Sitting in my living room, with Sasha tucked up against me and sleeping easy, made every fucked up thing happening around us worth it. After watching football, and Sasha being asked a million and one questions by Joseph while Ava observed silently, she’d nuzzled in beside me and surprisingly kissed my jaw, then she wrapped her arms around my waist, and in less than five minutes she passed out.

Feeling Dee’s eyes burning into me, I shifted my gaze from the game to her. The look she gave me, and the fact her eyes flashed to Sasha before meeting mine, told me she liked what she saw. This was a big deal to her. To the whole family. After years of going to family shit solo, I’d finally introduced a woman into the fold. This said huge things to my family, because they all understood what it meant to me. I fucked around, I’d had many women in my bed, but not one of them had been included in Sunday football, and none of them had been introduced to Joseph and Ava. Family was sacred, and I refused to bring someone that wasn’t something to me into the mix. This was a declaration that Sasha was someone to me, and I’d planned on her being my someone for a long fucking time.

“We’re going to head home. Kids have school tomorrow,” Dee whispered, and she received cries of protest from both Ava and Joseph.

Shifting on the couch, I looked down at Sasha and took a minute to admire the beauty I called my own. The deeper I got, the more determined I became. My patience was quickly coming to an end, and I knew the line between black and white was getting blurry with every day that passed. I drank in her soft features, memorized her pink, pouty lips, and enjoyed the feel of her relaxed body against mine. I just wanted the shit circling us to end, so I could enjoy this feeling forever, but in this moment, all we had was now.

“Sash,” I said softly, my warm breath caressing the side of her face. “Dee and the kids are heading home.”

Slowly, her eyes fluttered open and she gifted me with a sated smile, before burrowing in closer and tightening her arm around my waist. “You’re warm and comfy. Don’t make me move.”

It took her about five seconds to become aware of her surroundings, and slowly her body became rigid. I couldn’t help but smile big while I waited for what I knew was coming. Her head shot off my shoulder, her arm slid off my stomach, and she looked up at me with wide, horror-filled eyes.

“Why did you let me fall asleep?” she gasped, hitting my stomach and sitting upright. “Did Joseph and Ava see me lying all over their uncle?”

“You fell asleep halfway through the last game, so yeah, they saw you.”

“Oh my god.” She dropped her forehead to my shoulder.

I chuckled. “Are you going to stop freaking out long enough to say goodnight to them?”

She blinked up at me as if she was trying to make sense of what I’d said. “I’m not freaking out, Benjamin—” She looked at Dee. “Uh, what’s his middle name?”

“Peter.” Dee laughed in response.

She twisted back around to me. “I’m not freaking out, Benjamin Peter Hunt. I am simply concerned about making a good first impression. Something you clearly don’t understand, seeing how you came crashing into my life and didn’t take no for an answer.”

I gave her a shit-eating grin, and I knew I was stoking her fire. I loved seeing this side of her; the sassy as fuck, spitfire, take a man by the balls and twist him till he cried for surrender, Sasha. “I made a great fuckin’ impression on you. I know I have because you’ve been in my bed, and you have absolutely no complaints.

She rolled her eyes. “You are way too damn cocky.”

“This. Is. Brilliant,” Dee piped up, her enjoyment evident in her voice. “Please, don’t mind me.”

Sasha whipped her head around, realizing for the second time that we had an audience. “I’m so sorry for falling asleep. I didn’t get much sleep last night because your brother kept me up,” Sasha admitted quickly. “He does that a lot.”

“I bet he does.” Dee laughed and shot me a suggestive wink. The kind of wink I never wanted to receive from my sister.

Sasha froze beside me as Dee’s wink and what it meant struck her.

“Oh god. No, no, no, not like that. Well, he usually does that, but last night it was via text.”

“Fuck me,” I muttered in amusement as Dee burst out laughing at Sasha's revelations.

“No! I don’t mean we were sexting. We were just talking,” she stuttered as her cheeks turned pink. “Ben, stop me! Before I tell Dee about the time you—”

She gasped against my lips as I pressed mine against hers. I didn’t care that Dee was in the room, or Ava and Joseph could walk in at any time. I just needed to feel her against me. It had been too long since I’d kissed her, so if I got to taste her for a few seconds, I was going to savor every moment. Her body went liquid against me, and she sighed when I ran my tongue against her lips. I felt her hesitation in her kiss, but then she granted me what I wanted, and she opened up for me. She tasted of strawberry wine and second chances. Of new beginnings, and reservations. I pulled away slightly, kissed her softly with a closed mouth, and stood from the couch. Her eyes were locked on me, and she moved her finger tips to her lips.

“I’ll walk you out,” I informed Dee, who was still staring at Sasha. I waited a beat for her to look at me but she gave me nothing. “Dee!”

“What?” She jumped.

I smiled. “Let’s go.”

She nodded and stumbled out in a daze. I looked back in the living room before I walked outside to say goodbye, and Sasha was still sitting on the couch with her fingers to her lips.

* * *

After watching Dee, Terry, and the kids pull away, I walked back inside, locked up, and stepped into the living room.

Sasha was nowhere to be found. I eventually found her in the kitchen, cleaning at a hundred miles an hour. Leaning against the doorframe, I watched her. The past month had been hell, and I knew I had to give her time. But time was up now that I’d kissed her. Her taste was what I craved, and now that I’d satisfied the craving, I wasn’t suffering withdrawals again. Having her body again would be the ultimate reward. I pushed off from the wall and moved to her. My hands went to her hips and she jumped under my touch.

“You kissed me?” she whispered.

“Yeah, Sweetheart.”

“I missed kissing you,” she admitted, and I swear those four words felt like winning the lottery. “I missed you.” She turned in my arms, and something in her eyes told me I wasn’t going to like what she said next. “But, I need to go home. Tonight’s been kind of crazy.”

“Stay with me.” I wasn’t afraid to beg when it came to Sasha. “Just give me tonight.”

I knew what would happen. She’d go home, get lost in her head, and those walls that both Drew and Crazy John had mentioned would add another layer, then she would shut me out.

“You need to hand over those keys so I can get in there,” I whispered, leaning in and brushing her lips with mine. “Give me the keys to your heart, Sweetheart. You won’t regret it. Let me get in there and start clearing out the hurt. I don’t want to keep losing you.”

Her green eyes stared back at me, swimming with emotion and conflict as she struggled with what I said.

“Please give me tonight,” she begged.

I could never say no to her, so I walked her to her car, kissed her goodnight, and watched her drive away.