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Five years ago, we’d jumped into something fast, and one might suggest it had been a huge mistake, though I’d never see my son in that way. Asher made me feel complete. I couldn’t imagine not being his mom.
I hadn’t been with anyone since Gravor.
“Would you . . .” I shook my head. I shouldn’t push this. Gravor felt so fragile. He’d taken off, and I didn’t want to make him feel unsettled enough to do it again. “Never mind.”
“We could share your bed,” he said gruffly.
I stared into his gorgeous eyes. Did I see a future there?
“I’d love to hold you tonight, Mazie,” he said, standing. “That’s all.”
We stood close together. Much too close. We’d touch if I leaned forward.
“I don’t need or want anything else,” he added quickly. “This isn’t to pressure you at all.”
The thought of lying in his arms all night made my bones melt.
“I’d like that,” I said.
“Mazie.” He stroked a strand of hair off my face, nudging it onto my back. “While they held me—tortured me—there were times when I felt like someone was with me, telling me to hold on, that there was more and if I could just wait it out, I’d find paradise. I think that was your soul calling out to mine.”
Some women would’ve seen this as a line, but that wasn’t Gravor. Other women would’ve felt it was too soon for him to tell me something like that. Still others would’ve said that this could never last, that it would burn out and we’d come to hate each other.
They’d all be wrong. I’d seen from the start that he was destined for me as much as I was meant for him. I knew this to the marrow of my bones.
I took his hand and with a soft smile, led him into the kitchen, where I turned out the light above the stove. I kept hold of him, and he followed me as I turned off the lights in the living room and made sure the front and back doors were locked. When we started down the darkened hall, he let go, only to place his hand at the small of my back.
“You can have the bathroom first if you want,” I said softly.
“You use it. I’ll wait.”
With a nod, I went inside and did my teeth and brushed my hair. I stared at myself in the mirror and wondered why everything felt changed for the better.
He was leaning against the wall in the hallway when I emerged, and we passed almost like strangers, him going inside and me padding to the bedroom.
Nightgown or not? It felt forward not to wear one but . . . So tempting. However, Asher might come looking for me in the middle of the night. After donning one, I climbed into bed. Which side did Gravor like? I scooted closer to the wall, remembering that years ago, he’d taken the left.
I fluffed my pillow and lay on my back, my legs outstretched, suddenly wide awake. I kept thinking about what we’d done in this bed earlier this morning, plus what we did together five years ago.
My spine tingled. My bones went mushy, and he wasn’t even lying beside me yet.
In the living room, I could barely remain awake. Now I couldn’t stop picturing us entwined together.
The bathroom door opened, but he’d already turned off the light. Did he think I’d fallen asleep? Not happening. He crept into the room and eased the blankets back on his side, slipping underneath them. Then he gathered me into his arms, and oh, how right that felt. How perfect.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” he said against my temple, as if he knew a tornado had taken over my thoughts and emotions. “We’re going to take this slowly. I want everything, but I also don’t want to ruin this.”
“I’m not sure we can. If we couldn’t break us five years ago, what could we do now that would sever us forever?”
Only death, but I wasn’t going to think about that.
“Don’t jinx it,” he said with a low laugh. “We’re going to lie together in this bed tonight. We’re going to sleep. Nothing else.”
“I’m not afraid of that, of being with you. Please don’t think that.” Turning, I faced him. “I want to hold you too.” I wanted him to know he was safe, that no one and nothing would ever harm him again. But I couldn’t promise anything like that. All I could do was try to keep anything bad from happening to him.
When I yawned, he started rubbing my back. “Sleep. I’ll watch over you.”
“You need to sleep too.”
