Shattered King(73)

I stepped farther into the room and spun in a slow circle to take it all in. The double bed was gone, replaced with a twin. It had bright green sheets, and the duvet was bright blue with green, red, and yellow cars all over it. The curtains matched. There was also a shelf on the wall with a stack of books, and the mat on the floor was one of those ones that doubled as a car track. A toy box sat in the corner of the room filled with beautiful new toys.

Shit.

Tears welled up and spilled over. I turned to Hunter. “Who got the toys and books?”

He took in my expression and frowned. “I did, but if you don’t like them, we can get whatever you want . . .”

“Don’t like them?”

“Yeah . . . I . . .”

That’s all he got out because I ran toward him and launched into his arms. He caught me like I knew he would, arms coming around me tight. I wrapped my legs around his waist and clung to him. “I love it. I love all of it.” I pulled back and scattered kisses along his jaw and chin. “Thank you, thank you for doing this for him.” I was rambling. Hot tears were running down my face.

“Fuck, Lulu.” One of his hands went to my ass, the other cupped my jaw. “No more tears, babe. Even happy ones. I don’t want to see you cry anymore. I just want to see that beautiful fucking smile. All I want is to make you happy. Give you and Josh the life you should have been having these last few years, with me.”

I felt a fresh wave of tears gathering, but gave him what he wanted, offering up a watery smile. “Th-thank you.”

He shook his head. “You don’t need to thank me. Looking after you and Josh is my job, my privilege, you understand?” He gave me a squeeze. “I don’t expect a thank you for taking care of my family.”

I started crying all over again. I buried my face against his throat—and bawled.

“Shit,” he rasped and we started moving again.

My eyes were squeezed shut, but I knew where I was as soon as we hit the mattress. Hunter’s body covered mine. God, he smelled good, amazing. Leather and musk and dark spices. His hands went to the sides of my face, into my hair. I forced my eyes open, so I could look at him. He was staring down at me, gaze moving over my face. He brushed my tears away gently, and I couldn’t look away from him. The strong lines of his hard, stubbled jaw, that crooked nose his father had broken when he was just a kid—that sensual mouth.

“I moved your things in here,” he said. “I want you with me from now on.”

“I want that, too.” There was no point denying it or fighting it. This is where I wanted to be. I kept telling myself I was going to leave, that I could walk away, but I was full of shit. I couldn’t. Maybe that made me weak, but there was no other option for me than here with him. Anything else was unacceptable. He wouldn’t let his job, the danger it involved, touch us. He wouldn’t. I had to believe that.

All he’d done for me, for Josh—he hadn’t said it, but he didn’t need to. He loved me—us. He’d shown me in every way possible. He didn’t need to say the words out loud.

His mouth quirked up on one side. “You done crying?”

“I think so.”

“You’re not sure?”

“It depends.”

His smile got a little bigger. “On what?”

“Whether or not you do any more sweet things.” I ran my hand over his muscled back, then down farther and under the soft fabric to his smooth heated skin. “I’m not a crier, but I swear I haven’t cried this much since . . .” I let the rest of the sentence trail off when a memory flashed through my head, of exactly when I cried this much. It wasn’t a good one.

His jaw went hard.

I slid my fingers over his whiskers. “Don’t.”

His eyes were locked on mine, hot and intense, scary intense. “I already said it, but I’ll say it again because I know you’re not letting yourself believe this yet. You, me, Josh, we’re a family.”

“Hunter . . .”

“Which means, I’m Josh’s dad.”

“Hunter . . .” I needed him to stop, or I would start bawling all over again.

“It also means you’re my woman, and I’m your man.”

“Please . . .”

“And I want you naked, in my bed, under me every night, those new fucking sexy curves you got now, pressed against my side. I wanna wake up beside you every morning. Eat breakfast with you every day. Watch movies with you on the couch, then make you come and hold you when you fall asleep after. Then, Lulu, I wanna wake up in the morning and start all over again.”

I sucked a breath in through my nose.