Tucker Creed had everything.

Absolutely everything.

Fucking finally.

* * * * *

Sylvie

“Shit, I’m nervous,” I whispered.

It was early. I was standing at the front door in Creed’s arms and he’d just finished kissing me a kind of good-bye, the kind of part being that I was returning in less than two hours.

“Don’t be,” he whispered back.

“Kids like me,” I kept whispering. “But what if they’re, like, the only two kids I’ve ever met who think I’m a loser?”

Creed grinned and his arms gave me a squeeze. “They’ll love you, Sylvie. Honest to God. Don’t worry.”

Being back in Creed’s arms always felt good. It made me feel safe in a way I hadn’t since I lost him.

It just wasn’t working then.

“Creed –”

He suddenly let me go and his hands came up to cup either side of my head and his face, already close, came to a breath away.

“My kids are not dumb,” he announced and I stared into his eyes.

“I didn’t say they were.” You guessed it. I was still whispering.

“Baby, they’ve seen my tat.”

I pulled in breath.

He kept talking.

“It was not lost on them I was fakin’ it with their Mom and not just because we got divorced. Kids sense that shit. Trust me. It was not lost on them that things didn’t get a whole lot better for me when she and I were done and it will not be lost on them that you got the name inked on my skin and I’m finally f**kin’ happy. One day, when they’re older, when they know you better, when they can deal with the part of the story we’ll share with them, we’ll share it with them. They’ll get it and be happy for both of us. That’s what love is, Sylvie. That’s family. I didn’t know it because I didn’t grow up with it. You didn’t either. But havin’ my kids, I get it. The change might take some gettin’ used to and I’m not sayin’ the road won’t turn rocky along the way. I just know my kids love me and they’ll see me happy, so they’ll love you at the very least for makin’ me happy.”

Right, that made me feel better.

“Okay,” I agreed softly.

Creed’s eyes roamed my face then his hands slid down to either side of my neck before he said softly back, “Can’t wait to give you that.”

“Give me what?”

“A family.”

My heart lurched and it didn’t feel bad. Not even a little bit.

He kept speaking.

“Just you wait, baby. Didn’t live free and easy. Didn’t feel totally alive. Not without you. But I got my kids and I had somethin’ to live for, work for, keep goin’ for.” His thumbs moved out and stroked my jaws before his voice went rough to say, “Now, I got it all.”

Jeez, he was killing me.

“Shut up or you’ll make me cry like a girl and I never cry like a girl except when I find out my Dad was more of an ass**le than I already knew him to be and the man I loved since I was six was tortured at his hands. Furthermore, crying makes me cranky. I don’t need to be made cranky three hours before meeting your kids. Get me?”

He grinned and muttered, “Got you.”

“Good,” I muttered back.

He leaned in, pulling my head down to kiss the hair at the top before he moved back.

“Go, baby.”

“Right, Creed.”

I got up on my toes to brush my mouth to his. He let me go. I let him go. He opened the door and I hitched the strap of my bag up on my shoulder before I headed out into the furnace.

God. It wasn’t even eight and it already had to be a hundred degrees.

I looked back over my shoulder as I walked down his walk and the heat assaulted me.

Creed was watching me move and Creed was smiling.

Suddenly, I didn’t feel the heat.

Instead, I lifted an arm to give him a finger flick before I jogged to the car, feeling my long hair swaying over the skin of my shoulders and back.

I got in my rental and drove away to take a shower and prepare to meet Creed’s kids and get wet at a water park in extreme heat.

And as I drove away, Creed stood in his open door, letting out the air conditioning and he kept watching me.

All the while, still smiling.

Chapter Sixteen

I Absolutely Do

A cool autumn day in Kentucky, seventeen years earlier, Creed is twenty-two, Sylvie is seventeen…

Creed tore his mouth from mine.

“Sylvie, baby,” he murmured.

Losing his lips, I moved mine to his neck and, I didn’t know why I did it, I just did, I touched the tip of my tongue to his skin.

Oh my.

He tasted beautiful.

“Sylvie!”

At his sharp, rough tone, I dropped my head back to the blanket Creed laid over the grass under the trees by the lake and looked up at his handsome face.

“What?” I whispered and my whisper was breathy.

He stared down at me then I felt his hand cup the side of my face, the pad of his thumb swept my lips and he whispered back, “Give me a break, baby.”

I took in a shuddering breath trying to get my heart to stop beating so hard.

I didn’t want to give him a break. I wanted to keep kissing him. No, I wanted him to keep kissing me. I wanted him to kiss me forever.

Forever.

He was that good of a kisser, for one. For another, he was Creed and he was finally all mine.

I had no idea my face made it clear I not only wanted his kisses but I wanted more. I would find out, in a way, when his hand moved away, he dropped his head and shoved his face in my neck.

“Fuckin’ hell, you’re killin’ me.”

That didn’t sound good.

“I… I…” I swallowed. “Am I doing something wrong?” I whispered.

His head shot up and his hand returned to cup my face as he shook his head. “No, beautiful. No, baby,” he assured me gently. “Maybe we should just take a break from neckin’ for a while.”

This was not a suggestion I liked but I finally got it.

I was making him hard.

Oh my God! I was making Tucker Creed hard!

Me!

Sylvie Bissenette!

Oh my God!

He liked kissing me too, not like I thought he liked it. Like… really. Maybe even as much as I liked kissing him.

Wow.