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“Yeah.” She nodded. “Incredibly close. Do you have anyone like that? You know, that you’re just closer to than anyone else?”
You crossed his mind. “You know us Blackshaws,” he answered, “we’re a close bunch.”
“You’ve got a special family.”
He nodded and waited for her to take the lead on the conversation, wanting to hear all the things on her mind.
Gus began snoring when she lifted her hand and examined the ring. “They were so in love.”
“Your grandparents?” he asked.
“Yup. They had that special kind of love, you know. Real love. Honest love. The type of love that takes your breath away.” She laughed softly then turned her head. Nash’s chest warmed under the sweetness in her expression, as she added, “Those were Grams’s words, not mine.”
“Why your Grams’s words? You don’t believe in that kind of love?”
She looked back at the ring. “I think what they had was rare. It’s not even a love my parents have, and they are happily married. But what my grandparents had . . . the way they cared for each other . . . the life they shared, living with respect and adoration . . . the way they looked at each other . . .” She turned to him then, and the way you’re looking at me now filled the air between them. “It’s all a beautiful thought, but I’m a realist and know easy love like that doesn’t happen very often.”
“That’s a depressing way to look at it.” He frowned.
She gave him a hard stare. “Is there really any other way to look at it?”
Her words hit him right in the chest. He did this to her. When it came to them, affection wasn’t easy. Family. Land. Loyalty. All of that stood in their way.
When he didn’t answer, feeling like if he said anything now he would get it all wrong, she filled the heavy silence. “This ring reminds me of what love should be. Of what love can be.”
Nash stared at Megan, seeing her through new eyes. He liked a lot about Megan, but what he had discovered recently was that her emotional steadiness was incredible. She saw the possibility of love and peace in what had been a sea of anger. “You’re a good woman, Megan.”
The smile she aimed his way stole his breath. “You think so?”
“I know so.” He slowly sprawled his hand on her slightly round belly. The move felt possessive, even to him. A statement he wanted to make so damn bad. “Those stories of your grandparents. That hope. Our baby is going to be very lucky to learn from you.”
Emotion filled her eyes before she glanced at his hand on her belly. When those eyes returned to him again, tears welled. He lost himself in all that lay between them for a few loaded seconds. Moments that changed him. Because when this all began, he simply wanted the woman who made it a game for him to have her. Then came the duty to see if they could make a go of it because it had been the right thing to do. Now he wanted her. Like this. More importantly, he began to feel something he had not felt since his injury darkened his days. A purpose greater than himself—making her happy.
Whatever she saw crossing his expression made her slowly slide out of bed.
“Got somewhere to be?” he asked.
She gave a tight smile. “Baby steps, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember you mentioned that before,” he said, watching her bend over. She reached for her panties, giving him a fine view of her ass. He understood why she wanted to keep a safe distance, but he was done with the games. When she moved to kiss him goodnight, he gathered her in his arms and flipped her back onto the bed beneath him.
She stared up at him in surprise, those unique eyes of hers trapping him. “What are you doing?” she asked.
Not letting you run. “Enjoying myself.” He opened her shorts and snuck his hand in to tease her sensitive flesh.
“Nash,” she gasped, arching into him.
“Still thinking about leaving?” he murmured.
“Don’t stop,” she breathed.
He yanked her shorts off and widened her thighs, and before dropping his head, he said, “Whatever you want, Megan. Whenever you want it.”
* * *
An hour before sunrise, a loud bark jolted Nash awake. Megan had left before he drifted off, heading home to her own bed. Feeling like he’d drank himself into a coma, he blinked twice, forcing his eyes to adjust to the darkness. The moonlight coming through the window revealed Gus sitting at the side of bed staring at him. Nash shut his eyes again. It had taken him a good hour to fall asleep with so much on his mind. He wanted Megan there with him. His bed felt oddly empty now. Baby steps, she had said. He wasn’t really the take-it-slow kinda guy, but she ran this show. He knew that.
When Gus barked again, Nash snapped his eyes open and glared. “You better have a goddamn good reason for waking me up.”
