“I love you.” My husky words pulsed between us, and Parker’s eyes widened. With a shaking, battered hand, I cupped her cheek. “I forgot to tell you that.”

I’d been sidelined by the knockout and the aftermath when everyone wanted a piece of me. But here and now, I could no longer contain it. I didn’t want to.

Parker licked her lips quickly. “You don’t have to say it just because I did—”

My thumb touched her bottom lip. “I said it because I meant it. With all of my heart, Parker.” I pulled her near. “I love you. So fucking much, it scares me. So much, it fills me up and makes me think of nothing else. Loving you is like breathing. It’s impossible not to do.”

Her smile blossomed, and she leaned into my touch. “I love you too.”

“Sometimes, I still can’t believe it,” I said softly.

“Why?”

I shrugged. “No one ever has.”

“Then they never knew the real you.”

This woman.

“I never bothered to show anyone until you.”

Parker hummed, her fingers skimming over my jaw, avoiding the bruises. “Maybe you were just waiting for me.”

I liked that idea and grinned. “Maybe I was.” I kissed her, a simple meeting of lips, then drew back. “I think I knew you were it for me the second you ‘shooed’ me at the bar.”

“Ha!” Her nose wrinkled with humor. “You couldn’t stand me then.”

“Not true. I thought you were hot and had a smart mouth.” I kissed said mouth again. “A perfect combination. I have a good poker face, is all.”

“It’s a good face.” Grinning, she attacked my face with butterfly kisses. “I love this face. I love you.”

I’d never get over hearing that. My fingers slid into her hair as I cupped her head and looked into her eyes. “It’s going to be so good, Parker. The two of us.”

“I know,” she said, the excitement in her smile matching what I felt coursing through me. “Because we already are.”

Epilogue

Rhys

“Stop lowering your guard. Keep your fists up and your chin down, Tink.”

Parker stopped in the center of the mat and put her hands on her hips with a huff. “If I do that, I can’t see past these big gloves!”

She’d been at me to teach her to box, and I’d finally relented. But I knew she’d give me shit. I’d been anticipating it.

“That’s because you keep pressing your gloves right up against your face,” I said. “Which is a good way to get that pretty little nose busted.”

“You bust my nose, Morgan, and I’m busting your nuts.”

Laughing, I swung her up and cradled her against my chest. She was so tiny compared to me but fit just right. And though she glared, she was also smiling as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Brute,” she said.

“I’m the brute? You’re the one threatening my nuts.”

Her nose wrinkled. “That was a tactical error on my part, I agree. I need your bits in good working order.”

I dipped my head and nuzzled her neck. “Maybe we should do an equipment check just to make sure.”

She snorted but her lids lowered in that way that told me she’d be ready for me. “I never actually hit your nuts, Rhys.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” My hands slid to her pert ass, under her shorts where her skin was hot and silky. “You wet for me, Parker?”

She hummed, wrapping her legs around my waist to rock into me. “You’re the one who wanted to do an equipment check—why don’t you see for yourself?”

Growling, I was prepared to do just that when my brother’s voice cut through my lust-filled fog like a chain saw.

“My eyes,” he said dramatically. “Would you two have some care for the youth around here?”

I stopped, not putting Parker down, and turned to glare at him. “We’re in my apartment.”

Since the gym was in the middle of a remodel, there was too much dust and paint fumes downstairs, so we’d taken to working out in my loft’s small home gym. Parker had been spending most of her time here over the past few months, and I was planning on asking her to move in.

A year ago, I might have thought moving in with a woman was too much of a commitment. Now, I couldn’t wait. I wanted my things mingled with hers, to wake up to her face every morning and to kiss it good night for all the rest of mine.

“Consider this an educational moment,” Parker added, clinging to me like a monkey.

I laughed. “Yeah, always remember to knock before entering.”

Dean shook his head. “You’re both hilarious. Really.”

I finally let Parker down. “There a reason you’re invading our privacy, Dean?”

His eyes crinkled at the corners, reminding me yet again of our mother. “Brought you some light reading.” He tossed a folded-up copy of the Boston Globe my way.