Not Broken: The Happily Ever After(113)

“I won't try to leave again. I want to be here. To be with you.”

“I want you here. Going to sleep with you curled up beside me is the best thing ever. You're a perfect fit.”

She sat up to look at me. “What?”

“You women call it spooning, but the way your body fits curled up next to mine is a perfect fit.” I moved my hand down to the curve of her ass. “Not too much. Not too little. Just right.”

She laughed. “I didn't know it was possible for you to think a woman could have too much ass.”

“Well, in most cases no, but for sleeping, if it's too thick then it’s hard to really get close and comfortable.”

“How much time have you spent trying to find the ‘just right,’ Goldilocks? Wait, nevermind. I don’t think I really want to know how many asses you’ve tested out.”

She tried to move off my lap, but I held her in place. “Aww, baby, don’t be jealous. It’s not like that.”

“It sure sounds like you’ve been on the hunt.”

“No. I wasn’t looking, but the moment I had it, I knew. That very first night you stayed here with me I knew I never wanted to sleep without you again.”

Ginger straddled me, and put her hands on either side of my face. She leaned forward and gave me a soft kiss. “I think that can be arranged.”

I grinned and slid my hands down to her waist, rocking her forward. “What are you saying?”

“Well, you like sleeping with me. I like sleeping with you. You want me here, and I want to be here, so maybe I can stay…on a more permanent basis.”

She squealed when I flipped us so that she was laying beneath me. I smiled down at her, enjoying the radiant one she gave me in return. The look of joy and happiness on her face made my heart swell.

“You wouldn’t be playing with my emotions would you?”

She bit her lip and shook her head. I placed a kiss on the side of her neck, and ran my tongue up to her earlobe. I caught the tender flesh between my teeth. “You sore?”

She wrapped her legs around my waist. “A little bit.”

“Too sore to celebrate?”

She shook her head.

“Good.”





Chapter 57


Calida





“How are you today, Calida?”

Dr. Carr adjusted her glasses on her face. Her braided, black hair was pulled up in a simple bun. She always looked so neat and pulled together.

“I’m well. I think.”

She cocked her head to the side. “That’s an unusual answer. What’s going on?”

I sat back against the chair and crossed my arms in front of my chest. “You ever have buyer’s remorse?”

“Yes. I think it’s natural when you make some big purchase, especially if it’s not a need.”

I gave an absent-minded nod. “I did something, but I’m not so sure it was the right decision.”

“Is this something you want to talk through?”

“I told Malcolm I’d move in with him. Officially. I’d been staying with him, but knew I had an out as it were.”

“That’s a big step.”

I nodded again, shifting in my seat. “He’d said something that upset me, and I left, ran away from him. You’ll be proud of me…I went back so we could talk it through. Anyway, by the end of it, I said I’d move in.”

Since telling Malcolm I’d move in with him, I couldn’t shake the nagging, anxious, unsettled tingle in the back of my mind. I didn’t want to think I regretted it, but at the same time something kept me from being a hundred percent happy about it.

“Not running away from him and talking through your feelings is a positive step. If that’s what you wanted to do.”

“Huh? Oh...no, well, I mean yes. He wanted me to stay, asked me to, but ultimately he let me leave. I got down the street and turned back. He wanted me to stay, but he didn’t force me.”

Dr. Carr smiled and nodded. “Good. So, you stayed, talked, and ended up agreeing to move in with him. Had he asked before?”

“Not directly, but he made it no secret that the house was for us. For the life he wants to have with me.”

I held my tongue on the other part of what he wanted. Marriage. Malcolm wasn’t pressuring in his desires, but he wasn’t secretive about them either. Knowing what he wanted out of this relationship remained in the back of my mind at all times.

“Okay, so the decision to live together was your choice?”

I nodded.

“But now you regret that choice?”

“Regret sounds so negative. I like being there with him. I like the house way more than the place I shared with Seth. It fits me and my personality better. Something has just felt different since agreeing. I don’t know what, or why, but it’s there.” I got up from the chair to walk around. “It doesn’t make sense. I’m not making any sense.”

“Have you talked to Malcolm about how you feel?”

I turned to look at her. “Hell no. You’d think he’d just won the lottery or something when I told him. He was so damned happy. If he knew I was having second thoughts—nope, that’s what I pay you for. To fix it so I can go home and be happy.”