I flung myself forward, wrapping my arms around him and almost sending us both toppling to the floor. His arms went around me, holding me so tightly I couldn't draw in breath.
"Tell me," he said, almost desperately.
"Tell you what?" I asked, pulling against his hold so I could look in his eyes.
"Tell me you love me," he demanded, needy and I don't think I ever loved him more. "I need to hear it."
I smiled slowly, putting my hands on either side of his face, leaning down and planting a quick kiss on his lips. "I love you, you asshole."
He smiled, rolling his eyes. "There's my girl."
"So," I said, looking at him, "this is going to be complicated."
"Yup," he agreed.
"With my job and Myra and Caleb. Like... should I like... look into getting an apartment in Stars Landing? Because I think it would be weird for me to stay over when Caleb and..."
"You know," he broke in, his hands moving to my lower back. "I've been told that if there's a problem, that I should probably just defer it to Myra. Apparently she's always five steps ahead of me."
"She has a plan?" I asked, wanting to know it. Wanting to know everything. If it was going to work, it had to be thought about and settled. For Myra's and Caleb's and all of our sakes.
"Yes. So you don't need to worry about it. Besides," he said, his hands slipping down on my ass, "there's a lot of things I'd rather be doing than talking right now."
"Oh, really?" I asked, trying to sound innocent and flirtatious at the same time. And probably failing, but I was trying. "Like what?"
"Like this," he said, his hand moving to snake up my leg, grabbing my panties and ripping them off.
"That's a good idea," I said, leaning forward and kissing his neck.
"And this," he said, reaching between us for a second. Then his cock was pressing against me, pushing hard against my slick entrance. "And this," he said, thrusting forward and burying deep inside me.
"Definitely better than talking," I said against his neck, moving my hips to match his rhythm, fast, needy. I was going to get this, get him, as much as I wanted, every day for the rest of my life. And I had the distinct feeling that I would never get tired of it.
Who would ever have thought that anxious, cautious, boring, bookish Cordelia Cameron would be the woman who got to have the love of a man like Dane freaking Broderick?
Twenty-five
Cordelia
We went back to Stars Landing three days later. Dane was anxious about being away from Caleb and I had no reason to stay in the city.
We made our way up the stairs to his apartment, him excited and happy to see his son, me feeling like my usual ball of nerves. In concept, I could see how this worked. But in reality, I just didn't get it. What? Were we supposed to be like one big happy family? Mommy, daddy, baby and... daddy's bedtime buddy?
Dane walked into the apartment, looking around with a shocked face and yelling loudly. "Myra!" Because his entire apartment was covered. The furniture was draped with painter's blankets, the kitchen had tarps covering all of the counters and appliances. There was sawdust and Sheetrock dust everywhere.
"I love what you've done with the place," I smiled, coming up behind him.
He lowered his eyes at me, calling out for Myra more furiously.
She came out of the nursery a moment later, her face a mask of perfect innocence but there was a light in her eyes and she was fighting to keep a smile off her lips. "Oh, hey Dane. You're back."
"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm back. What the fuck did you do to the apartment?"
She ignored him, smiling warmly at me. "Hey Cordelia. I'm glad you're back."
"Me too," I agreed, smiling. "If for no other reason than to see that look on his face," I said, nodding at him.
"Okay, stop with the chitter-chatter," he broke in. "Is that a fucking door?" he asked, moving toward the bedrooms. "Why is there a door here?"
Myra laughed, moving to stand next to me, watching him swing open the door in question and look through, then look back at her, his face a half-angry, half-confused mix of emotions.
"Remember," Myra said, shrugging a shoulder, "when I told you that if there's a problem, that you should come to me about it because I probably already fixed it?"
"He does," I agreed. "He even told me about it."
"Myra..." his voice was a low warning. And we were taking way too much pleasure in his discomfort.
"Well, I knew you would be coming back here with Cordelia. And there's only one master bedroom. And I'm not sleeping in a place where you two fuck. No offense," she said, smiling at me as she slid an arm through mine, "but that's just gross. So then I went next door to the secondhand shop and asked them what was above their store. And guess what they told me?" She asked him, but went on without an answer. "They said it was just an old abandoned storage area that they didn't use. So, naturally, I decided to ask them to rent it out."
"Rent it out?" he repeated, sounding lost still.
"That's a really good idea," I said, nodding at her. It could work. "This way, you're close enough that Dane can still help with Caleb..."
"That's the best part," she agreed. "I have a door into Caleb's room from my side. And you have one from your side. And I have a door into your apartment too, but I promise to knock. I know you guys are going to be doing it everywhere," she said, with a knowing glance at me. And I had the sudden realization that we had shared Dane. She had had him once upon a time in California. She had his baby. And now we were going to be living in a weird connected house and she was going to hear us... "It's not weird," she insisted, taking in the look on my face. "I know it feels like it should be weird because we both slept with him..."
"Myra, I really don't think..." Dane started to interrupt.
"Shut up. We're not talking to you," she said in a familiar, teasing way. "But I don't know. I don't find it weird. I wasn't in love with him. He probably didn't even remember my name until I showed up here," she squinted her eyes at him in mock anger and he looked guilty as hell. "So it really doesn't bother me at all that you two are together. And eventually, when my lady parts stop feeling like someone stabbed them repeatedly with knives..."
"Oh god," Dane groaned.
"I will probably entertain the idea of dating again too. So you two will just have to keep it in your pants on the nights that mommy needs to go out."
"I think we can handle that," I laughed, following her toward the kitchen.
"Are we really not going to talk about this mess?" Dane asked, still sounding flustered.
"Nope," we both said in unison then broke off into a fit of laughter.
"Fine," he grumbled. "Where's my son?"
"Out picking up chicks," Myra quipped, rolling her eyes. "Where do you think he is?"
Alone, Myra turned to me. "You're still weirded out, huh?"
"It's an unusual situation," I agreed. "But I guess it wont be half as awkward as running into that Amanda girl in town." Oh, my god. I would probably run into her eventually. An image of her naked, on her knees, giving Dane head flashed into my mind, making me cringe.
"Amanda works at the market," Myra smiled like she knew. "Dane and I see her all the time when we go in."
"She hasn't... there aren't any stories around town about her and..."
Myra laughed. "Amanda has very, very strict parents. Granted she's an adult, but her mother would rip the hair out of her head if she ever found out she was within fifty feet of Dane. So she is never anything but customer service friendly with the slightest hint of distaste toward Dane just in case any of her mother's friends are snooping around."
"Thank god," I said, taking a deep breath.
"Do I want to know?" she asked, fighting a smile.
"Know what?" Dane asked, coming into the room with Caleb asleep in the crook of his arm.
"Oh nothing," Myra said sweetly. "We were just talking about what an asshole you are. Right?" she aske
d me.
I sighed exaggeratedly, shaking my head. "Yes. Yes we were."
Dane looked between the two of us, reaching up to rub the side of his face. "Jesus Christ. What have I gotten myself into?"
Epilogue
Dane
I knew from the day I brought Cordy back to Stars Landing and found her and Myra standing in the kitchen, gossiping and ganging up on me that I was going to be in for it. I was never going to catch a break. I would always be finding them talking about me, commiserating about something I fucked up on. They would always be on the same side.
They were both smart and quick-witted. And they were royal, epic pains in my ass. But there was no one else I would rather spend my life around.
The second week after Cordelia moved in, Caleb took down with thrush, throwing up all his bottles and screaming bloody murder in pain and hunger day and night for an entire weekend. Myra and I had taken turns trying anything to help him. Trying to force down the foul-smelling medicine the doctor had given us. Trying to soothe him with music, with rocking, with car rides. Nothing worked. He cried. And cried and cried. We were absolutely dead on our feet when he had finally passed out on the fourth day. We had stayed awake watching him in a sort of dazed worry before we both lowered ourselves down to the ground and passed out on the floor of the nursery next to his crib.
We woke up to the sound of birds chirping, the sun bright and blinding to our sleep deprived eyes. We looked at each other, groggy and disoriented for a moment. I don't know which one of us panicked first, but we were both up and on our feet in seconds, looking into the crib with dread. Why hadn't he cried? The thrush hadn't gotten any better. There was no way he wouldn't be crying.
But Caleb wasn't in his crib.
We rushed out into the living room, half falling over each other only to find Cordy standing between the living room and the kitchen, bopping Caleb, his butt and feet against her chest as she looked down at him, singing something soft and slow that I didn't recognize, her voice low and soothing.
It was the first time she had picked him up without one of us forcing her to. She was too worried about hurting him, about making him cry, about dropping him. It didn't matter how much we tried to reassure her, she adamantly refused to hold him, promising she would when he got bigger and less breakable.
"Oh, look," she said down at him in a baby voice I didn't think she would be capable of. It seemed so odd for her, for someone so self-conscious and cautious. "Mommy and Daddy are up."
I watched her for a second, liking the image even more than I thought I would. It felt right. Everything felt right. I had Cordy. And she was settling into our strange little, mostly functional family. "Whoa. Wait. What the fuck did you do to him?" I asked, his little head suddenly turning and I saw purple. Literally. There was purple all over his mouth and cheeks and hands. A bright, awful purple that looked like it was a part of his skin.
"It's gentian violet," she said, like it was supposed to mean something. "It's for the thrush. It stains everything to high hell but look," she said, nodding down at him, "he's not crying anymore." She looked over at Myra. "You're going to need some too."
"What? Why?" Myra asked, squinting.
"Well, you're... nursing. You're going to need it on..." she looked down at her chest for a second, not able to bring herself to talk about another woman's nipples.
"You need to rub it on your tits," I supplied.
"Oh, nice language!" Cordy chided.
"You're not allowed to talk about my tits," Myra shot back and Cordy laughed, shaking her head.
"Oh, Caleb, what are we going to do about those two?" she asked.
I looked down at Myra, sharing a smile before walking over to Cordy and kissing her cheek.
We were going to be alright.
Don't Forget!
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Also By Jessica Gadziala
What The Heart Needs
What The Heart Wants
What The Heart Finds
What The Heart Knows
Dark Mysteries
For A Good Time, Call...
Dissent
The Sex Surrogate
Dr. Chase Hudson
Monster
Reign
Cash
Killer
About The Author
Jessica is a full-time writer from New Jersey who believes coffee is a food group and that her parrots can totally understand her when she talks to them. She can not be trusted with houseplants or to respond to text messages in a reasonable amount of time.
Writing was the only acceptable career path for her from the first time she learned that with just twenty-six letters, she could create whole new worlds. She attempted a string of odd jobs before quitting and taking the blind leap of faith that was trying to make a career out of her passion.
Jessica is a firm believer in snark, strong secondary characters, and HEA.
When she is not writing (which is practically never), she is obsessively trying to read as many books as possible and has totally been known to throw temper tantrums over fictional characters.
She is super active on GR and, in fact, is probably stalking your status updates right now.
Stalk Her!
You can find her on:
Her website: JessicaGadziala.com
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♥/ Jessica
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