“Fuck, Dani-girl,” he chokes out, his eyes closing and again tears leaking down his handsome face until they disappear in his stubble.

“It’s been the only thing that’s kept me from falling apart with the shit life has thrown at me. You and your love.”

He doesn’t look up, but his arms lock even tighter around me and he pulls me closer to his warmth.

“Even though you hurt me—and, God, did you hurt me—the only thing I craved since seeing your face again was this feeling right here. This feeling of your arms around me, your heart beating strong and healthy against my palm, and the life we created moving between us. Through all that pain, the only thing I wanted was the one person who’d caused it.”

“Stop, please, Dani,” he begs.

“I’ve loved you for a lifetime, Cohen. A lifetime doesn’t just give up when the other part of me makes a mistake. A lifetime takes that mistake and turns it into a building block for an even stronger foundation.”

His eyes snap open and his hopeful gaze locks with mine. “Baby?”

“I love you, Cohen. That will never change. But don’t ever hurt me like that again. I’m strong, baby, and I’ll make as many building blocks as we need until the day my last breath leaves my body, but don’t make me build them out of pain.”

His eyes flash, and in seconds, his lips are against mine.

Hard and demanding.

He takes my mouth in a bruising need that steals the breath right out of my lungs.

“I love you, my Dani-girl. I promise you that I will never doubt what we have. Never again, baby,” he mumbles against my swollen lips before he takes control of my mouth once again.

His hands trail down my back, grasping my hips, as he rolls onto his back while taking me with him. My skirt rides up instantly when my legs are spread to make room for his hips. I use my hands against his chest to push up so I’m straddling his lap and looking down at his brown eyes, which are so full of love.

I sit up straight and let out a slight moan when I feel his erection press against my panties. His eyes flash when I take his hands, which were resting on my hips, and move them around to the front of my belly.

“This,” I stress, pressing his hands against the thumping our child is making against my belly. “This is our child, Cohen. One that was made with a love so powerful even I struggle to understand it. A love that was formed over a lifetime and solidified with one night that I will forever remember as one of the best of my life. We’ve been fated for this moment since before we were even born, baby, and I’m beyond fortunate with this unexpected fate that’s been given to us.”

His eyes darken with each word I speak. I notice the second that my words register and he realizes the words I used.

The same words he used in the letter he left me all those months ago.

“I love you, Cohen.”

“And I love you, Dani-girl. And I you.”

I drop my head and take his lips in a slow, deep kiss. Our tongues move together as our breaths mingle. We take the kiss as deep as we can without physically fusing together.

He flips us so that he’s on top, and his hips rock gently against my core. He’s careful not to put his full weight on my stomach, but he makes sure every inch that can touch is touching.

“Wrap your legs around me, baby,” he demands, breaking from the kiss for just seconds until I do what he’s asked. “Just like that,” he says, and I feel him grow even harder against me.

He moves against me until I’m seconds away from coming undone. My whole body is feeling as if it’s burning as my climax slowly starts to crawl up my spine. Right when I pull my lips from his to cry out in what promises to be a powerful climax, he stops.

“Oh, God! Don’t stop. Please don’t stop,” I beg on a sob.

“Never,” he declares.

His lips start leaving a trail of fire across my jaw and down my neck until he reaches the fabric of my blouse against my chest. He leans back onto his knees and trails both hands along my collarbone until they rest in the V of my cleavage. I catch his intentions only seconds before he takes a fist of silk in each hand, and with a firm pull, my blouse is ripped right down the center. His eyes darken even further when he takes his first glimpse of my bra-covered chest.

He doesn’t speak a word. His fingers continue to light their fire along the cups of my bra and over the swells of each breast. He flicks the front clasp but doesn’t move to unhook it. His fingers dance in twin caresses down my stomach until he’s cradling my rounded stomach between his strong palms.