Page 131 of His to Cherish
Epilogue
Aidan
OCTOBER
I stood on the deck, looking out over the three acres of land that was now mine—ours—and, not for the first time since the house had been built, I wished Derrick were here to see this.
He would have loved to see me smiling right now. Although knowing Derrick, he’d also be giving me crap for being so damn in love with a woman.
I couldn’t help it.
Chelsea was someone I had wanted for two years and had never had the balls to really get to know. The first time I met her, at Derrick’s middle school registration night, her eyes had been cloaked in sadness and hesitancy when I attempted—horribly—to flirt with her. Something about her eyes and her wounded expression told me it wasn’t a good time, so I figured I’d wait, that time would give me another opportunity to talk to her.
I’d had my chances. I’d had plenty of them. Yet I’d always waited, so determined to wait until Derrick was in high school and it felt like a better time. I didn’t want my son seeing his dad’s girlfriend at school, even if he really did like her. It screamedawkwardfor everyone.
If I had known the future, I would have taken my chances earlier.
Fuck the social constructs that could have judged us for being together then.
Chelsea soothed some part of me that others didn’t understand, not even Declan or David. Now I knew it was due to her own pain and loss, but at the time I just thought she was my angel come to keep me company and fill me with an odd sense of peace that night on my patio after Derrick’s funeral.
When I thought back, I still felt like a dick for how I treated her. How I ignored her when it suited me, lashed out at her when I knew I could, and said horrible shit about her because I was too big a coward to stand up to Mandy.
But somehow, through it all, Chelsea had been patient. She loved me quietly. She loved me loudly.
She loved me exactly how I needed her to, somehow having an instinct to read me and my ever-changing, flip-flopping moods with just a look.
She was amazing.
And she was mine.
It made me the luckiest bastard in the entire world, and she’d given so much to me, I wanted to give her everything she wanted.
Even a child. Someday. If we could and when I was ready.
But I could already imagine this house filled with laughter and squeals and dirty feet as they ran through the land I had bought and where I had built Chelsea’s dream home.
She just didn’t know it was ours yet.
“There you are,” she said, her voice full of surprise at finally finding me.
I was exactly where I wanted to be when she did, too.
Turning around, I didn’t fight my smile or the way I stared at her like I wanted to rip off her clothes and make love to her until she was screaming my name.
She was used to me staring at her like this, but I still loved the way a blush crept up her neck and filled her cheeks before she moved toward me.
Her light blue eyes glazed over as she caught my look.
“Hey, babe,” I told her, wrapping her in my arms.
“I came here right after school, like your message said.” She leaned up and pressed her lips against mine. My hand tangled in the back of her hair, pressing her to me. God, she was perfect. She was always so soft, her gold-spun hair like silk. She melted into my arms and relaxed into my kiss and my sometimes overly firm hold on her like there was nowhere else she’d rather be in the entire world.
When she pulled back, she smacked my chest. “Oh, and before I forget, tell David to stop bugging Camden. Everything’s been so awkward between them ever since Tyson and Blue’s wedding.”
I chuckled and shook my head, because we all knew what had happened, even though no one admitted it.
David had been after Camden for months before then, and I knew something had happened between them when he took her to his hotel room during the reception. Hard not to be swayed romantically by Tyson and Blue’s spur-of-the-moment Caribbean beach wedding, to which they had flown all of their friends and Tyson’s family. Even Camden had loosened up, and once she had, David took his chance. Now the guy showed no sign of stopping.
