LOVE ‘EM(110)
I place my hand over my womb. My decisions will affect the life growing inside me. This baby.
CH. FOURTEEN
By the time I drag in at Slade’s, I’m exhausted. All I want is a hot shower. And my pillow is calling.
What I get is Danny sitting where I usually sleep.
I straighten my top and shoot a death glare at Slade.
He rubs his thighs and stands. “Well—I’ll let you two talk.”
Slade lets himself out. His old truck roars to life while Danny’s eyes hold mine.
I swallow the lump trying to form in my throat. “Look, Danny—”
He pushes up from the sofa. “Please. I had to see you…make sure you’re all right. Let’s just talk for a few minutes.”
I wave a hand over myself. “Okay, you’ve seen. I’m fine. Now you can go. I’m not ready to talk.”
He shuffles his feet, head down. “I’m sorry about what my dad did. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to cut us all off. But I hope you won’t. Rachel will be so hurt.”
Rachel?
My shoulders slump. Oh, Rachel.
I am the most horrible friend. “I don’t want to cut Rachel or your mom off—or even you. You guys are the closest thing I have to family. That’s why it hurts so bad to know what he did.”
Danny steps around the low table and takes my hand. Tingles run from his fingers straight to my heart. Every thought I have flees.
I let out a deep breath; with the air goes my resolve.
I’m a sad sack. He touches me and I lose my freaking mind.
He tugs me toward the couch. “Please, sit with me.”
He falls into the lumpy cushions and pulls me into his lap. I try to move, but he holds fast, his eyes boring into mine.
Who am I kidding? I don’t really want to get away from him. He knows it. I know it. So I let myself relax into his chest and settle against his warmth, his strength. He slides his arms around me, pulling me tighter into him, kissing my shoulder.
I pull my phone from my back pocket. “Rach hasn’t called. Does she know?”
He leans back and pushes his hands over his face and through his sun-bleached hair. “Yeah. I got a hold of her yesterday. She’ll be flying in tomorrow.”
I catch my breath and let it out slowly, allowing it to fill my cheeks before the air escapes. “Is she okay?”
“She’s not good. I think this is pretty tough for her. She’s always kind of put Dad up on some sort of pedestal.”
My stomach churns just thinking about the things Dave probably saw. I heave a sigh.
Danny brushes the hair out of my face. “How are you doing? I hoped to spare you from this. I thought I’d found all the cameras. I told him—”
My brain stumbles over his words. I jump up and back around the low table. His brow wrinkles, and he opens his mouth like he’s going to say something.
Closing my eyes, I turn away and hold up my hand. “Wait. Stop. You knew he did this before I found that stupid camera in the shell? And you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to feel violated.”
My mind fries in my skull. “You didn’t want? You? What about me?”
He stands and grabs at my hand, but I snatch it away.
“God, Danny. That’s not something you keep from someone. I had a right to know.”
He throws his hands in the air. “Well, pardon fucking me for trying to protect you.”
I grind my teeth. My words burst from my mouth in a rush. “Maybe I don’t need you to protect me. Maybe I just need you to know I’m capable of handling my own shit life. I can deal, Danny. I’m not going to fall apart. I’m not going to crumble. I’m not going to—I don’t know—whatever it was you thought I’d do.”
He pulls me against his hard chest, whispering, “I know you won’t crumble or fall apart. I’ll always know that, but that doesn’t mean I won’t always want to shield you from a world too imperfect for you. As the man who loves you, it’s my job to protect you.”
His breath catches and his voice lowers. “And I—failed.”
The break before that last word slays the last of my anger. I lean into him. His citrus scent brings back a thousand memories of his hands on me—of him holding me safe in his embrace.
He lays kisses along the curve of my shoulder. With his mouth still pressed against the skin left bare by the straps on my sundress, he says, “I meant what I said, Mo.”
A little ball of hope grows in my stomach, trying to push out the uncertainty lurking there. “Which thing did you say?”
“I love you. And I want you. God, do I want you.”
His erection firm against my stomach confirms that last part.