“And I’m also grateful that you’d offer.” Her hands slide down my back.
I offered before to marry her for her cooking and to give her benefits for the baby.
If I did it again now, I don’t know what she’d say.
I know I love her. She’s put color and laughter and life back into my world. I’d go to the ends of the earth to make her happy.
But proposing to someone who’s being thrown back into family turmoil just as she’s getting through the grief of losing her best friend isn’t going to make her life better.
Even if I’d feel better knowing she truly has chosen me.
Not to spite anyone else, but because she wants me.
“Thank you for being you,” she whispers against my chest. “And thank you for wanting me back.”
A shudder ripples through me. “I can’t resist you.”
She kisses my pec, then my neck, then tilts her head up to kiss my lips.
Making love to her is so easy.
So right.
The rest of the world doesn’t exist when I’m inside her and she’s panting my name and raking her nails down my back.
But the rest of the world exists Monday morning when she finally gets a text from her mom.
Why aren’t you at work today? Why aren’t you talking to us? Are you honestly choosing a man over your family?
She tears up, but she doesn’t cry.
And she texts backI’m not the one making me choose.
Fletcher and Silas show up.
The rest of the team are at their off-season jobs.
Ziggy’s mom doesn’t text back.
And I’m about to crawl out of my skin.
I can fix this.
I can fucking fix this.
Unless I can’t.
Ziggy catches me at the sink, doing dishes after lunch, and hugs me hard from behind. “Thank you for giving me two more days.”
And that?
That’s why it’s worth it.
She knows this is hard.
She knows she’s asking a lot.
And she’s showing up to support me in my own struggles too.
