“No.” I lift my free hand and brush back the hair from her face. Leaning in closer, not caring if anyone saw the two of us, standing in my driveway, holding on to one another. “Everyone in this town seems to know what you haven’t yet figured out.” Zoey tries to tuck her chin and look down, but I use my thumb and nudge her upward, forcing her to see me. “They know I only bought that big house because one day I hope you and the girls share it with me.”

  Her throats bobs as she swallows hard.

  “They’ve seen how whenever you walk into a room, for me, everything else fades. Because you are the only woman I want. I’m in love with you, and I’m in love with your girls.”

  Zoey’s eyes fill with tears and I move a little closer, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

  “I want every single person in this town to see you leaving in my clothes.” She laughs against my lips. “Last night was incredible.”

  She takes a deep breath.

  “This isn’t sneaking to me; this is us announcing that we’re together.” I stare at her, hoping she understands what I am saying. “I don’t want to worry about what people think, and I don’t want to hide anything when it comes to you, Riley, or Regan. I’m in this for the long haul. This isn’t a past time and it sure isn’t a secret.”

  She presses her lips into a tight line.

  “Tell me you’re with me on this.” Because if she’s feeling a different way, I’m not sure how I’ll deal with it. “Tell me I’m not the only one that see’s forever for us?”

  “I do,” she whispers hoarsely and relief washes over me. “But even though I feel it, it doesn’t make the fear disappear.”

  “What are you scared of Zoey?” I drag my thumb over her jaw and across her lower lip. “Tell me so I can do everything possible to ease your worries.”

  “I don’t know if there is anything you can offer, I think it’s up to me. I think I just have to stop waiting for the shoe to drop.”

  Leaning in I rest my forehead to hers. “I’m here, baby.” I tell her, closing my eyes tight fighting the ache in my chest. The burning sensation that takes over, as I focus on breathing through it. “I’m never leaving again.”

  Even if she and I didn’t work, and that thought kills me, I’ve found my home.

  I’m never leaving Magnolia Grove again.

  twenty-eight

  . . .

  Zoey

  “I can’t cut it,” Regan says at my side and I look over noticing her waffle is one big square with several different attempted cut marks throughout. “It too hard,’” she complains with her brows furrowed in frustration.

  “Here.” Before I get the chance to respond Jay reaches over and grabs her plate. “He takes a fork and knife and starts cutting it up for her. A smile takes over her face as she watches him.

  He’s already cut up Riley’s, she has been hanging on his every word since we showed up at Gigi’s to get them. It’s adorable really how much she idolizes him. He of course seems oblivious, or maybe he just doesn’t want to bring attention to it.

  “There you go, sweetheart,” he says as he lifts Regan’s plate and places it back in front of her. “Is that better?”

  She nods her head staring at her plate. “What do you say?”

  “Thank you.” Regan looks back at Jay with the biggest grin.

  I’m in awe of him, trying my best to hold back. Honestly my stomach has been in knots since the three of us piled into his SUV and we pulled away from the curb.

  Gigi standing on the porch waving as we left.

  “What are you scared of Zoey?”

  Giving myself over to him fully and then everything falling apart, that’s what I’m scared of. I told myself I would never place my happiness in another person’s hands again. I said I would never risk the hearts of my babies, but here I am. I’m falling in deep with Jay and I’m taking my girls with me. They love him, I can see it so clearly.

  “Hey.” I glance up to find Jay watching me. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” I nod, trying to ease the ache in my chest. “I’m good,” I assure him as I reach out and place my hand over his. Offering a squeeze when I attempt to pull back, he links his fingers through mine and holds my hand in his.

  “You’re doing it again,” Jay says in a low tone. “What’s it gonna take?”

  I am surprised by his question. I look at Riley and then Regan, seeing both of them so incredibly happy. It hits me deep, hits me hard, and then I shift my attention back to Jay.

  “You’re doing it,” I assure him with a smile. I mean it, I feel it in my core. “You’re doing it,” I repeat. I hold his hand tighter in mine and that is how we remain while the girls finish their breakfast and precede to tell both Jayson and I all about their night with Gigi. Their giggles echo over the diner and I see a few locals offering us smiles. Mr. Willis stops by the table saying a good morning before wishing us a good day. I notice the wink he throws toward Jay which makes him chuckle.

  When he realizes I noticed too he leans in and kisses my cheek. “Seeing you and these girls with a good man makes me happy. Let him love you.”

  Then he walks off as I stare after him.

  “Told you.” I shift my attention back to Jay. “The minute I pulled into town they all just knew.”

  I only shake my head as I stand, and Regan follows out of the booth behind me. When Riley starts to climb over Jay’s lap, he lifts her and sets her down on the ground beside him. “Us ladies need to clean up.” We excuse ourselves as we all three walk hand in hand toward the bathroom. When I pull open the door and girls slip inside, I look back toward the table to find Jay watching us.

  Jay

  “Shh,” I tell Zoey as I lift her leg and hook it over my hip. She whimpers and I attempt to muffle it with a kiss.

  The girls are in bed, the television is still playing in the living room, and she and I made our way to her room. I fully intended on leaving after I helped get the girls to bed. All four of us sat in their room while Zoey read them a story. Regan fell asleep first and Riley close behind.

  I offered both of the girls a kiss on their foreheads, made sure the blankets were pulled up around them, and when I turned around there stood Zoey watching. She took my hand in hers and led me out to the hallway and then straight across to her room.

  I allowed her to lead.

  Within minutes, our clothes we on the floor and she was moaning my name.

  “You have to keep it down,” I whisper near her ear as I push inside of her once more. I don’t know how I’m managing to hold myself together because watching her fall apart is exhilarating.

  “Feels so good,” she cries, and I press my fingers to her lips. Immediately she bites my finger and sucks the end into her mouth. That sensation combined with the feel of her wrapped around me threatens to undo me.

  My toes curl as I fist the sheet beside her head. Pausing, I take her mouth in a deep heated kiss. I need a few minutes, teetering on the edge and not wanted it to end.

  When she digs her heels into my ass, I know she wants me to move.

  “Baby,” I growl. “Slow down,” I force her to look at me. “If you keep moving like you are this is going to be over long before either of us want it to be.”

  I see the moment it registers and that mischievous look takes over her expression.

  “Well, then I guess we’ll just have to do it all over again.” Then she lifts her hips taking me in deeper and it’s my turn to moan. My resolve shifts and I start moving with her. I feel myself building towardly release and she rotates her hips, pushing me further.

  “Yes,” Zoey pants and I lift my upper body using my elbows for support, watching her build and build, biting her lip as she arches into me. “Mm, so good.” She adds and I have to agree.

  Nothing has ever felt this incredible.

  I feel her tighten, her hips jerking, and I thrust forward harder and faster. She yells my name and I’m too lost to even consider covering her mouth as my lower stomach coils and I get lost in my own release. Pushing deep, she pulsates, and again my toes curl and a shiver rakes through my entire body from head to toe.

  I see stars, my body growing limp, as I bring my forehead to rest upon her shoulder. Her heated breaths fan out over my neck, and I turn into her, pressing a kiss just below her ear.

  I’m just about to tell her how incredible she makes me fell when I hear “Mommy” echo down the hall. My body freezes and I quickly roll over taking the blanket with me.

  Zoey laughs, climbing out of bed, and grabbing her robe. “Now who’s hiding?”

  “Go.” I motion her along and she leaves the room laughing to herself the entire way.

  By the time she makes it back, I am in my boxers with my T-shirt on, and she steps inside the room, closing and locking the bedroom door behind her.

  I watch as she walks toward me and climbs onto my lap straddling me.

  “We never talked about how this would play out.” I’ve been sitting here wondering how we do this. “Do they know, should they know, do you want them to know? And if they do know, what is it they know? Do we explain it, do we ask them how they feel? And what if they don’t like it?”

  Zoey presses her lips to mine, sliding closer, and I bring my hands to her hips.

  “You say you love them,” she whispers and my heart rate speeds up.

  “I do.” I know they aren’t my daughters, but I feel like they are. I’m so attached already and I know that will only get stronger with each passing day.

  “They love you too,” Zoey tells me as she holds my face in her hands. “I don’t think you have to worry about what they’d think, because spending time with you seems to be right up there with sleepovers at Gigi’s and boating with Papa. They look forward to seeing you. They ask about you all the time; when they’ll get to see you next. So you worrying about all this,” she waves her hand around, “you should probably just stop worrying.”

  “They love me?” My emotions take over and my throat burns.

  Zoey nods. “They do,” she assures me, “and so do I.”

  twenty-nine

  . . .

  Jayson

  “I’m here,” Grams says through the other end of the phone. “Sitting in your kitchen, enjoying a cup of freshly brewed coffee. You know what you need?”

  I smile as I move around the office. “What’s that?”

  “One of those Keurig one-cup makers. The kind you put those pods in and it brews the perfect cup of your chosen flavor.” She sighs. “I just got one a week ago and I’ve already had a cup of butter toffee, and a cinnamon sugar cookie this morning. Then I come here and have a cup of breakfast blend which seems like a disappointment."

  I chuckle. “I’m thinking maybe you should switch to decaf.” Grams seems a little wired.

  “Oh nonsense.” I hear my doorbell ring. “The delivery men are here, gotta run.” Before I say a word, she is ending the call and I’m left staring down at my phone.

  “Furniture today?” Georgia asks as she leans against the doorway.

  “Most of it.” Everything but my kitchen table and the office furniture. “Some of it got delayed until next Tuesday.”

  “So is there still a chance we are going to show up here to find articles of clothing scattered around the kitchen and up the stairway.” By her smile I know she’s hassling me. “Don’t get me wrong it’s great to see you smiling instead of moping.”

  “I don’t mope.”

  “You definitely do,” she corrects. Georgia has no problem telling me like it is. I’ve known her since she was born, and she’s got enough ammunition to last years, thanks to Eric. “I’m glad you and Zoey finally got yourselves on the same page. You both deserve to be happy. But Marcy, poor girl, she’s still embarrassed about getting a flash of your goodies.”

  “There were no goodies.” I roll my eyes and close the file on the desk before looking back up at her.

  “She said there was goodies.” Georgia’s brows lift.

  “I covered up.”

  “Not fast enough.” She laughs before covering her mouth with her hand.

  “Is there a patient?” I ignore her snicker and stand, moving around the desk. “After all this is a doctor’s office and not the lunchroom of the high school where gossip takes place.”

  As I pass her, she bumps her shoulder to mine and I shake my head. “Haven’t you noticed Marcy hasn’t made eye contact with you since the show.” She air quotes the word show. “Not sure I could either if I saw your junk, that would be like walking in on Eric and Kerry.” Georgia fakes a shiver.

  “Are you ignoring me?”

  I don’t answer her.

  “You are.” She hurries after me as I step out into the main waiting area. “Very immature,” she adds with a laugh.

  My phone rings in my pocket and I fish it out, finding my gram’s number lighting up the screen.

  “Hello?”

  “Is your couch supposed to be purple?” I stumble a little bit as I come to a stop.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Purple,” she repeats. “Your couch, I’m okay with purple, but I must say I picture you being more of a neutral kind of pattern. Brown or gray, even black, but definitely not purple. But again, if I’m wrong and it is in fact supposed to be purple, well, I love it.”

  “It’s supposed to be dark gray, suede.”

  “It’s most definitely not gray.” I hang my head and pinch the bridge of my nose.

  “I’m on the way.” I look around the empty waiting area. Turning around, I find Marcy sitting behind the desk and immediately she looks down. Of course I hear Georgia snicker, and I choose to ignore it.

  “I shouldn’t be long, call me if you need me.” Marcy nods, and I leave the office and drive over to my house.

  As I enter, the first thing I see is a couch still wrapped in clear plastic in the middle of the living room. It is without a doubt purple and not gray.

  “I’ve already called the warehouse.” A dark-haired man stepped up next to me. “They will be bringing over the correct couch in about an hour. We will load this one back up. Someone tagged them wrong and this one needs to go somewhere else.”

  “There was no need to rush over.” Grams enters from the kitchen. “I made a call and had it handled before you pulled into the driveway.” She is pleased with herself, smiling from ear to ear. “You Lincoln men think the little lady can’t take charge but I assure you I have no problem getting my hands dirty.”

  Reaching out I wrap my arms over her shoulder and pull her in close. “I knew you had it, I just wanted to witness the beatdown, Grams.”

  She nudges my side. “Well, you were too late.” She laughs. “But while you’re here, do you want to explain to me why they took two matching beds upstairs to the bedroom on the left?”

  The smile on her lips tells me she’s already got it all figured out, but I decide why not make the woman happy by offering up some details. Leaving out all the dirty of course, I join her in the kitchen for a cup of coffee. She smiles when I tell her about bringing Zoey and the girls here. Her eyes shine with joy when I offer her a little details on the day I spent with them where the girls and I made chocolate chips pancakes. And I ended it telling her I bought the beds in hopes that maybe Zoey and the girls would stay over on occasion.

  Grams hangs on every word, clapping excitedly and laughing when I share stories about the three of them.

  No more than an hour later, I had a gray couch instead of a purple and my bedroom just needed to be organized upstairs. I wasn’t sure I’d sleep here tonight, but it was starting to feel more like a home.

  There’s a knock at the door and the closer I get the louder the little giggles become. I’d invited Zoey and the girls over for dinner and have been pacing waiting for them to show.

  I pull open the door, and Riley and Regan waste no time rushing in and running toward the living room. They squeal with excitement jumping up onto the couch as Zoey hurries after them.

  “No jumping on the couch.” She tries to gather them up, and I wave it off.

  ‘They’re okay,” I assure her and she doesn’t seem convinced.

  “It’s new, and,” she glances around the living room, “everything is so clean.”

  “I didn’t invite you here so they could sit on the floor and not touch anything.” I lean in and kiss her cheek. “Let them enjoy themselves, let them play, and stop worrying so much. They aren’t going to hurt anything.”

  Zoey doesn’t seemed convinced, but as she releases her hold on them, I take her hand in mine linking our fingers and leading her toward the kitchen.

  Stepping up to the oven, I begin stirring the spaghetti sauce and Zoey moves in at my side. Leaning in closer she breathes in the aroma and smiles. “Grams’s recipe?”

  “The only way I know how to make it.” One of the many things I was taught when I was at my grandparents’ house.

  “Spaghetti sauce and two four-year-olds,” she arches her brow, “I see disaster in the making.”

  “Nothing that can’t be cleaned up.”

  “Oh Jay, you truly have no idea what you are in for,” she laughs. “I once found a spaghetti O stuck to my ceiling. Right in the middle, like it was strategically placed there. I have no idea how they did it, but they did. And don’t get me started on the stash of M&Ms and Reece’s I find in the oddest places throughout the house. Do not underestimate them; they may be four, but they are masterminds, no joke.”

  “Nah, not those two,” I look toward the living room but can’t see the girls. I can hear them laughing and talking away. “They’re angel’s,” as I say this, I turn back to find Zoey eyeing me, doing her very best not to laugh.

  “They’ve got you brainwashed.” She pats my arms and walk around me to the refrigerator opening it up and taking out a water. “When you least expect it, pow, they will strike. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  I want to argue, I want to tell her she’s insane, but is she?

  thirty