Over the phone, I’d dropped the bomb on him that I’d gone to see her. Jake was speechless. His reaction was one of absolute shock, as if that were the last thing he ever expected me to say. He hung up right after he told me to stay put, that he’d come to me.

Now, I sat alone in a booth watching the door as my heart raced. Any minute, he’d walk in, and I would have to explain myself.

Bells chimed as the door opened, letting a brisk wind inside.

He took my breath away.

Looking painfully gorgeous wearing a black down parka and a gray knit cap, Jake slowly approached my booth. Chills ran through me when his eyes landed on mine. His expression was intense but impossible to read.

Instead of taking a seat across the table, he moved in next to me, took my face in his hands and placed his lips firmly on my forehead. So relieved that he didn’t seem mad, I shut my eyes and drowned myself in his intoxicating smell. There was nothing else in the world like the combination of his cologne, skin and the pheromones always unleashed when we touched.

He kissed the top of my head over and over. When he pushed back, his eyes were glistening. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I said, nodding repeatedly. “More than okay. I’m so sorry.”

He gently brushed his thumb against my lips. “Whatever happened, you don’t owe me an apology.”

I exhaled to compose myself. “They thought I was a volunteer. I never told her who I was. I hadn’t planned on going to see her when I left this morning. It was an impulsive decision, but—”

“You had to know. I get it, baby. You don’t need to explain why. If it were me instead of you, I could have never waited as long as you did. Curiosity would have killed me.”

“I just needed to see for myself.”

He placed his hand on my knee under the table. “I get it.”

A waitress interrupted us. “Can I get you something, sir?”

Jake didn’t take his eyes off me when he answered, “Just a coffee.”

“I’ll take a pot of green tea.”

Over the next thirty minutes and two cups of tea, I leaned into him and relayed the entire group home experience from meeting Leo (whom Jake apparently sometimes hung out with when Ivy slept) to my whole encounter with Ivy.

“Seeing what you’ve had to deal with is eye opening. I will never be one hundred percent comfortable with it, but seriously, where would she be if you hadn’t looked out for her all these years? You’ve single-handedly saved her, Jake.”

“Maybe. But don’t you get it?”

“What?”

“From the day you first walked into my life, you’ve been saving me. I was already on my last leg of sanity when we met. My ability to sustain that life with nothing else to live for would have never lasted. So much passion, so much love was trapped inside of me with no one to give it to. If I hadn’t met you, if I couldn’t have released all of that, it would’ve turned toxic. Having you and A.J. to come home to every day, the way you love me, it recharges me, gives me a reason to live. I’m certain I’d be dead without it. I thought I might be losing you today.”

“Never. All those years ago, I promised I’d never leave you. Even when I convinced myself it was the right thing to do, I couldn’t stay away. You’re my everything.”

Our legs were locked together under the table. The warmth of being near him made me realize how much I’d missed him.

Jake drew me into his arms. “Do you have any idea how much I love you? It doesn’t compare to how I’ve ever felt toward anyone else. I’m talking about the once in a lifetime soul deep love, the kind you told Ryan you felt for me when he tried to steal you away from me after A.J. was born.”

My jaw dropped. I’d specifically never told him about that because it seriously made me afraid for Ryan’s life.

“How did you find out? I—”

Jake put his finger over my mouth and smiled. “Shh. It’s okay. I understand why you didn’t tell me. I would have gone after him, and we didn’t need any more stress back then. I’ll tell you the story of Ryan’s and my phone call another time. Not gonna waste time on it tonight. We’re good, Nina. We’ve never been fucking better. I don’t want to talk about anything upsetting anymore. All I want is to take you home, get you under a hot shower and suck on every inch of your body before I bury myself deep inside you. That is all I fucking want right now.”

Oblivious to the people around us, we fell into a deep kiss.

“I want that, too. How are we gonna manage that with houseguests?”

“We’ll have to figure out a way.”

Nearly jumping out of my skin, I wanted so badly to tell him about the baby, but doing it at the diner just didn’t seem appropriate.

He slid his cup and saucer across the table and spoke into my ear, “Let’s get out of here. I want to take you home.”

As we made our way toward the exit, Jake walked closely behind me, pressing his hard body against my back while his arms were wrapped around my waist. My nipples were hard as steel from the contact. The hormones that were triggering my crying earlier were now simply making me horny as hell.

Two women eating together looked enviously at us as we walked by. They likely wished my hot husband were rubbing up on them instead of me. He looked particularly smokin’ tonight, too with the sides of his hair sticking out from under his beanie. A long time ago, I realized that being with Jake meant getting used to women checking him out.