Page 48 of Love Restored

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“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Blake said as she adjusted her skirt once again. Why had she worn such a short one, knowing she would be sitting in a car next to Graham for half an hour before their date? It kept riding up her thighs as she moved in her seat, and Graham would take one look at her and groan. This was not the best outfit to keep things calm and peaceful between them.

“It’s been four weeks since you got the papers, baby.” Graham kissed her palm, and she about melted right there on the spot. He was forever doing things like that, though she still wasn’t sure where they stood. “They haven’t filed anything else, and you have a lawyer who is going to fight for you. You need to take a breath, and I will be damned if I let you wear yourself down because of all of this.”

In those four weeks, Graham had been her rock. He’d gotten to know her more, the real her, gotten to know her daughter. He’d helped her find a lawyer and even offered to help financially. That was one thing she wouldn’t allow. She’d saved up for something like this, and hopefully, wouldn’t have to use everything she’d put away.

It had been four weeks of work, school, stress, worry, fear, and the constant source of peace and angst that was Graham.

And in those four weeks, she hadn’t had sex with the man.

Her vagina was on strike, apparently, and she was afraid it would never forgive her for keeping away from Graham as long as she had, even though he’d been so damn close. And from the way Graham always looked so…pent up…she had a feeling his dick wasn’t happy either.

Graham tangled his fingers with hers as he continued the drive, and she tried not to let her mind wander. So, of course, she did the exact opposite.

He’d apologized for the things he’d said to her when he’d first found out about Rowan. And he’d kept apologizing until she’d asked him to stop. Though she’d been angry with him about it at first, she also couldn’t blame him for being upset that she’d hidden things from him.

Because, well, she had.

Every since Chris’s family had filed for custody, Graham had turned into the man he was before he’d learned the truth about her daughter. He was still gruff and grumpy a lot of the time, but she liked that part of him. He wasn’t perfect, and she was happy for that since she sure as hell wasn’t perfect either.

When they pulled into the parking lot of the pub, Graham squeezed her hand before letting go to turn off the engine.

“You ready for nachos?” he said with a smile.

She turned to him and held back a sigh. If she weren’t careful, she’d fall in love with this man. Only, she was afraid she already had.

She’d told herself she could be strong on her own, that she could do as she always had. Yet she’d broken a bit when she’d been away from Graham, and when he’d rushed to her side when she needed him most, she’d fallen even more.

She couldn’t love him. What if he thought being with her would be too hard because of Rowan? When the crisis abated, and things were settled, would he still want to be with her?

She’d already broken a bit for him, and now, she was afraid she’d do it again.

It should have worried her more than it did, and yet, she knew she’d fallen.

She was in love with Graham Gallagher and had no idea what to do about that.

He cupped her face and stared into her eyes. “You’re thinking too hard right now, Blake. Tonight is supposed to be about us, about you. Let go of your worries, if only for a moment. Maya, Jake, and Border have Rowan tonight. They’re practicing the whole parent thing until the baby comes, and that means it’s just you and me. I know you’re never going to not worry, but at least worry a little less tonight.”

He leaned down after his words and brushed a soft kiss to her mouth. She sighed into him, deepening the kiss before she’d even realized she was doing it. He let out a soft growl before pulling back and resting his forehead on hers.

“Let’s get inside and eat a bit and maybe play a game of pool or two,” he said gruffly. “I want you so fucking bad, Blake, and keeping my hands off of you for the past month has killed me.”

She pulled back, her eyes wide. “Then why did you do it? Or rather, why haven’t you done me?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “You have such a way with words.”

She smacked his arm. “Hey, I’m serious. Why haven’t you made a move on me in the past month? I mean, we’ve been kind of together this whole time, but not really, you know? I don’t know where we stand, and that’s kind of freaking me out since I want to know that more than anything.” She shook her head. “No, not more than anything, but it’s well up on my top ten list of wants at the moment. So, yeah, where are we, Graham? Are we friends that make out but not have sex? Are we together? Or what? Because you ran to my side when I needed you, and I will always be grateful for that, but then we took two steps back to before everything happened, and I’m so freaking confused.”

Blake squeezed her eyes shut. “And now I sound like some crazy woman asking where our relationship is going, but hell, I don’t know where we’re at, let alone what happens after this. I spent so freaking long trying to figure out what to wear tonight because I didn’t know if this was between friends or something more. Then you kept touching me and growling at me, and I figured the skirt was a good idea, but then you said that we needed to go inside or something like that… I’m so freaking confused.”

She opened her eyes to see Graham staring at her. He ran a hand over his beard and nodded. “You sound confused as hell, and Blake? I’m confused, too. We didn’t really talk about us after our fight, just kept going anyway. So, yeah, I’m a little lost, too. But not so lost as to think that I don’t want you.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

He cupped her face. “I want you, Blake. In my life and in my bed.”

“But I have a daughter,” she whispered, ignoring the way his words brought warmth to her chest that she’d been missing.

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