Her eyes burned. She didn’t want to talk. Not right now. Not when her emotions were running rampant.
“Maybe this is all too much. Too fast. We are dancing along the edge of something, and I don’t know if weshould.” She blinked and tilted her head back to meet his gaze.
He took her in. A small smile appeared on his lips. “What’s wrong if we do stop pretending there’s nothing between us?”
Her heart dropped to the depths of her belly. She didn’t even know how to respond. All those years ago, they had agreed to just fun. A few nights rolling around in the sheets. Never did she think that would amount to what she had today.
An almost perfect life.
“It’s been there since before Kian,” he said. “This isn’t new. We just need to stop running from it.”
Her heart decided to work again, and this time it was back in overdrive.
“What about Sydney?” she blurted out.
He’d been with the woman for a long time. If she was coming around to get back with him, didn’t she deserve something? Tachina couldn’t believe she was thinking this. But it was the honest truth. Could two people who had cared enough about each other just walk away after having been together for years? She wouldn’t want to stand in the way of another woman fighting to get her relationship back.
“What about her?” His voice nor his eyes didn’t waver.
“She’s coming around for a reason, Vic. I think she wants you back,” she admitted. She dropped her gaze to thebase of this throat. She inhaled sharply and blew out a deep breath.
“And you care what she wants?” he countered gently. “Tachina, I don’t want Sydney. That ship sailed a long time ago. She did the both of us a favor.”
“What do you want?” she whispered. She couldn’t believe she’d just asked this question. It had been burning in the back of her mind for a while now. Did she really want to know the answer? She couldn’t look at him. She was trembling harder and fought to get her body back under control.
His hand tightened at her waist, while the other tipped her chin up to force her to meet his gaze.
“You. Kian and the future we keep pretending we’re not building.” He lowered his forehead to rest on hers. His hand slipped around to the front of her belly. “And the baby we are trying to make.”
Heat flooded her.
This man would ruin her. She knew that without a doubt. Maybe that was what she’d known all those years ago.
“Vic—” Her voice cracked.
“Let me love you, Tachina,” he murmured. “Just let yourself feel what you’ve already been experiencing.”
Unable to speak, she jerked her head in a nod. She had told herself that she would live for the moment.
It was time she stopped running.
The next morning, sunlight spilled into the room. Tachina blinked awake, warm beneath the blankets, her back against Vic’s chest. His arm was securely around her waist, his face nuzzled into her hair.
“Mom?”
They both jerked upright. Kian stood in the doorway, hair wild, dragging his blanket behind him. His eyes were still filled with sleep, and he looked like a tiny sleep zombie.
“Did you have another bad dream? Do you need Mr. Blankie?” he asked.
“No. No bad dream. You can keep Mr. Blankie.” She cleared her throat.
Vic’s body pressed behind her. He pulled the blankets up to ensure they both were covered.
“Morning, buddy,” Vic said.
Kian stared at them curiously. He strolled into the room and crawled up onto the bed. He lay down at the foot of the bed and propped his head in his hand.
“Are you two gonna get it over with?” Kian asked.