Page 26 of Grant’s Heat

“Now I don’t know whether to hit you or hug you.”

He grimaced. “How about neither?”

I chuckled. “Fair enough. But seriously, I think this could totally work.”

“Of course it will,” Elijah assured.

I still didn’t hit him. Or hug him. But I did raise my bottle and extend the neck, bestowing a wide grin on my friend when he knocked his bottle against it. “I really owe you one, man.”

“Dude.” He tilted his head back to take a long swig of his beer. “You owe me about a million and one at this point.”

Chapter Five

Rio

“Are you sure you don’t need me to stay?” Hannah asked while folding her apron into a perfect square. “I don’t mind.”

“I’m absolutely positive. That’s the fifth time you’ve offered, and this is the fifth time I’m saying you’ve already been so much help. Go on home and enjoy the rest of the day. It’s beautiful outside! When I took out the trash, I couldn’t believe how warm it was. Not bad for February.”

“And people across the country wonder why we’re willing to put up with earthquakes,” she laughed out.

I motioned toward the back door, which was open wide to the breathtakingly sunny day. “Exhibit A, ladies and gentlemen.”

“Preach on, sister. Preach on.”

I raised my hands above my head and gave my hips a little shimmy. After Hannah whooped and clapped, I ordered, “Now get the hell out of here, or I’ll hand you a mop.”

Her big, apologetic eyes searched mine. “I said I would stay…”

“Go!” I pointed sternly toward the exit. A necessary move. She’d stay if I didn’t. Hannah was one of the kindest people I’d ever met. Abbi and I had already vowed to find the girl a suitable man as soon as I had my own personal life squared away and little Kaisan made his debut. How Hannah Farsey was unattached was one of life’s biggest mysteries.

After she left, I let out a contented sigh. The day was beautiful, and life was good. Things were even looking up at home. The day after I had my bout of crazy in Grant’s office, Sean had gotten a call from the Shark Enterprises human resources department. He was way over the limit on overtime hours—imagine that—and had to start leaving work at the designated quitting time each day.

Without focusing on the impetus and more on the result, we were now enjoying dinner together every night, followed by television, reading, household projects, or running local errands. For me, it didn’t really matter what we did. We were able to spend time together again, and it was absolute heaven.

I started washing the lunch menu marinara dishes, normally one of the shit shifts of our kitchen, but today I was grinning like a total dork through the whole task, recalling the conversation from last night that my husband had initiated. He had come into the kitchen with a stack of mail in his calloused hand and a goofy grin plastered on his face…

“I think you’re going to be very happy to see what came in the mail, Mrs. Gibson.”

One look at his beautiful smirk, worthy of a kid on Christmas morning who’d just unwrapped a deluxe erector set, and I knew he couldn’t have been that excited about the lower gas rates headed our way.

“What’s going on?” I asked, wiping my hands on the dishtowel slung over my shoulder.

He separated one envelope from the rest of the stack and held it between us. “Do you know what this is?”

“You have a gazillionaire uncle I don’t know about, and that’s your inheritance?”

Sean cracked such a wide grin, the top of his suntanned cheeks crinkled. “Hmmm. Fun idea, but no…”

I took advantage of his momentary distraction and snatched the envelope from his grip, giggling at my own mischief—until my gaze fell on the logo occupying the top left corner of the thing.

“Holy crap,” I squealed. “Are these our new insurance cards? Already?”

His radiant smile was all the assurance I needed. I threw my entire body into him, nearly knocking him to the ground with my exuberant celebration. He dipped his head and kissed my ear before whispering the best words in the world into it.

“We can finally start the fertility treatments, baby.”

I kissed him back before rasping, “My hero.”