anger gone, and I retreated a few steps while attempting to do the same with my words.
"No, no, no! She's got a great rack. Seriously. Especially since the baby."
Winnie grabbed me by the forearm and pulled my attention to her. "Should I step away? Dig that hole any goddamn bigger, and I'm going to fall inside!"
With a scoop of my arm, my instincts engaged, I pulled Winnie behind me as a form of protection. "There's nothing wrong with her breastfeeding!" I finally got out. "I'm just saying, for me, as one of your best friends, it feels a little incestuous to get a good view of your wife's … " I nodded in the direction of the evil, tongue-tying, baby-feeders and finished, "That's all."
Winnie gave me a condescending pat on the back just as Thatch's happy face returned.
"Oh. Well, why didn't you just say so?" he asked, and Winnie dissolved into all-out hysteria behind me.
Christ. I'd just woken up, and I already needed a nap. And this was supposed to feel like a vacation. A working vacation, anyway.
We'd just turned to leave Thatch and Cassie before I could swallow my foot any goddamn deeper when it hit me.
I turned back so quickly, Winnie tripped as I threw her off balance. "All right," she complained. "Is the whole trip going to be like this?"
I smiled and shook my head before kissing her cheek in apology. "I'm sorry."
She smiled so big, I nearly fell in love all over again. Of course, when I get lost in it, forgetting all about everything else I wanted to say to any other stupid people on the planet, it grew. "Wes," she called in an attempt to break me from my lovesick trance.
Oh. Right.
I turned back toward the place where Thatch and Cassie were … only they were gone.
"What the fuck?" I asked as Winnie started to laugh.
"I didn't imagine that, right?" I asked, afraid hallucinations had set in.
"Nope. They're here. Or they were."
"What are they doing here?" I asked. She shrugged one bare shoulder.
"Crashing the trip?"
"Ah, Christ."
"Hey, guys!" Georgia shouted with a wave as she and Kline stepped off of the elevator.
"Ah, double Christ," I amended, and Winnie laughed again, remarking, "You're funnier than you used to be."
I bobbed my head side to side and mock laughed as she practically skipped over to our friends and pulled Georgia into a hug. For the first time maybe ever, it seemed like Winnie Winslow was completely happy-and I'd had a part in that.
God, it feels good.
I walked toward the group more slowly, but smiling all the same. Kline reached out and took my hand and then slapped my back in one of those manly hugs.
"Did you guys know that Thatch and Cassie are here?" I asked.
"Here?" Kline questioned for confirmation. "At Atlantis?"
I laughed at the look on his face and sank my hands into my pockets. "I'll take that as a no."
"Casshead's here?" Georgia squealed. "Does she have the baby?"
Winnie started laughing so hard that it came out silent. When she finally got herself together, it was she who answered. "Oh, yeah. She's got the baby. Right, Wes?"
I narrowed my eyes in a death stare.
"What am I missing here?" Kline asked, and I waved him off.
"Absolutely nothing," I said at the same time that Winnie spoke, side eyes on me. "I'll tell you all about it later."