Birthday Girl

by Penelope Douglas

“Birthday wishes don’t always come true, so I don’t waste a chance when I blow out a candle.”

“I knew you were out there somewhere,” I tell her, quirking a sad smile. “The girlfriends, women I dated, Cole’s mother . . . I never wanted to marry anyone, because they weren’t what I was looking for. I had started to think I had my sights set too high and you didn’t exist.” I clasp the back of her neck and run my thumbs down her throat. “Turns out my dream girl belongs to the one person it would kill me to hurt.”