Hey guys, happy Monday!

Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend. I'm doing my best to catch up with my writing and I'm also working on some ideas for the 180 sequel (I know some of you are wondering about that).

I'll try to keep the updates coming this week.

Thanks so much for standing by this story, reading and reviewing. Like I always say, it truly means a lot to me!!

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Happy reading!

Xoxo,

Nina

"You know? I like this. Speaking every night. It makes the wait much easier." It was later than yesterday when she got his call. Right now she was in bed fiddling with the pages of the book she was currently reading.

"It's a nice habit to have." He chuckled lightly before taking a pull of his beer. "How was your day? Were the kids too noisy?"

"Pfff, they always are." They both laughed. "But apart from that it was a good day." She stopped and closed her book, placing it on her nightstand. "I kind of have good news."

"Please share"

"I talked to Cathleen about us today, everything was fine. So I guess we're cleared to talk to Grace, if that's something that you still want to do."

"That really is good news!" He sounded honestly happy. "Why wouldn't I want that?"

"I don't know. I just don't want you to think I'm pushing you or anything. I don't want you doing anything that you're not completely sure and happy about. Am I making any sense?"

"Kind of. Listen, it's really sweet of you to consider that; but babe, I am sure and believe me I am happy. I haven't been this happy in a while in fact, so yeah I wanna tell Grace, I want to tell everyone." The sound of Kim's chuckle was all he needed to know that everything was alright. "And you could give me a hand with that, since Hailey doesn't believe me."

"Why?"

"I told you, she has no faith in me. She knows you're totally out of my league."

"Shut up." Now it was him who laughed, he could sense in her voice that she was a little embarrassed.

"Ok, ok, changing the subject then. I might need your help tomorrow."

"Sure. What do you need?"

"Gracie told me about the bake sale, and she gave me the note too. She's super excited and that's not really my area of expertise. Can you give me a hand?"

"What do you mean it's not your area of expertise? Those cookies you baked were sick."

"Yeah, they're good, but it took me forever to make those." He whined and she could only laugh at him. "Isn't there something simpler I can bake?"

"Sure. How about we bake brownies? We can do it together with Gracie tomorrow and while we're at it we can make a little extra and solve dessert."

"See? And then you expect me to think that you're not out of my league." He teased her and enjoyed her response. "Speaking of tomorrow, pops is picking up Gracie early from school, she has a doctor's appointment and I can't make it but he can. I thought maybe I could pick you up after I leave the district, go grocery shopping for dinner and brownies and then pick her up from pops' place. What do you think?"

"Sounds perfect."

They kept talking for a while, neither of them wanted to end the conversation but sleep was beginning to win this battle.

Both of them were excited for dinner; although they had spent mostly the whole weekend together and it was only Tuesday, they were in a stage of their relationship in which no amount of time was enough to be together.

Kim was already in her apartment, putting some things away and making sure it was tidy and cozy for the visitors she was expecting later. Her place was always immaculate, she loved neatness and organization, but for some reason she wanted her place to look extra special today. She was so concentrated poofing the pillows of her couch that she was startled by the ringing of her doorbell.

"Coming!" She yelled as she walked over to open the door. "You're here early."

"We were able to finish before scheduled, but I can come later if you want." He joked as he began to turn around but was stopped by her hand on his elbow.

"No, I don't." She reached up to his face and pressed her lips against his. "Hi."

"Yeah, I like this greeting much better." He closed the distance between them and slowly stepped into her apartment, closing the door behind him. His hand was firm on her waist while his lips were smashing hers with no mercy. She didn't hesitate and hugged him by the neck as she pushed her body closer to his. "I missed this."

"Me too." She innocently pecked his lips as she played with the collar of his shirt.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked with his forehead still leaning on hers.

"I am, but…" She trailed off a bit, she was a little embarrassed to say what she wanted to say.

"But?"

"What time do we have to get Gracie?"

"I didn't set any specific time, I just told pops I would call him once we were on the way there."

"So, can we manage to squeeze in a few minutes to ourselves?" He shot his head back and looked at her with big wide eyes and a lopsided smirk plastered on his face.

"What are you suggesting?"

"I think you know what I'm suggesting."

"I have a vague idea." He said, still smiling. "But I want to hear you say it." Adam's warm breath whispering against her ear sent shivers down her spine.

She tangled her fingers in his hair and attacked his lips, her tongue was desperate to find his and frantically dance together.

It took all his willpower to step away from her. This time she wasn't going to get away with it. "Tell me what you want, babe."

She looked at him as she slid her hands under his shirt.

"I want you." Her lips touched his neck as she lightly nibbled on his skin. "Right now."

"I'm all yours." His hands were finding their way under the waistband of her jeans, while she tried to unbutton his as they clumsily walked into the living room and fell on the couch.

She kept on kissing his neck until she found his ear and began to softly pull on his earlobe as her hands were desperately yanking on his shirt to take it off him. Although he was completely lost in her kisses, he did his best to help her take off his shirt. As he slowly shifted away, he took advantage of the moment and placed his hands under her top and ripped it right off of her, leaving her only in her white lace bra. She was agitated just by the thought of what was about to come, and the sight of Adam's hungry eyes was doing nothing but increasing her own desire.

He attacked her neck, but his real target was her cleavage. As his lips started to travel down her chest, she found herself arching her body just to be closer to him. He slowly began to caress her waist, but she could feel how his hands were still moving upwards until they reached her bra and he gently massaged her breasts over the delicate fabric.

She couldn't take it any more, right now she couldn't care less if she was going to look like a desperate girl, her embarrassment disappeared, because the truth was that she was longing for that moment and now that she had it she was enjoying it so much.

Her hands moved out of her own volition and it was Kim herself the one to unclasp her bra and throw it somewhere on the floor.

That took Adam completely by surprise, he didn't expect that move. "Did I ever tell you how much it turns me on when you act like that?" He asked with difficulty since he was also agitated.

"No." She whispered with her eyes closed. "Why don't you show me?" He looked at her with his crooked smile and just went back to his thing with complete desire.

He devoted himself to kissing every single inch of her body as his fingers absorbed her soft skin. Her smell was additive, her touch on his body was all he wanted to feel, the way her body reacted to his, the way they moved together, so in sync. Making love to her was all he wanted right now, and it was all he was going to do.

When they both reached the climax his head collapsed on her chest that was still heaving. He just stayed there enjoying the rhythm of her breathing. Kim was lightly rubbing his sweaty back with one hand, while the other was playing with his hair; he only moved to leave a kiss on her chest and snuggled again.

"I love you. I don't even know how this happened, but I'm just so damn happy it did."

"It happened because it was meant to, and it was the best surprise that life could have given me." She moved a little to be able to kiss the top of his head. "I love you too, baby."

"How much longer can we stay like this?"

"The rest of our lives." She said absentmindedly and they both chuckled.

"You bet we will. I told you, I'm not letting go of this."

"Me neither." She couldn't help but smile. Could this get any better? "Let's just snuggle five more minutes and then we'll get going."

They did their best to comply with the schedule they set, but it took them longer than five minutes to get up from that couch.

On the drive to the supermarket they decided to keep dinner simple and concentrate on the brownies, so fettuccine Alfredo made their menu. Kim decided it would be better to split up, so they wouldn't take as long, plus she wanted to get her special ingredient for the brownies.

Adam was standing in front of what it felt like a million different kinds of flours, he had no idea which one he was supposed to get.

"Do you need any help?" A sweet and kind voice interrupted his investigation. He turned around and saw a familiar face looking at him, more than looking she was performing a full inspection on him, but he couldn't really put the finger on where he knew this woman from.

"Um, no thank you." He turned back to the flours but could sense that the woman wasn't walking away. "Sorry, do I know you?" He asked after making eye contact with the woman once more.

"Yes, you do. Well, not really anyway. My name is Jackie." She extended her hand towards him. "My daughter Kate, she's in Gracie's class. We've seen each other at dismissal time a couple of times."

"Oh. Gosh, my apologies." He shook her hand. "Adam Ruzek, nice to meet you."

"I know who you are." Jackie couldn't be any more obvious even if she wanted to. "All the moms know you. Don't get me wrong, we just think what you're doing with Gracie is so kind and wonderful." Adam wanted to roll his eyes at that comment but he didn't, he didn't want to be that rude.

"She's my niece, it's only normal I'd do all this for her."

"I think it's adorable. If you need any help for the bake sale," she walked closer to him and placed her hand on his arm. "you can just give me a call. I have experience in this area."

"I appreciate it, but my girlfriend is helping me out with that."

"Oh, lucky girl." She said without taking her hand off his arm.

"No, I'm the lucky one." He was a bit uncomfortable, he did enjoy the occasional flirt, because who doesn't? But this was too much, and apart from currently being in love with someone, he never found this type of attitude attractive.

As Kim was looking for him she saw the whole situation from afar. How was she supposed to react to that? She didn't know whether to be open about it or to try to cover the fact that they were involved when someone from the school community was present. But the most important question that was spinning around in her head was why the hell was Jacqueline touching him?

She felt the jealousy creep in her body, but at the same time she found Jackie's desperation kind of funny, but what was making her laugh to her insides even more was Adam's panicked face. She started walking towards him, still not sure how to approach Kate's mom.

"Oh, Ms. Burgess, hi!" Jackie said and immediately took her hand off Adam's arm, she seemed surprised to see Kim there. "What a coincidence all three of us running into each other here." She giggled and flipped back her hair before looking at Adam, and he just wanted to leave. This was a tricky situation, he didn't want to say something and create a problem for Kim, but if he said nothing he was afraid it would seem as if he was enjoying Jackie's flirting.

"Jacqueline, nice to run into you, but it's not really a coincidence since we came together."

The heck with everything, she had told the truth to her principal, if people were going to talk, they might as well start talking.

She left the things she was holding in the shopping cart next to Adam, when she looked up his eyes were on her and the smile on his face told her everything she needed to know.

"Did you find everything? We should get going and pick up Grace." He began completely ignoring Jackie.

"Yes, did you?"

"Just need the flour, couldn't decide which one to take, so Jackie here offered some help."

"Aw, that's so nice of you." Kim cocked her head and looked at Jackie with a kind smile. Adam looked down and bit his lip to stop himself from laughing, he'd never seen this polite yet slightly fake side of Kim yet and he found it pretty amusing.

"You know me, always trying to give a hand." Jackie said a bit nervously and Kim just chuckled ironically.

"Yeah, I could see that." The brunette commented, keeping her cool. The situation turned even more awkward for Jackie when Adam naturally slipped his arm around Kim's waist. It was a small gesture, but all that was needed to confirm their relationship to the outside world.

"Well, I better get going. Dinner isn't going to cook itself." Jacqueline excused herself. "See you both tomorrow."

"Oh please, give a big hug to Kate from me."

"I will!" She answered Kim and began to walk away, as Adam politely lifted his right hand as a way of saying goodbye.

"That was hot." Kim looked at him as she was about to kill him and rolled her eyes. "No, not Jackie." He tried to clear up the misunderstanding. "Territorial Kimmie had me wanting to push her against the wall and do all sorts of things to her." She shyly smiled and blushed a little.

"Was it that obvious?"

"Nah, it was pretty subtle." She opened her eyes not buying a single word he was saying and he just chuckled. "Ok, maybe just a little obvious. But it's the truth, everyone is going to find out at some point."

"In fact, we can count on Jacqueline to let everyone know." Kim said calmly as she rearranged the contents of the shopping cart.

"You think?"

"Are you kidding? She's probably blowing up the mommy group chat as we speak. You're quite the trending topic among those women."

"You're exaggerating. Why would I be? And how do you know this anyway?" He asked as both of them walked over to the register."

"For starters, I know everything." They both laughed at her playful confidence. "To continue, you're a novelty; you're young, hot, you always smell incredible," she didn't know if the moms were aware of the last item in her list, but she definitely was. "and they think you're single. Thank god they don't know the other things I got to learn about you, 'cus they would be hunting you down." Adam laughed so hard he even leant his head back while Kim observed a little annoyed until she was surprised by his lips on hers and his hand firmly on her neck.

"Good thing I'm not single then." He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "And for the record, those things are only for you, darlin'."

"They better be." She said playfully as she cocked her head to the side and stole an innocent kiss from him. "Let's go get Grace." He nodded smiling and entwined their fingers together.

The drive back to Kim's place was packed with singing and laughing. Gracie was ecstatic that two of her favorite people were picking her up to go have dinner. Both adults had already shared with her what the plans for the evening were and the little girl couldn't wait to put her hands on the chocolate batter to make the brownies for her backe sale.

"Can we try some, too?"

"Of course bear, we're making a little extra so we can have some for dessert and your uncle Adam got vanilla ice cream to top it off. What do you think?"

"I love it!" She almost screamed due to her excitement, while Adam looked at her through the rearview mirror. He enjoyed seeing her happy.

Over at Kim's they all hung out in the kitchen together as Adam cooked dinner and the girls baked the brownies. Gracie was having her own little party spraying flour around the room and eating the white chocolate chips when she thought Kim and Adam weren't looking at her.

"Dinner is served." Adam called them from the dining room. Kim sent Grace to wash her hands while she stayed in the kitchen putting the pan in the oven and then joined both Ruzeks at the table.

They had a really good time and the food was delicious. Both girls complimented the chef and he couldn't help but brag about it nearly all night long.

As they were finishing they agreed to watch a movie while they ate dessert. All three of them took the dishes back to the kitchen and Kim offered to get dessert ready while both of them decided on what movie to watch, although Gracie already knew what she wanted, the beauty and the beast.

The little girl was sitting on the couch next to her uncle, when he felt her slowly climb into his lap and whisper something in his ear.

"Did you tell her yet?"

"Tell who, what, muffin?"

"Miss B! Did you tell her she has to be your girlfriend?" She looked genuinely worried. "You smile more when she's around, you even cook better." She added, shrugging her shoulders. Her quizzical look made Adam laugh.

"Remember I told you it doesn't really work like that?" She nodded.

"How does it work, then?"

"Well, first you have to know if the other person wants that too."

"She wants to."

"How do you know that?"

"I don't. But if she's princess Belle and you are prince Adam then she has to be your girlfriend." She said as if she was stating the obvious and pointing at the tv, where the movie was set to be played.

"Is that why you want to watch this?" He asked, touching the tip of her nose, making her giggle and move her head up and down with a huge and mischievous smile on her mouth. "You are out of this world, Grace Ruzek." He tickled her side and helped her to move a little so that he could face her. "So, let me ask you something."

"Mm-hmm."

"Would it be ok with you if Ms. B and I were together, like, for real?"

"Ok?" She asked with the most adorable six year old voice even. "It would be fan-freaking-tastic!" She extended her arms trying to express all her enthusiasm.

"What would? Whatever it is you're talking about, it sounds like fun." Kim joined them leaving a tray with brownies and ice cream right on the coffee table in front of them.

"You and uncle Adam being boyfriend and girlfriend. It would be great." She said naturally.

"Oh." Kim looked at him and they both knew it was time. She sat down next to Gracie and started to lightly scratch the top of the girl's head.

"Muffin, we have to tell you something." Adam started. "You are right, I do smile more when Kim is around because we have a lot of fun together and we like hanging out together."

"Yes! It's fun when we play together." Gracie added.

"It is. But sometimes, when you are with pops or with your friends, Kim and I also see each other and it's nice, too."

"Ok." Gracie was beginning to look back and forth between both adults, trying to see if her teacher could be more clear than her uncle.

"What I'm trying to say muffin, is that last weekend Ms. B and I decided that we both wanted to be together. Like Princess Belle and Prince Adam." Her little green eyes opened as wide as they could and her smile was so wide that he could guarantee that her little cheeks were hurting.

"Yeiiii! This is the best day of my life!" She said as she clapped her hands together and then immediately turned to Kim and threw herself in her teacher's arms. "We're family now." Kim felt like she was going to melt at that moment. A shy tear rolled down her cheek as she hugged Gracie and rubbed her back.

Adam was looking at them and taking a mental picture of that moment, because no matter what, he never wanted to forget that.