“The second day I held him like he was a football. We’d still be back there if it wasn’t for you.”
“You would have figured it out.”
“Not as quickly as we were able to with you around,” he said. “You directed Emily and trained me. I’m grateful you did.”
She plucked at the couch cushion.
“Just grateful?” she finally asked in a whisper.
…
His heart twisted as he stared down at her.
“No,” he said, reaching out to lift her face to his. “This isn’t just about gratitude.”
Her eyes rose to his, so wide and deep a man could drown in them.
How does she do that?
How could she make his chest tighten with just a look?
He brushed his fingers over her cheek. All the nights they’d spent together and he still wasn’t used to the simple pleasure of touching her.
Maybe I’ll never get used to it. Maybe she’ll astound me for the rest of my life.
He’d never wanted permanent with anyone. He hadn’t thought he was the type who could commit to a life that ordinary. He still wasn’t sure it was a good idea with Hunter being so fresh in his life.
But he also knew one fact there was no escaping.
Clara was it for him. If he was ever going to make commitment work, it’d be with her or no one. When he thought of where his life would be ten years from now, it would be with her at his side.
It had always been her.
Which meant he needed to convince her she was right where she belonged. The rest they could figure out later.
“This is just a night like any other,” he told her.
She shook her head, drawing back from his touch. “It’s different and you know it.”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
“Everything is going to change now.”
“Why?”
She bit her lip, nibbling on it in a way that made him long to sooth the bruised skin with his mouth. “We’re playing house,” she whispered. “None of this is real.”
She wasn’t wrong. Their deal had been temporary from the start. But along the way everything had evolved into so much more. One thing he knew for sure, he didn’t want her walking out of this house and sleeping in a bed he couldn’t share with her.
“It could be real,” he said, the words coming far more easily than he’d ever thought they would. “We could be real.”
She froze, her eyes growing even wider if it was possible.
“Be clear,” she demanded.
The words brought a smile to his lips. His little reporter wouldn’t stop until she uncovered the truth. About what he wanted from her. About what he felt for her.
About what he planned for their future…
For the first time in his life, the idea of permanency, of normalcy, didn’t send him running from the room.
Instead, it made him excited for every morning he woke up beside her.
“Stay,” he said. “Live here. Don’t leave us now.”
“Because I make a good surrogate mother?” she asked. “Emily can help you take care of him. You don’t need me for that.”
He took her hands in his. “You are irreplaceable,” he replied. “The best mother Hunter could ever have. You love him as much as I do, admit it.”
She drew in a shuddering breath. “But he’s not mine,” she said. “Eventually we have to go back to our real lives and when we do…it’s going to hurt.”
He leaned forward, his lips ghosting over hers. “What was so great about our real lives? I could hug you, but I couldn’t kiss you. I could sleep beside you on a couch, but I couldn’t wrap myself around you in bed. I couldn’t take your hand in public or attend one of those tedious gala events with you on my arm.” His fingers delved deeper into her hair, angling her face up to his. “I couldn’t touch you the way I always wanted to. Do you really want to go back to that?”
“You were the one who said you couldn’t make promises. You said there were no strings here. That you didn’t know how long we could last.”
“I was an idiot.”
Her grin was brief. “Can’t argue with that.”
“I take it all back. You want strings? Bring them on.”
She shook her head. “If this is too fast for you, I don’t want to rush anything. There’s Hunter to think about.”
“I am thinking about him. What if he was yours as much as mine?”
A shudder went through her. “You can’t offer this only to pull it away later,” she warned.
“Losing you is the last thing I’d ever want to do. I mean every word I’m saying.”
Not looking away from her, he drew his lips over the ring finger on her left hand.