Page 66 of Only for Love

I hate that she has to ask, but I deserve it. “Promise.”

Even as my eyelids hang heavy and I feel Emma relax into a slumber, I can’t help but wonder at all the things I never knew I wanted. Holding a baby, naming her. Watching her walk and talk… I hug Emma close, hoping to hell I finally have something to dream about, and I let myself drift to sleep.

***

Emma

A heavy, warm weight holds me in place, and I inhale a long-ago-familiar soapy scent that makes me melt. Then my eyes shoot open, and I realize I’ve been sleeping—drooling, oh my freakin’ god—on Grayson’s bare chest. As smoothly as I can, I fix that problem and try not to panic enough to wake him. Seriously, I’m asleep on my couch with him? The last twenty-four hours have been insane. I wipe the corner of my mouth and hope I didn’t snore.

“Morning, baby.”

His greeting is grated and gravelly, sexy without trying, and I can feel the deep rumble of his words in his chest since I’m plastered against him. “Morning.”

It feels too early to be awake. The sun’s up, but it’s soft. I’m struck by how odd it feels to wake with a good morning from a half-naked man and not Cally. There’s a pang in my heart. I miss her. But this… this is nice. I can’t say it’s not enjoyable. I love my daughter, but I’m twenty years old, a day short of my birthday, and I’ve had little time to just be me, not Mommy. Though I really wish Cally was at home too.

“What’s that look?” he asks.

Oh, that’s a conversation I need a cup of coffee for before we dig in. I sigh and figure vagueness is best for the moment. “I’m off the charts on an emotional roller coaster.”

His tongue darts over his bottom lip, and he nods almost imperceptibly. “Know that feeling.” But a fire hits his eyes, making them shine like emeralds on fire.

Grayson wraps me in his thick arms, making me sigh against his chest. Our bodies entwine, and it’s so familiar. I want to melt and nuzzle.

“We need to talk about the part where you forgive me, Emma.”

Because that’s the only option. Now that he’s back, I’m not letting go even if I’m terrified of him walking away from Cally as he did me. “Working on it.”

“Then we move forward one day at a time, and it’ll be fine.”

I want that. But that’s a fairy tale, something I thought we had before. “Before… when we were in high school, my biggest fear was one day you’d find out how I felt and want nothing to do with me.”

He nods, making some agreeing-growling sound that set my insides afire.

I swallow the same fear I had when we danced around our feelings in high school. “Time changes people. You don’t know me anymore. You might not like this me.”

We lie in silence. I’m not sure if he’s readying to refute my concern or agreeing as he realizes that for the first time.

“Gray?”

“No, you’re right. But some things don’t change, baby. You’re still you. You’ve probably got a camera close by, and I bet if we unpacked these boxes, I’d find a hundred pictures of our daughter.”

Our daughter.My heartstrings are pulled tight.

His chin touches the top of my head. “You’re still the same sweet girl who tries not to trust but can’t help it, and you know we have a history that we can rebuild on.”

He’s right… “Is that enough?”

“Has to be.” His confidence is almost enough to make me believe. “I don’t know where you work or who your friends are. I don’t know what you watch on television—”

“Bubble GuppiesandMickey Mouse Club.” I look up to appraise his reaction. I’m not the normal twenty-something. Then I remember everything he’s said and that I’m probably smashing his gunshot wound and he’s too tough to say anything. He’s not the normal-average anything. Maybe we’re in more the same place than not.

“Bubble GuppiesandMickey Club.” Grayson squeezes me tighter. “I’ll have to check them out.”

“MickeyMouseClub.”

A heart-stalling smile breaks across his face. “Right.MickeyMouseClub. Ten-four, pretty mama.”

In that second, with that nickname, I’m done and in love. That’s all it took. “I want this to work.”

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