Pushing us until I was on my back and he was hovering over me, he shook his head in wonder. “Again, where did you come from?”

I placed my hands back on his neck and searched his face. “I’ve been right here, waiting for you to come crashing into our lives.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “Reagan . . . I love you.”

My mouth opened, and it felt like my body was being pricked by millions of needles that were either ice cold or scorching hot. I couldn’t figure out which. My heart began racing, and I was trying to figure out if I’d imagined those words that were replaying themselves over and over again. “You—­”

“Love you,” he finished for me.

My mouth stretched into a wide grin seconds before I brought his face to mine. “I love you too,” I breathed against his lips, and kissed him again.

His tongue brushed against mine and I whimpered into his mouth when he pulled my body off the bed. Wrapping his arms tightly around my waist, he deepened the kiss for a few more moments before pulling back and placing a gentle kiss on the end of my nose.

“Maybe someday I’ll be able to tell you what happened. For now, this is all I need.”

“Okay.” I sighed contentedly. Turning my head to look at the clock, I frowned. I wasn’t ready for this time to end, even if only for a ­couple hours.

Coen’s face held the same displeasure I felt. “Do I get to see you today? Or do you have things you have to get done?”

Grabbing the ends of my hair, I nervously played with them and bit down on my cheek as I thought for a second. “What if you didn’t leave?”

Coen’s fingers went under my chin to lift my head until we were staring at each other. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what if you were here when I woke up Parker, and while he got ready—­”

His dark eyes widened. “Can I take him to school?”

His question shocked me, and my head jerked back. I’d been worried he still wasn’t ready for Parker to know he stayed the night; I definitely hadn’t been prepared for that. “You—­you want to take him to school?”

“Well, I mean, you would come with us. But, if it’s okay, I’d like to.”

“It’s okay,” I said softly.

“I’ll take you to get coffee after, and then we can do whatever you want for the rest of the day.”

I raised my eyebrows at him. “Whatever I want? Why do I feel like you’re trying to bribe me into getting your way?”

“Because I want nothing more than to come back here and spend the day in this bed with you. Is it working?”

I smiled wryly at him and crawled off his lap. “Oh yeah. Keep it up, Steele. Now put some clothes on, I have to wake up Parker.”

Grabbing my pajama pants and tight V-­neck I’d been wearing before Coen had torn them off last night, I slipped them back on and watched as he searched for his clothes. Watching him walk around my bedroom was enough of a distraction for what was about to happen, and I so needed the distraction.

Parker hadn’t mentioned the whole dad thing to Coen since that first day nearly a month ago, and Coen and I hadn’t talked about it again. I was ready for this—­ready for Coen to not have to rush out in the mornings he stayed over, and ready for Parker to start getting used to the idea. But being the first time, I was still scared. Parker could think this meant Coen was going to be his dad, he might not handle it well . . . so many things could happen.

“Ready to see how he handles this?”

I laughed at Coen’s worried expression, glad I wasn’t the only one freaking out about this. “Ready.”

Walking out of my room and down the hall, I opened Parker’s door and stepped in. Coen stopped just on the inside of the door frame and leaned up against it, and I was glad he’d been the one to make that decision. Because I couldn’t figure out if he should be out in the kitchen, in here with me, or hiding in my bedroom for the next ­couple hours.

Sitting down on the bed, I rubbed my hand over Parker’s back and crooned, “Wake up, buddy. Parker. Wake up.”

He rolled over so he was facing me and rubbed at his face.

“Hi, honey.”

“Morning, Mom.” Looking over, he waved. “Morning, Coen.”

“Morning, bud,” Coen’s deep voice trickled into the room, and something about this scene felt so right to me that I had to sit there trying to swallow past the tightness in my throat before I could speak again.

“Time to get up and get ready for school, okay?”

Rolling out of bed, he shuffled over to Coen and grabbed his hand as he tried to pull him out of the room. “I want cereal, please.”

Coen looked over at me and smiled before allowing Parker to pull him into the hall. His voice trailing off as he said, “Whatever you want.”

I just sat there as I tried to comprehend what had happened. It had been incredibly anticlimactic for how nervous Coen and I had been, but it had also been beyond perfect. With a smile on my face, I stood and walked out of Parker’s room to join them in the kitchen, where Coen was getting Parker’s breakfast.

Chapter Ten

Reagan—­October 27, 2010

I FLASHED A grateful smile at the secretary as she came in to hand me a stack of papers, and continued talking to one of our bigger clients.

“I just sent it over to you; let me know what you think.”

As I waited for his response, I flipped quickly through the requests before putting them in the inbox.