Page 37 of Divorced from Number Thirty-Eight
“You feeling okay?”
“Y-yeah,” I murmur.
Even though I’m far from okay.
I’m sad and raw and worried about what I’m going to do next.
I’m confused as to why Gray is still here, nervous about what he meant when he said We’ll have her covered, and…
I’m lying in bed next to him.
So there’s that.
His mouth hitches up. “You’re not okay.”
“I’m fine,” I whisper.
Then his hand is dipping further into my hair, tilting my head down, and pressing his lips to my forehead. “You’re not okay, and that’s okay, baby. It’s okay to not be okay.”
My heart skips a beat at the gentle way he calls me baby, but I know better than to put too much stock into the endearment. Likely, some part of his brain needs to see me out of the hospital and on my two feet. I’ll give him that.
And maybe it’s also me giving myself just a little more time to bask in the warmth of his attention.
“That’s a lot of okays,” I murmur.
He chuckles, the laughter a warm puff of air along my scalp. “Author brain coming out?” he teases.
Oh, my author brain is out.
As in out, alert, clocking every bit of this interaction, of the last day.
Because this is the stuff of fantasies…
And heartbreak.
That has me closing my eyes, taking a long, slow breath.
Then I gently push against his chest.
To my relief—and it has to be said, disappointment—he releases me.
“It’s a gift and a curse,” I say, forcing my lips to curve when he dips his face down again, green eyes coming to mine, holding, searching.
Eventually, he slips his hand from my hair and gently touches his finger to the tip of my nose. “I bet it is.”
My lips part, my exhale shaky.
And—oh, my God, am I clocking this, committing it to memory.
Because I also don’t miss what my shuddering breath does to his eyes.
How they heat and shift, how his hand splayed on the middle of my back presses lightly, bringing our bodies even closer together.
I don’t miss how his head bends further, his mouth coming close enough that I know exactly where this next moment is going…
And how much I want it to go there.
For his lips to find mine.
