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"You are so . . . you are you. And I'm just . . ."
“Just what?” he asked. I shrugged and he finished my sentence for me. "Just the most beautiful, kind, caring, amazing woman I've ever met."
I froze, holding my breath. Then it came out of me in a big whoosh. I was still so insecure around him. Even though he never gave me a reason to be. Not really.
I was just afraid to hope for too much.
"I thought . . . I thought maybe you didn't want me. Because you haven't tried to . . ."
"Because I haven't tried to have sex with you? Oh, Melissa. No, honey. I want you more than you could ever know. I'm just trying not to . . . mess you up in the head. I'm protecting you from something I don't think you're ready for."
"I am ready, Nick."
He leaned back in his seat, his face hard. There was something in his eyes that I hadn't noticed before. A hunger. He did want me, after all. He really was holding back for my sake.
"Prove it. Tell me you'll let me help you save the stables."
"What does that have to do with us?” I hedged, not wanting him to feel trapped or like he had to do anything. He had already done so much for me. He had done so much for my mom. I could never repay him for his kindness. But this was something else. I literally couldn’t repay him for what he was proposing.
“Sweetheart, if you can't say it, we definitely can't do it."
I took a deep breath.
"I want to go to bed with you, Nick. And if you want to help with the stables, then you're going to have to take half ownership."
"Okay," he said. My heart did a backflip. Nick wanted to make love to me. And if he really wanted to help save the stables, then . . . I wasn't alone.
I never forgot what he said to my mother in the hospital. But it was hard to believe it. We hadn’t said the ‘L’ word. We had barely started dating when Mom started to really decline. Everything was kind of a blur after that.
But I knew how I felt about him. I couldn't fight my feelings for Nick anymore. I wanted him in my bed and in my life. I had finally let go of my guilt for falling for him while Mom was dying. And more than that, I wanted to feel something other than sadness. Anything other than sadness.
He took my hand.
"I won’t take half of anything on paper, but we can talk about that later.”
My heart sank. He was thinking about the stables, not moving forward with our relationship. As lost as I was, what I needed right now was a lot closer and more intimate. I was hoping to start being his girlfriend for real.
“As for the sex, I want you to sleep on it. For a couple of days, at least." He scooped up the stack of bills. "I will take a look at these and see which ones we need to deal with first."
My jaw must have dropped. Nick chuckled at my obvious disappointment. He pulled me to my feet and brought me in for a kiss. I leaned into him, hoping I could change his mind.
“Are you sure, Nick? I want us to be together. For real.”
“We will be. Soon," he whispered. “Now, let’s get you into bed.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Becky
"Oh, my God, I love a good makeover," I squealed. The boys were having another barbecue this weekend. The first one since Meg passed away a month ago. And the best part was, this time, it was Melissa's idea. Well, Melissa had talked to Kaylie, who came up with the plan. All she had to do was put a bug in Dev’s ear. She’d said something along the lines of ‘something to take everyone’s mind off the grief’. And that was part of it. But we girls had a secret agenda. Basically, the boys had no clue to the reason behind it.
But we did. We had a job to do. We had to catch a fly with honey. A big, burly, biker fly. Nick had no idea what was about to go down.
Him.
With the crew working together, the big guy didn’t stand a chance.
We girls stuck together. We always had. I was lucky as hell to have my circle of sisters. Just in our case, instead of blood, we were bound by motor oil.
This time, we aimed big. The barbecue was for the whole club and hosted at the clubhouse, starting in the afternoon and going well into the night. There would be other men there. Lots of men. Once we worked our magic on sweet little Melissa, she was going to cause a riot with the bikers.
