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“Come on, baby.” He reaches for my hand, helping me out of the SUV, and with his hand on the small of my back, he leads us inside.
Chapter 7
Grant
“Well?” I ask once we’re in my SUV and sitting in the parking lot of the cooking class.
“That was so much fun,” Aurora says. Her hazel eyes are sparkling, and none of the fear she showed me earlier is present.
Fear.
That’s what it was, and I’m still raging mad at the man who put that fear in her eyes. This beautiful woman has been torn down, and she doesn’t realize how fucking incredible she is. I want to be the man to change that. I want to be the man who makes her see herself the way that I see her. A badass baker, a sexy, desirable woman, and I want that spark in her eyes always. The way her eyes lit up… damn, she’s fucking gorgeous.
“Now what?” she asks.
“Well, this is the part of the day I’m not sure you’re going to be on board for. I thought I could take you to my parents’ and show you the land. I want to take you down to the lake to where my brothers and I spent a lot of our time growing up. Hell, we still do. It’s our own private stomping grounds of sorts. Then, I thought we could have dinner with my family.” My heart is hammering in my chest, and my palms are suddenly sweaty. I’ve never brought a woman to family dinner before, but this one, she’s under my skin, and I know my sisters-in-law will love her. I know my momma will love her.
“I’m not sure. We just met, Grant.”
“I know that, but I already know that I love spending time with you, and I know you and Aspen are new in town. Let’s have her meet us there. She’s more than welcome. We have plenty of room, and Mom makes enough to feed an army. We can even stop and pick her up and take her with us to tour the farm. Although selfishly, I’m not ready to share you just yet.”
She chews on her bottom lip, and I can see the indecision, the war she’s waging internally. “I want you there, but this is your decision. If you’re not ready to meet my family, you don’t have to.” I say the words and mean them, but I really want her to say yes.
“Aspen can come?” she asks softly.
I fight the urge to fist bump the air. “Yeah, baby. She can come. Do you want to pick her up now? Or have her meet us there?” I can see she’s not sure how to answer. “Hey.” I reach over and trace her cheek with my index finger. I find that I’ll take any excuse to touch her. “There is no right or wrong answer here. You tell me what you want, and we’ll make it happen. It’s that easy.”
“If she meets us there, you won’t have to drive me home.”
“Oh, I’m going to drive you home.” I lean in over the console, our lips a breath from one another. “I’m going to drive you home and walk you to your door. Then I’m going to kiss these soft lips.” I trace the pad of my thumb over her bottom lip. “One taste wasn’t enough.”
“I-I’ll call her.”
I nod, pulling away from her, giving her some space to call her sister. I don’t know what’s going on here. I’ve never felt this kind of attraction to a woman before. I just want to be with her. That’s never happened to me before, but I know enough from watching my brothers, I’m not going to fight it. Royce fought Sawyer, and he was miserable until he let himself admit what she meant to him. Owen, he dove in headfirst, and I’ve never seen him happier. Hell, now that Royce has dragged his head out of his ass and made Sawyer a Riggins, he’s the same. I’m going with this. Something tells me she’s worth it.
“Hey, Aspen, it’s me.” Aurora’s sweet voice fills the silence. “Yeah,” she says, glancing over at me. “It’s been fun. Listen, Grant wants us to have dinner with his family.” She listens to whatever it is Aspen is saying. I can hear her talking, but I can’t make out what she’s saying. “I want you to come with me,” she tells her sister.
My heart soars. That means she wants to be there. I want her to be there. I want to see her with my family, and with Sawyer and Layla. I can’t explain it, but the need is there, and my gut tells me having her there is the right thing to do.
“I’ll text you the address,” she says, her voice breaking me out of my thoughts. “Thanks, Aspen,” she says softly before ending the call and turning to look at me. “She’s going to meet us there. I just need to give her a time and the address.”
