Intimate Strangers by Danielle Taylor

perfect and you’re not falling apart.”
    “Well then, what would you call me?”
    She thought about that for a minute and a whole host of words came to mind. Handsome. Strong. Brave. Intense. Hurting. Chelsea didn’t dare say them out loud. She kept them to herself and continued picturing him in her mind with a smile on his face, rather than the scowl she had come to know since being reintroduced to Christiaan. Today he definitely seemed different though. He was a little more confident, or perhaps he just appeared that way as he opened up to her.
    Ruan’s sleepy stretching made her open her eyes again. Tiaan was watching her intently and perhaps a little expectantly. His eyes wordlessly posed a question, asking, ‘ shall I give him back to you? ’ She didn’t react though, knowing what would come next. The same thing that happened to her each and every time she looked into her baby’s eyes.

Eight

    He didn’t think it possible to feel such a way for someone he couldn’t even hold a conversation with, but as Ruan let his head drop to one side, resting against Tiaan’s shoulder and bicep while opening his eyes and looking directly at him, he could swear his love for the little one grew immeasurably. Dark lashes framed his dark eyes, nearly black, and he attempted to open and hold them that way, however Ruan must still be quite tired. His lids drooped shut again. Tiaan chuckled, the sound thick with emotion.
    “My God, Chelsea, he’s incredible.”
    She smoothed a hand over the silky coal black fuzz covering Ruan’s head. “Yeah, I think so too.”
    It bubbled up inside him, this need to kiss her, to thank her for giving him this amazing gift, though he managed to tamp it down before the urge got out of hand. Tiaan instead gently trapped her hand between his and Ruan’s head, enjoying the catch in her breath and widening eyes. He wanted this, wanted the three of them to be together in every sense of the word, except he only just realised it, and he didn’t know how to go about telling Chelsea about his thoughts.
    “Will you be okay holding him for a few minutes while I go and pack our stuff up then?”
    She’s coming back with me!
    Ecstatic though doing his best to hide it, Tiaan nodded, giving her hand a gentle squeeze before releasing it. “We’ll be right here. Let me know if you need any help.”
    Her smile warmed him in places he thought would forever feel cold. “Okay.”
    As she sashayed out of the room, he suppressed a groan, recalling just how that body felt beneath him, above him, next to him. Tiaan knew he’d gotten a bad case of something he’d never felt before and the only reasonable next step to take, in his mind, was undeniably the most outrageous idea he had ever come up with. It would mean, however, that they’d remain together and hopefully prove to Chelsea that he wanted to be with her and Ruan.
    Thoughts of buying a house somewhere and filling it with the perfect pieces of functional furnishings, building a backyard fort for Ruan, and lazy weekend afternoons lounging around the yard with his family flitted through his head. It was incredible how swiftly his mind changed from almost too fucked up to function in society to planning a home-life he technically wasn’t deserving of.
    What would Mac think of his idea?
    The man would probably clip Tiaan in the back of the head to make sure he was still all there. Then again, Mac proposed to Hannah after a few days shy of two weeks spent together, because he loved her and couldn’t imagine his life without her. Tiaan may not know yet if he loved Chelsea but he was all too aware that he couldn’t go another day without seeing her smile each morning and holding his son like he was right now.
    Marriages had been built on much less and survived much more so one could conclude it might be possible if they both worked for it. They already knew they were compatible physically – he was holding the living, breathing proof of that in his arms