He leans down, scowling, giving me his own neglected anger. “You broke up with me, remember? Who was fighting for us then?”

“I did that because you didn’t want a family with me. I wanted that!”

“I will always want anything that gives me you!”

I suck in a breath so fast I start to feel light-headed. Blinking into focus, I read him for any signs of dishonesty, but Luke isn’t avoiding my scrutiny with little-to-no eye contact. He’s giving me just the opposite.

“I fucked up, okay?” he says, bringing his voice down so that it’s just us in this conversation, and not everyone in the state of Alabama. “You think leaving you didn’t kill me? Because it did.” He jabs a finger at his chest. “I’m a dead man, Tessa. There’s nothing in here anymore. This part of me died when I left. But I did it because I was trying to protect you.”

My eyes well up with tears, but I don’t blink. I won’t give him that.

I take a step back, and he moves with me until I hold my hand up. “I never asked you to protect me, Luke. I asked you to love me.” I let my hand fall. “That’s it. That’s all I’ve ever wanted from you, and you left me because you couldn’t do that.”

He moves in front of me when I try and continue down the hallway. “Wait.”

“Did you even listen to any of my messages? I called you, every day, sometimes more, just to hear that stupid voicemail recording.”

He blinks, then swallows. “I listened to one, last night. I think six times, or something. The one where you just wanted to pretend we were together.”

“That’s it? That’s the only one you listened to?”

His eyes widen at my question, glazing over with guilt. “Yeah.”

“Give me your phone.” I move into him and hold out my hand, palm up. He hesitates, but only briefly, and produces it from the side pocket of his shorts. I take it from him and dial his voicemail, entering the code, and ignoring the look he gives me because I know it.

He’s so close to me I can smell the shampoo he uses, the faint hint of his cologne. He’s freshly showered and I probably look like death run over.

Fucking awesome.

I hit the speaker-phone button, and begin sliding my thumb along the bar to get to the end of a message. I know what I want him to hear. The only important thing I ever said on these messages.

“I love you today. I wish you were here to ask me.”

His eyes shift from my face to my hand, back to my face. Blinking, as if he can’t believe that phone, the very one he’s had with him all this time, had those words hidden inside it. I go to another message, and another, letting him hear seventeen versions of that sentence.

“Tessa,” his whispers, reaching up and pulling me into an embrace. One hand grips the back of my neck while the other secures around my waist.

I don’t fight it. I don’t want to. There will never be a part of me that doesn’t need him, vital and desperate like this.

He drops his forehead to mine. “Tessa,” he repeats, even softer, as his eyes close.

“Ask me.”

I see the slight shake of his head. The hesitation.

His eyes flash open when I lay my hand on his cheek. “Ask me. Please, ask me.”

He waits, shifting his hand on the back of my neck to get a better hold. As if I’ll run, and the thought terrifies him.

“Do you love me today?”

I nod, sending the tears down my face. My yes blows across his lips as he slides his mouth along mine. It’s unexpected, and perfect, and I’m done. I’m so done for with that kiss. He moves from one corner of my mouth to another. Pressing, pressing harder, until I’m being pushed up against the wall. His hands hold my face, guiding me with a tilt so he can kiss along my jaw, my cheek to my ear, where he whispers, “Ask me.”

I don’t breathe as my eyes open to meet his. He smirks. The asshole actually smirks, and it’s beautiful.

“Not here,” I say, and he looks wounded until I run my hands around his neck, pulling him back against me. His lips tease mine, then his tongue, and I know he’s doing it to get what he wants right now.

“God, I fucking missed you,” he softly presses against my mouth. “Missed this so much.”

“Hey, if you two want to see Chase, knock that shit off and get in here.”

We both turn our heads, locking onto a very amused looking Ben. Luke grabs my hand and pulls me off the wall, moving us in the direction we need to be going.

Ben raises an eyebrow as he looks between the two of us. “Are we happy now?”

“Yes,” I answer, blending with Luke’s teasing, “Fuck off.”

We follow behind Ben as he walks into one of the birthing suites. My dad and mom are standing beside the bed, looking down at Mia and the tiny baby in her arms. Nolan is sitting next to her, perched on his knees and leaning to get closer.

Mia looks up at the sound of our entrance, glances between Luke and I, and smiles. “Hey, you made it.”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Luke replies, walking with me to the side of the bed. Ben walks to the other side and sits on the edge behind Nolan.

My hand curls around the bedrail as we both look down at Chase.

“He’s really small. Is that normal?” Luke asks, concern softening his voice.

“He’s perfect. I was only six pounds when I was born, but he’s a healthy seven,” Mia replies, shifting Chase so he’s now on her chest. “Do you want to hold him?”