Leap of Faith (La Flor #1) by Ml Rodriguez Page B

gettin’ calls from Jackie pretty soon.”
    “Good. News will travel faster than the speed of light once my sister is informed. I’m not gonna hide that I want to be with you. The girls saw me here and didn’t get upset. I want to talk to them together. I want to let them know I plan to get to know their momma and them, that I’ll respect them and that I’m here if y’all need me. My cards are on the table. I’m being honest with you. I want to be with you and I know that they come with you. I’ll never make you choose between us. I need their permission to date you. For me to ask those girls for permission should tell you how serious I’m about you. I don’t want to just fuck you, Faith, I want to be your man and I want to call you my woman.”
    Beautiful.
    Last night, I loved being in his arms and his kisses—well, those put me on fire and something else. He took care of Julia and me and made sure we made it home safely. The notion of this bigger-than-life man asking my two girls for anything is surreal. How can I say no to him? Do I really want to let this opportunity pass?
    No, I don’t.
    He’s right; we need to talk to the girls. I can’t let my fears keep me from experiencing something that might be great. If this doesn’t work out, at least both girls will know that their momma wasn’t afraid to take a risk. We’ve been through much worse and made it through.
    Taking a deep breath, I look at him.
    “You’re right, Zane. We need to speak with the girls and inform them about us. I do want you and I’m not gonna let my fears keep me from being with you. We need to tell the girls they’ll always come first; they’re my first priority. Always. Just don’t hurt me, please.” I pause for a second. “Um . . . I don’t think you’ll have a problem with Skylar. She thinks you look like one of her Disney princes; she wants to keep you and was pretty upset when Rylee told her we couldn’t keep people.”
    As soon as I finish speaking, Zane scoops me into his arms and claims my mouth.
    Mmmm.
    Delicious.
    The kiss is even better than I remember from last night.
    “Thank you, baby,” he says. “I thought I was gonna have to do battle with you again to get you to see things my way. You enjoyed being in my arms last night, but I didn’t know if you were gonna blame the alcohol or agree that it’s the strong pull between us that led to the incredible night we had.” He places our foreheads together, not giving me a chance to be anywhere but in his arms.
    I can see now I wasn’t the only one that was afraid. I was afraid to take a chance on him and he was afraid that I was going to reject him. I never thought this big strong man would be afraid of anything, but I was wrong. We all have fears.
    I just pray that I’m not making a mistake in bringing him to the girls too soon. Things are moving incredibly fast between us, as if an unknown force is pushing us together—pushing me to be with him—but it just feels so right, like it was meant to be. I feel like I belong with him. I pray he decides to stay with us after he finds out my tiny little secret. Right now is just not the time to bring it up.
    From that first moment I saw him, I knew he was going to change my world. I wasn’t ready for him then and that’s why I ran; I was scared of the feelings he awakened in me. Back then, I still hadn’t let go of the past. I wasn’t ready to move on. Now, moving on doesn’t mean that my love for Jake is ending, because I will always love him. He was my husband and he gave me the most wonderful gifts a man can give a woman—he gave me his love, his devotion, his last name, and he gave me two beautiful daughters. I thought he was my forever. When we married, we believed we had a future together. We couldn’t have known life had other plans for us. I’ll always be grateful for the years we shared, and I’ll always treasure our time together. But now, I have to close that chapter in my life and begin a new