Park Avenue Prince(64)
“I’m so happy we’re talking about this in front of Sam. I really am,” Grace said, and although she was smiling, her tight jaw told me she was uncomfortable. I stroked my thumb across her wrist wanting to calm her.
“It’s nothing I didn’t already know,” I said.
“So you approve of Sam?” Amanda asked Harper. “You think he deserves Grace?”
I was sure I didn’t.
“So far, so good,” Harper said.
“Don’t take that personally, Sam. She says the same thing about me,” Max said as he moved off the stool and kissed Harper on the head as he made his way to the fridge.#p#分页标题#e#
“How can you tell?” Amanda said.
“Tell what?” Harper asked.
“That he deserves Grace,” Amanda replied.
“Well, from what Grace tells me—and from what I see.” Harper glanced at me as she handed a plate of shredded cheese to Amanda. “He’s thoughtful and caring and makes her laugh.”
Grace smiled and turned her head toward me. I raised my eyebrows. Did I do all that?
“Remember, you have to judge men on what they do, and not just what they say,” Harper said.
“Amanda doesn’t need dating advice, but thank you, my sweet,” Max replied.
“I wish someone had given me that advice sooner,” Harper said. “No, that’s not what I mean. I wish I’d followed that advice sooner.”
“I think things worked out just about perfectly,” Max said, grabbing Harper.
Amber started screaming from the living room and Harper pulled out of Max’s arms.
“Drink your wine,” Max said. “I’ll get this. She’s getting tired and needs to have a bath.”
“And that is why I married the guy,” Harper said. “He’s a total DILF.”
“Harper!” Amanda shouted.
Harper just shrugged and Amanda rolled her eyes.
“Are you okay?” Grace asked me under her breath.
I nodded and smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear, allowing my finger to continue across her jaw.
I looked up to find Amanda watching us.
“Are you going to marry Sam?” Amanda asked, looking at Grace. Even though her question wasn’t directed at me, it caught me off guard.
Grace laughed. “Maybe.”
“Why only maybe?” Amanda asked.
Loving Grace hadn’t been a choice, but marriage? I hadn’t thought about it. Ever. Marriage was for other people, people who’d had a normal life. People who knew how to be a husband, a father—people who knew how to love.
“Amanda, you shouldn’t ask people such personal questions,” Max said.
“Why not? It’s just Grace. She asks me much more personal questions.”
I curled my hand around the edge of the countertop, hanging on to I didn’t know what. I needed something solid—something to be sure of. The ache for something that had gone before grew and grew.
I tried to refocus on the conversation around me.
“You’re right. I do ask you personal questions and there shouldn’t be a double standard,” Grace replied. “Sam and I haven’t known each other very long, but maybe someday.”
Surely Grace understood I wasn’t that man, the one who could commit. I couldn’t give her three children, a house filled with love and laughter and chaos. It was too much to be responsible for.
Too much to lose.
“Excuse me,” I said as my stool scraped against the slate floor of the kitchen. “I’ll get our bags out of the car.” I needed some air. Some distance from a life I could never give Grace. I wasn’t the man who deserved her.
I was anything but.
“I’m sorry for saying that earlier,” Grace said as we shut the door to the pool house. “About marriage, I mean. I know we’re going a million miles an hour and—”
“Hey,” I said, pulling her into my arms. As much as what she’d said had unsettled me, she shouldn’t be apologizing “You have nothing to be sorry for. I like knowing how you feel about these things.” I moved us toward the bed and pushed her onto her back.#p#分页标题#e#
She pulled at my shirt until I was leaning over her. “Did I freak you out?”
“You didn’t say anything wrong. Why would I freak out?” I wanted to protect her from my fears.
She grinned as she scraped her nails over my scalp absentmindedly. Her touch went straight to my cock. Every. Time. I had to slow this down—tell her I couldn’t give her what she wanted.
I groaned, rolled away and presented her with an opportunity. Straddling me, she settled on top of me, and my dick hardened four layers beneath her pussy.