Luke pressed his face into her neck and kissed her softly, then pressed up on his hands and stared down at her. “God, you’re beautiful.”

She reached up and cupped his face in her hands. “And you’re gorgeous.”

He gave her another soft kiss, then settled on his back beside her, drawing her close to his side. She cuddled into his chest and rested her head under his chin, her hand over his heart.

Luke kissed the top of her head. “I’ll never break a promise to you, Sarah, because I don’t want to ever lose you or this.”

She didn’t put a lot of stock in other people’s promises. They broke them all the time.

But she believed Luke.

And that scared her because he could really break her heart. But it also gave her hope for a future unlike anything she’d ever really given herself the freedom to imagine was possible.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sarah stood at the top of the stairs, staring down at Luke, Jack, and Nick. Luke pretended to struggle to get free as Jack and Nick tugged on his hands, trying to pull him two ways at once and getting nowhere. Luke suddenly pulled both boys to his sides, hooked his arms around their middles, picked them up, and tossed them over the back of the couch. The boys screamed, bounced on the cushions, and laughed uncontrollably. Jack popped up just as Luke turned his back but didn’t move away, giving the boys time to come after him again. Jack grabbed him by the shoulder, Nick took his other arm, and together they pulled Luke backward. In reality, he sat on the back of the sofa and fell onto the cushions, groaning for dramatic effect, then sucking in a breath when both boys landed on his belly and chest. He wrapped his arms around them and tickled them unmercifully as his long legs dangled over the back of the leather sofa.

Sarah’s heart melted at the sight of her boys roughhousing with Luke and the sheer delight in Luke’s eyes as he played with them. It really was true. Men remain little boys on the inside.

She walked down the stairs and stood just between Luke’s dangling feet and stared over the back of the couch at all three boys. “What’s going on down here?”

All of them stopped and stared at her. Caught.

Jack and Nick looked unsure and ready for her to scold them.

Luke got a mischievous look in his eyes. “I think your mom missed at least a dozen kisses yesterday while she slept.” He untangled his arms from the boys, reared up, took her under the arms, and dragged her over the couch and on top of him. He planted half a dozen kisses all over her face. The boys dove in and kissed her on the head.

She laughed so hard, it drove them to kiss her even more. They smothered her in love that ended with all of them hugging her close, Jack and Nick at her sides and draped over her back. Luke holding her close against his chest, her knees and feet still hanging off the sofa.