I pulled back, biting down on my bottom lip. “You were so tired this morning. Maybe we—”
He gripped the back of my neck and gently bit down on the slope of my shoulder. “Unless you finish that sentence withmaybe we should keep this quiet, I don’t want to fucking hear it.”
I smiled, running my hands over his chest. “You know what I was thinking about earlier?”
He kissed along my collarbone. “What?”
It was hard to speak through whatever he was doing with his mouth, but I wanted him to hear this. We’d both need reassurance as we moved forward into our new normal. Mine looked different from his, but they held equal weight. As much as I loved the feeling that he’d protect my heart, I wanted him to feel the same.
That I’d take care of him. That he was safe with me.
When Archer kissed underneath my jaw, I cupped his face in my hand and held his gaze.
I spoke quietly. “You’re going to be an amazing father someday.”
His eyes stayed locked on mine, his chest rising on a sharp inhale. “You sound very sure about that.”
“I am.” I ran my fingers through the hair at the back of his neck. “I’ve worked very hard to be both parents for Gavin. Some days I do better than others, but I’ve always worried—” My voice cut off when tears threatened. His hands moved in soothing motions on my back. “I’ve always worried that he’d be missing something by not having a father. You gave him something today, and I’m not sure it would have meant the same if it had come from me.” Archer’s eyes were bright with unshed tears, his hands tightening on my back as he listened intently. “You gave him what was never given to you.”
It took him a moment to speak, and when he did, his voice was rough. “When he hugged me, God, it felt like ... like it healed a scar I couldn’t see or reach.”
I leaned forward and kissed him just by the corner of his eye. Then the slight wrinkle in his brow. The tip of his nose. His cheek. Between each kiss, I whispered how much I loved him.
Archer gathered me close to his chest with a deep sigh as our mouths met in a long, slow kiss.
“I can’t wait to see it,” I whispered against his mouth.
He pulled back, gaze full of heat and love and breath-stealing certainty. “I’m going to be insufferable when you’re pregnant.”
My lips curled in a delighted smile. “Are you?”
Archer kissed me. “The worst. Won’t be able to keep my hands off you. I’ll worry endlessly. Get you everything you want.”
“Keep talking,” I moaned.
He nibbled along the line of my neck. “It’ll be almost as bad when I get a ring on your finger.”
I rubbed my chest against his and let out a stuttered exhale. “And when we get married?”
“Fucking obnoxious.” He sucked the spot beneath my ear. “Like a caveman.”
Our mouths clashed in a messy, heated kiss, and I rocked my hips back and forth over the tantalizing hardness beneath me.
Archer reached between us, teasing between my legs with his knuckles as he pushed his shorts down just enough.
I moaned, and he quieted me with another slick, tongue-heavy kiss.
“Quiet,” he commanded against my lips. “I don’t fancy getting in trouble with Pops.”
I was giggling helplessly as he nudged me up with a firm grip on my waist. But when he teased me with a shift of his hips, the laughter turned into a soft whimper. His skin was impossibly hot, and I knew the stretch would be just past too much, especially after last night. We’d had the birth control talk sometime after the second round. I’d been on the pill since Gavin and hadn’t slept with anyone in years, and to my shock, it had been well over a year for him too.
He watched with heavy-lidded eyes, his palms coasting up and down my thighs. “We’re going to need a lot of practice before I get to call you my wife, aren’t we?”
“Practice?” I grinned, biting down on my bottom lip. “Oh, you were so concerned with your stamina this morning. Maybe I should go get some cookies or something.” I started to move off him, and his hands clamped hard on my hips, locking me in place.
“I’m having you for dessert,” he whispered, nudging me up with an arrogant tilt of chin. His voice was rough and desperate as I reached between us to line myself up. “Now, fuck me, firefly.”
That’s exactly what I did.