“He found someone else to obsess over, but she wasn’t so lucky. He sexually assaulted her and beat her up worse than me. He’s in jail now.”
“I’m sorry for her, but it’s good he’s in jail. I’m glad to hear that,” he said. He wanted to probe further and get more details, but it was clear Ava was spent from sharing her story. “Want to stay here tonight?”
She tipped her head back on his chest, looking up at him. “Maybe…”
“I’ll have to up my charm factor,” he said dryly.
“You’re plenty charming. I don’t have a crib for Gracie and don’t know how she’d do sleeping without it.”
“Want me to come home with you?”
“Yes, but not because I’m scared of my past,” she admitted. “I don’t know why I’m doing letting fear control me, but a part of me…I’m afraid I’m doing it to keep from falling for you.”
All he heard wasfalling for you.
“I’m falling for you, too.”
She turned more fully into him, burying her face in his chest. Her words were muffled when she spoke, but he could still hear her. “I’m scared.”
Me, too.
But right now, one of them had to be strong. So he kept that quiet. “There’s no rush. We already decided this takes as long as it takes.”
“This?”
“Our relationship.”
“Yeah, we did. You’re pretty great, you know.”
“I do.”
She mock punched his shoulder as she sat back up. “Good kisser, too.”
She got to her feet and then bent to pick up Gracie. He couldn’t help noticing her butt as she did so. “Thanks.”
“Sure. If you need to talk more, I’m here,” he said. And meant it. Ava couldn’t know that for him this was what made them feel more like a couple. Quick hookups and short-term relationships had been his norm. And in those no details of the past were shared. In fact he was pretty sure more than one woman had been making up the story of her life, which was cool because they were never going to be anything but strangers.
But with Ava that wasn’t the case.
Already they were more than strangers. They were almost friends. Yeah, friends. That was new to him, too. A loner all his life, and now he had a woman who he wanted to call his girlfriend and who was definitely a friend.
And Gracie.
He had a little niece that a part of him wanted to be a father to. Wanted to step up the way he saw in Ava’s eyes she was expecting him to.
Except that didn’t feel as comfortable as Ava. Probably because she was grown and could handle herself if things went south. Gracie couldn’t.
That little one had been through more in her short life than many had. Losing her mother, being left at a fire station…not the way anyone wanted their story to start. She needed a father who could shower her with love and ensure that she never felt like she hadn’t been worthy.
A man who knew his own worth.
Chay wasn’t there yet. He could admit he had value at the station and to his grandmother. But anywhere else he struggled. He wanted to be Ava’s man, but at the same time, did she deserve someone without his baggage? Maybe. But he wasn’t stepping aside. He wanted her and was going to do everything in his power to try to keep them together.
Gracie fell asleep after Ava fed her, and she knew it was time to leave. Past time to get her stuff together and go home. But the fire was cozy and Chay…Chay was incredible. There was nothing she wanted more than to stay right next him for the rest of the night.
But she had work tomorrow. Also, it hadn’t been bullshit when she’d said Gracie had never slept away from her crib. Of course she might have before she’d come into Ava’s care, but Ava was following some child development tips from a book she’d read. Routine was key to socializing and raising someone to function as an adult.
A lot of those behaviors started in the early stages.
