Free Forever Us by Sandi Lynn

replied.
    When I walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, I saw Denny on the phone, sitting at the table. He instantly hung up when he saw me.
    “Hi, Denny. What’s up?” I asked casually.
    “Not much, Ellery. How was your day with Peyton?”
    “It was fine,” I replied as I took a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
    He seemed to be nervous. Almost as if he had just gotten caught doing something or he was afraid that I had heard something while he was on the phone. When I heard the elevator doors open, I ran out of the kitchen and straight to Julia. I smiled as I unbuckled her and held her tight.
    “One iced latte for you, my dear.” Mason smiled as he handed me the cup.
    “Thank you, darling. How was Julia today?”
    “Glamorous and perfect, like always. You should have seen the people at the park going crazy over her.”
    “That’s because she’s her daddy’s girl.” I smiled as I held her and kissed her cheek.
    I told Mason that Connor and I would be dropping her off at his place around seven o’clock. He smiled, kissed her goodbye, and stepped onto the elevator. As I was walking up the stairs with Julia, Denny emerged from the kitchen.
    “Did you work things out with Connor?” he asked.
    “I sure did.” I winked.
    He rolled his eyes and smiled as he left the penthouse.
    ***
    I laid Julia down in the center of our king-sized bed as I got ready for my date with Connor. While I was in my closet looking for something to wear, I heard Connor walk into the bedroom. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to Julia. The moment she saw him, her little legs started moving all around.
    “Look at how excited she is to see her daddy.” He smiled.
    “I don’t blame her. I get excited when I see her daddy too.”
    “Elle, don’t say things like that,” he warned with a smile.
    I walked over to him. Julia had her hand clasped around his finger.
    “I’m still thinking about our little office romp,” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his cheek.
    “God, baby, I am too.” He smiled as he turned his head and his lips brushed against mine.
    “Where are we going tonight?”
    “Anywhere you want to go,” he said. “I’ve been thinking a lot about something lately, and I want to talk to you about it.”
    As I pulled my jeans from the drawer, a sick feeling overtook me because I was afraid to hear what he’d been thinking about.
    “I want to get a tattoo, and I was thinking we could go to the place where you got yours.”
    My eyes lit up as I turned around and looked at him. “Are you serious? What kind of tattoo do you want?”
    “I can see that you’re pleasantly surprised by the idea.” He smiled. “I want something with yours and Julia’s names on it, but leave enough room in case we have another child.”
    While pulling up my jeans, I stopped midway and looked at him. “Another child?”
    “Yeah, why not? Let’s make us a four-person family.”
    “We can talk about this again in about two years, Connor. I’m not ready to even think about having another baby yet, especially with the problems I had while I was in labor with Julia.”
    As I finished pulling up my jeans, he got up from the bed, walked over to me, and put his hands on my hips. “Don’t worry; I don’t want a baby now. I was just thinking in the future,” he said as he kissed me on the head.
    “How about if we go out to dinner first and then we’ll go see Jack about that tattoo you want to get.”
    “Sounds good, sweetheart. I’m going to take a quick shower and then we’ll go.”
    Julia started fussing, so I picked her up from the bed and took her downstairs. As I was warming up a bottle, I heard my phone chime. I picked it up from the counter and saw that I had a text message from Cassidy.
    “ I’m going on a date tonight with Ben! I’m so nervous, Elle .”
    “ That’s great, Cass. Don’t be nervous. You’ll have fun .”
    “ It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a