Epilogue

Zack

TWO MONTHS LATER…

I reach across the center console and take Kate’s hand in mine. I give it a short squeeze and tell her, “You look really hot in that dress.”

She snorts at me but squeezes my hand back. “You’re cute when you flatter me.”

“It’s the truth, baby.”

We’re heading to Alex and Sutton’s wedding. It’s going to be outdoors and it’s the middle of July, so while I have to swelter in a suit, Kate not only gets to look hot in that yellow sundress that hits just above her knee and is providing miles of creamy skin to look at, but she gets to stay cool too.

“We need to have a serious discussion,” I tell her as we drive along. Ben is staying over at Michelle’s, who also kindly agreed to watch Violet and Ruby. Michelle is still a pain in the ass sometimes, but at least she’s stopped flirting with me. I think it may be because Kate threatened to throw her out of the house that one time.

“Serious discussion, huh?” she asks with a hint of skepticism in her voice.

“Yup.”

“I’m always serious,” she says in a dramatically serious voice, which makes me roll my eyes.

“You’re never serious.”

“I’m serious about you,” she says sweetly, and fuck, yeah…shit like that she does still causes my heart to trip end over end.

“You know I love you, right?” I ask her, changing subjects slightly.

“Right.”

“And you love me, right?”

“Right,” she says, and then adds, “Lots and lots.”

“And you love Ben?” I push right along.

“Right,” she says emphatically.

Yes, I love Kate and Kate loves me. We both love Ben to distraction.

The I-Love-Yous were exchanged between me and Kate on the evening of Sutton and Alex’s party. After seven months of having my head in my ass following the accident, three of which I was oblivious to the way Kate was lighting up my life, and after coming to the stunning conclusion that it was Kate that was what was missing from my total and complete happiness, there couldn’t have been anything else I would tell her other than “I love you.”

Of course, I told her that after I had just come supremely hard while lodged deep inside of her, my body still shuddering over what that woman did to me. Even though she should have been flush and sedate after two orgasms, she started crying—again—but was able to choke out an “I love you” back to me.

She was fucking adorable and my heart never had felt fuller.

Things have moved quickly the last two months between us. The first order of business was to get her ass moved back into my house so we could make it “our” house.

There was a little stumbling block to making that happen, though, and that came in the form of a six-foot-six-inch goalie by the name of Ryker Evans. We had quite an argument over Kate and her living arrangements one night over pizza and beers.

I wanted Kate to move in with me. End of story.

Ryker wanted her to stay there because, in his words, “It’s her job, Zack. She’s a live-in nanny.”

Whatever.

Kate ended up being the voice of reason. She had looked at Ryker and said, “I want to live with Zack. I love him and want to be with him.”

Yeah…I may have been a little childish when I lifted out of my chair, leaned across the table, and pointed at him while taunting, “In your face.”

Kate, however, was not amused by that, and she had me sitting back down in my chair with just one glare. Then she said to me, “But that’s not fair to Ryker. That is my job and I can’t leave him in the lurch.”

Ryker—smug bastard—smirked at me but didn’t want to risk Kate’s wrath, so he kept quiet.

Finally, she suggested two options. She could stay at Ryker’s until he could interview and hire another nanny, which would not leave him high and dry. Or, she suggested, she would move in with me and watch Violet and Ruby over at our house when needed.

Ryker and I both agreed that was the best choice, for now. I’m not sure how that’s going to work in the long run, especially once Kate starts back to school, but we’ll figure it out.

“Did you have a point to clarifying all that ‘I love you’ stuff?” Kate asks, and gets me back on track again.

“Yeah…I did. So back to the serious discussion. I want to have you appointed as Ben’s legal guardian in my absence.”

“Okeydokey,” she says, and I don’t have to look at her to know she’s got a genial smile on her face. “It’s probably good in case I need to take him to the doctor’s or get him out of school or something when you’re traveling during—”

“No,” I tell her…cutting her off. “I mean legal guardian if something happens to me. If I were to die, you would get guardianship of Ben.”

From my peripheral vision, I can see Kate’s head snap my way, and she lets out a gasp. “You want me to take Ben if something were to happen to you?”

I turn briefly to look at her, squeezing her hand again in reassurance. She looks terrified, so I give her a gentle smile before turning back. “Well…yeah. I mean, you’re raising him right along with me. He loves you, you love him, I love both of you. I trust you. Why shouldn’t it be you?”

Kate is silent…digesting my words.

“Of course, I’ll need to talk to my parents and Gina’s. My parents will be okay with it, but I’m not sure about Gina’s. I’d need to assure them that you will keep them involved with Ben and—”