Page 102 of Together Is Where We Belong

She let out a heavy sigh before she pulled away from me. I immediately missed her touch.

I rolled fully onto my side and looked over at her, my hand rested on the cushion below us.

She looked up at me, but I couldn’t read her expression.

“Thank you,” she finally said after a few moments.

“For?”

“Finding me. Keeping Luke safe. Being nice to me when you could be anything but,” she rambled before she rolled onto her back, putting her hand behind her head.

“You don’t have to thank me for any of that. I’m here to make sure you and Luke are safe. And as for bein’ nice to you, that’s a given. You’re the mother of my son. Even if I did still hate you, which I don’t, I couldn’t do that to you,” I explained.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not raisin’ my son to think it’s okay to treat a woman with anythin’ other than kindness. He’d sense something between us if I treated you with anything other than the kindness you deserved. And it’d get me nowhere with gettin’ to know him. It’d get me nowhere with you allowin’ me to see him. Being kind to you is the least I could do,” I told her, meaning every word.

She stared up at the night sky, but I couldn’t stop staring at her. Longing to make her mine. To officially be a family with her and Luke.

“I’d like to go home tomorrow,” she whispered so low I barely heard her.

I tensed at the mention of her leaving the ranch. Not because I didn’t expect her to want to leave now that her stalker had been caught. But I liked having Luke here in the house where I grew up.

“I’ll help you once we wake up, but are you sure you’re ready to go back?” I finally said, worried at the thought of them leaving.

At least she’d be back in the house right beside mine. Maybe going back to her routine would allow her to finally feel safe.

“I just want to get Luke and I back in our routine. I can’t impose on your family forever.”

“There’s no imposition. I promise. You can stay here as long as you need to,” I reassured her.

“I know. I just need to do this.”

“As long as you’re sure,” I reluctantly agreed, and hoped that she was actually ready to go home. It felt like she was pulling away from me and reverting into herself, and I didn’t know what to do to stop it.

“Are you okay, Leo?” she asked as she moved closer to me and laid her head on my shoulder.

I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her into me.

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“You just seemed tense a minute ago,” she said as she laid her hand on my chest above my heart.

“I’m just thinkin’,” I said, not sure I wanted to reveal my private thoughts just yet.

“About?” she pried.

“You.”

“What about me?” she asked, her interest piqued.

“I don’t know if I should tell you.”

“Well, now you have to tell me,” she demanded as she pushed herself into a sitting position with the hand on my chest, causing me to groan from the sudden weight.

“Nah, I think I’ll keep it to myself,” I said with a smirk I wasn’t sure she could see since the only light that shined came from the stars above and the porch light in the distance.

“No fair,” she said as she tried to tickle my sides.