Page 37 of The Risk

She knew what he was asking.

Chantal pulled in a deep breath and nodded. She reached for him—and kissed him.

The boldest move she’d ever made in her life.

Especially with a man.

Then everything changed between them again. Forever.

34

When her heart stopped racing,and her hands stopped trembling, she redressed quickly. "I should go back to the spare... room..."

"In a little bit. I’ll carry you over there and tuck you in. We’ll just... pretend Gunn is gone for the night."

His hands tightened on her when she cuddled against him.

It had been a little awkward with the pump and monitor and with him stopping halfway through to dig for a condom in his bathroom cabinet, but not as awkward as she suspected it could have been. It would get less awkward, she thought. If this was something they did... often.

But that was a conversation she wasn’t quite ready to have just yet.

She drifted off in his arms, not waking again until he scooped her into those ridiculously strong arms and stood. "What...?"

"Shhh. It’s almost two. And your brother is here, just down the hall. I’m moving you back into the spare room. Just so Chad doesn’t catch you in here, and then decide to kill me. But Chantal... something to keep in mind."

"Hmmm?" What he was saying wasn’t actually registering. She just felt his arms around her and wanted to stay right where she was forever. "What?"

"I’m going to get you here permanently. As soon as I possibly can. No more loving you in secret. You areminenow. And I’m never letting you go."

And he just carried her back to the guest bed—his sister Greer’s old room—and tucked her in. With kisses hotter than anything she’d ever experienced before.

35

He heardthe sounds of his son. Gene stood. It was only an hour or so after he’d carried Chantal to the guest room. Calvin must have had a nightmare. He’d almost expected it, after what had happened to Calvin’s best friend.

Gene headed out into the hall. He heard people in the living room. One look into his son’s room told him everything he needed to know.

Odds were it was Genesis out there. She had taken on the role of mother with Calvin since she’d moved home after the storm. That was something he would always be grateful for. His sister had the best heart of anyone he knew. He hoped the man who finally convinced her to marry him understood what a gift he’d be getting when he got Genesis. If he didn’t, well... Gene would have to kick his ass until the guy did. It was what a good older brother did.

But it wasn’t Genesis in the living room.

It was Chantal holding Calvin as she rocked. His son was sound asleep in her arms, like he’d been there a thousand times.

A surge of emotion hit him at the sight.

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since everything had changed between them. That was all. Maybe that wasn’t quite long enough to know, but he felt it. Felt it more certainly than he had ever felt it for any other woman. It felt right. Like this was what he was meant to do.

How he was meant to live out the remainder of his days.

The only fly in the ointment—Chantal’s pain-in-the-ass older brother was right there, too. Genesis had brought Chad home with her from the hospital like a stray puppy. And now he stood between Gene and the woman he adored.

But Chad was easily run off.

Then it was just Gene and the woman he wanted. And his sleeping son between them.

He leaned down, and scooped her up gently. She gave a tiny gasp and shifted Calvin. "What are you doing?"

"This chair Grady made years ago—it’s big enough for two. Three, if one of us is pretty small." And he settled in, before pulling Chantal down onto his lap. He grabbed the blanket his mother had knit decades ago and covered his sleeping son carefully. He kissed Chantal on her temple. "You feel okay?"

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