Hope Over Fear (Over #1) (36 page)

“That’s good to know, because I love you more than enough, too. And there’s one thing that Mason and I have in common. I’m not gonna let you go without a fight. In fact, I don’t plan on letting you go at all, and I hope to God that works for you. No more taillights, Sara.”

“No more taillights,” I repeat, shaking my head emphatically.

Adam gently grabs my neck and brings our foreheads together, our breath intermingling. “I love you so much, Sara, and I’m sorry if I ever made you question that.”

Our lips touch lightly, and I instantly melt into him … where I belong. His tongue brushes lightly over my bottom lip, and I grasp his shirt for balance. The kiss is full of whispers and promises of what’s to come.

“Let’s get inside, babe. Things are about to get indecent, and I like my neighbors,” Adam says as he stands us up and directs us to the door. I laugh into his mouth and refuse to break contact with him. I’ve been waiting too long for him. I feel like I’ve been waiting forever.

“Things better get indecent. I’m counting on it,” I jokingly whisper into his ear.

“If you have plans today, I suggest you cancel them. I’m not letting you out of my sight … or my bed.”

I’ve already kicked off my shoes and have a tight hold on Adam’s shirt as I pull him to his bedroom. “That works for me. Oh, and, by the way, the other night at The Courtyard? Your performance?”

“Yeah, babe.” He reaches around and brushes his hands under my shirt.

“Sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen. So hot,” I moan as Adam’s hand trails into my jeans.

“We’ll see about that. I feel certain I can top that, no fucking problem. God, I love you, Sara.”

We fall together in a heap on the bed, and I stop suddenly to trail my fingers across his cheeks and into his mussed hair. I stare unabashedly and wrap my leg around his hips to hold him tightly in place.

“And I love you,” I whisper softly. “More than enough, Adam. More than anything.”

“I WANT TO pull it, Dad. I’m too big to ride,” Gage whines as he hops out of the wagon, nearly flipping it over.

“Whoa, Gage, be careful, bud. You almost sent Lily flying into the road,” I say, trying to rein in my frustration at his carelessness.

“I’m not too big to ride, Daddy. Princesses ride in parades all the time,” Lily states as her tiara sits on her head a bit lopsided from her almost spill.

“You’ll always be my little girl, Lily Pad, so you’ll never be too old to ride.” I straighten her tiara, loving the way she looks at me … like I hang the moon.

I try to hurry Gage along, but he’s having none of it. Their snack time took a little longer than I planned due to Lily swearing she’s allergic to celery and peanut butter. That’s her new trick: anything she doesn’t like is an instant allergy. I told her the doctor called and told me she’s allergic to chocolate. That seemed to shut things down, but we’ll see. But Lily’s little stunt made us late, so I’m trying to make up the time.

All worry leaves me when I see Sara running toward us in a tank top and running shorts, and a smile spreads across my face. She’s so fucking beautiful, and I can’t believe she’s mine. My dick involuntarily twitches, and I have to remind myself it’s not the time or place for that. Gage is in front pulling the wagon, so he notices her first.

“Miss Sara! Miss Sara!” he hollers enthusiastically.

Sara pulls her ear buds out and feigns surprise at running into us. She kneels down to Gage and Lily’s level and rustles Gage’s hair as she squeezes Lily’s cheek. “Lily! Gage! I’m so happy to see y’all. I’ve missed you.”

Lily crosses her little arms and looks at Sara skeptically, obviously a bit hurt that Sara hasn’t come back to visit. “Why didn’t you come back and see me? We were supposed to have a tea party.”

“I’m sorry, Lily, I’ve been really busy with work. I planned on stopping by your house this week. What a happy coincidence that I ran into you!”

Sara’s explanation seems to have appeased Lily, and Gage grabs her hand and tugs excitedly. “We’re going to the park, Sara. We have a whole loaf of bread for the ducks. You have to come.”

Sara shoots me a sly glance and turns back to Gage. “I don’t know, Gage. Do you think your dad will be okay with that?”

“Oh, he won’t mind,” Lily calls out with a wave of her hand. What am I? Chopped liver?

“Sure thing, guys. Sara can tag along. Don’t mind me,” I mutter under my breath and chuckle to myself. Nobody’s listening to my dejected musings.

She walks in front of the wagon with Gage as he regales her with stories of his day at school, and I follow closely behind the wagon. I’m more than happy to follow behind them and would like to send a personal thank you note to the inventor of running shorts. Just an inch more and I’d be rewarded with the under curve of that beautiful ass. God bless America … and running shorts, of course.

I happily take the back seat to Sara and let the kids get comfortable playing and visiting with her as we make our way to the duck pond. That’s what today’s all about. It’s the first step in Operation: Accept Sara as My Girlfriend. Well, that’s what Sara thinks, at least. In my mind, I’ve taken it a step further. As far as I’m concerned, today is the first step in Operation: Get Sara in My Bed Every Night. It’s good to have lofty goals, and I plan on going for broke. When it comes to Sara, I’ll go for broke every fucking time.

I’m so relieved she confided in me this morning. I know my opinion matters to her, but the truth is I don’t give a shit what happened with Mason. I know my girl.

The other night at The Courtyard, I listened to her ex-boyfriend’s wife rip that bitchy girl, Melody, a new one for messing with Sara. That kind of thing just doesn’t happen. Ex-girlfriends are usually hated on principle—but not my girl. What she doesn’t know is, Mason laid into Melody, too. Sara and Natalie had already walked away, so she missed it. According to Mason, they work together at the hospital, so I can only imagine how uncomfortable that’s been for Sara.

Yeah, Mason and I talked for a while that night, and I have to admit he’s a pretty cool guy. I can see he cares a lot for Sara, and he’s also forgiven her for what transpired between them. He wouldn’t tell me exactly what happened because he didn’t want to break Sara’s trust, but he made it clear that, in hindsight, things went down the way they were supposed to. He’s actually grateful to Sara for seeing what he couldn’t.

Lily, Gage, and Sara have a blast feeding the ducks, and my services aren’t required until the geese start getting frisky. I scoop Lily and Gage up under my arms, and Sara and I make our getaway. Wings are flapping, feathers are flying, and we narrowly miss our demise at the hand of psycho farm animals. As we reach the playground, I can still hear them honking. Sara lays out the blanket that I stored in the wagon, and I drop the kids in the middle while they belly laugh—the best sound in the world.

We get comfortable on our blanket, and I watch for Lily and Gage’s reaction when I touch Sara affectionately. Nothing overt—a thigh squeeze, an arm pat, a ponytail tug. No response … no odd looks.

Just as I’m ready to declare this outing a moderate success in reaching our end goal, Gage pulls on my sleeve to get my attention.

“Dad, can Miss Sara please eat dinner at our house? I didn’t get to show her my dinosaur collection last time she came over.” I hear Lily start to cheer in agreement.

I look over Gage’s head and meet Sara’s gaze and smile. “Sure, bud, that’s a great idea. Do you think Miss Sara will like cows in the pond?”

“Everybody likes cows in the pond!” Lily exclaims excitedly.

Moderate success, my ass. With Sara spending the morning in my bed, and Lily and Gage playing nice this afternoon, I’d say today has been a resounding win.

“Ice Cream” by Sarah McLachlan

Three Months Later …

“OH, NO YOU don’t, Sara. No more desserts,” Adam says, taking the sugar and chocolate chips out of my hands to return them to the pantry. “Not even our gluttonous friends could possibly eat all this food. Is it possible, I don’t know, that maybe you’re going a bit overboard, sweetheart?”

I stomp my foot and expel a huff. “I just want everything to be perfect. You know Cain eats the equivalent of five normal adults, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that we could run out of food. And then what, huh?”

“Then we’ll go buy some fried chicken and let the big doofus eat right out of the bucket. No harm, no foul. And no silly obsession with everything being perfect, okay?” Adam gently squeezes my neck as he rests his forehead against mine, smiling lovingly.

“Hey, who you calling a doofus, jackass?” Cain’s voice booms with a hint of amusement. “He is right, though. Any party foul can be righted with a bucket of yard bird.”

“Uncle Cain!” Gage and Lily yell in unison as they attempt, rather unsuccessfully, to wrestle Cain into submission. Being the good sport that he is, Cain finally relents and tumbles to the ground.

Adam and I are hosting the family dinner tonight at his house, and the preparation has left me a bit frazzled. He volunteered to grill steaks if I fixed the sides, and I gladly took him up on his offer. In my infinite wisdom, I waved off everyone’s offers to bring dishes and chose to go solo on this one. I don’t know who’s suffering more from that decision, Adam or me.

Adam and I laugh as we watch Lily and Gage clobber the large heap on the ground that is Cain. All the while, Adam’s fingers gently caress my left side under my breast, as if he can read the words without actually seeing them. He’s touched, kissed, and licked that spot so often, he probably can. The most intimate form of affection is familiarity, and Adam is all too familiar. I’ll never forget the look on his face the first time he saw my tattoo.

“You know the rules. No peeking,” I taunt as Adam growls in frustration.

“Yeah, I instated that rule for a mock drawing of a tattoo that would only take about ten minutes. But Jimmy has been ogling my girl’s body for about forty-five minutes now, and I can’t do a fucking thing about it. You had better not be enjoying this, man.”

“No enjoyment, man, I swear. You know Jenna would have my balls. Although, I must admit, I’m enjoying your discomfort immensely,” Jimmy jokes as he continues working. Jimmy has done all of Adam’s ink, and he’s the only person he would trust for my tattoo.

“Okay, all done, Sara. Let me just put some ointment—”

Before Jimmy finishes his sentence, Adam rips the ointment out of his hand. “I got this part, man. That’s quite enough fondling for one day.”

Adam squirts the cream on his fingers and gently swipes it across my ribs as he whispers. “I carry your heart with me. I carry it in my heart.”

I meet his eyes and search them for understanding.

“Do you know it?” I ask hopefully.

“E.E. Cummings? It’s a poem, right?”

A smile spreads across my face, and I nod. “Yeah, it is. The first time I read it, it instantly reminded me of my mom and dad. The type of love that stays with you always, in spite of distance, time, even death. An impenetrable love, embedded in your soul. And now when I think of that poem … well, I think of you.”