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Terra sighed. “I’m not going to argue with you about this, Gray.” She looked up at him pleadingly. “We’ve got to end this charade.”
“What the hell are you so scared of?” he demanded to know. His chiseled features were tight, his eyes alight with anger. “That you might actually like me?”
It was more than that, Terra knew that much. She more than liked him. Obviously, or she never would have given herself over to her desire for him the night before. “Gray, this was supposed to be temporary. I had plans to leave this town. I have plans to leave.”
A dark chuckle passed Gray’s lips and he shook his head in disbelief. “Ah, so that’s it. You’re just scared you might actually find a reason to want to stay.”
“Gray, come on—” She stepped towards him, but Gray stepped back, holding his hands up to keep her away.
“No, that’s fine, Terra.” He grabbed one of the mugs from the countertop with such a furious grasp that Terra thought it might crumble between his fingers. “You don’t want to play games, sweetheart? That’s just fine. Because I don’t, either.” He poured himself a mug full of coffee and then pointed towards the front of the house with the other hand. “Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out.”
“Gray—” This wasn’t how she wanted things to go between them, and she felt on the verge of tears because things had gone so awry.
He pointed at her, cutting her off mid plea. “You fucking heard me, Terra.” He jabbed a finger towards the front door again.
Defeated, Terra stared at him, waiting for his defences to come down just enough that maybe they could talk this through.
They didn’t.
Instead, he turned away from her and headed back towards the hall, probably to get Allie out of bed.
Yeah, she thought painfully. I heard you. Loud and clear.
Chapter Seven
Gray
Gray had never been so fucking relieved in all his life when he found Terra gone from the kitchen by the time he wrestled Allie from bed and got her out into the kitchen to make her breakfast. He didn’t need her wondering why she was here on his only day off, and he certainly didn’t need her picking up on the tension between them.
Unfortunately, as Allie padded barefoot down the hall and into the kitchen, still wiping her eyes and dragging her feet heavily, the first thing she did was mention the one person he was hoping not to talk about.
“Is Terra coming today?”
Any other time, Gray would’ve seen the humor in that statement. No, pumpkin, she sure as fuck came last night, though. But, right now, he couldn’t even bring himself to faintly smirk at her innocent question. There were just too many emotions and hurt feelings flying around in his mind to even know where to begin.
“No, pumpkin. It’s just you and I today.”
“Can we see if Terra wants to come and hang out, too?”
Come on, Allie, give your ole’ dad a break, will you? “Not today, Allie,” he replied as gently as he could muster. “Now, get up at the table and I’ll get you some cereal, all right?”
“With the rainbow marshmallows?” she asked hopefully.
Finally, something he could bring himself to grin about. “Of course. Is there any other kind?”
Gray went about fetching the Lucky Charms from the cupboard and pouring Allie a generous bowl of them. He poured the milk, too, not trusting her to do it herself without having the entire gallon on the floor.
He placed the bowl in front of her and then took his coffee cup with him to sit adjacent to her while she ate it. Steam billowed from his cup, and Gray watched it rise between them as Allie dug into her cereal.
The minutes passed. The silence was nice, mostly because he’d always enjoyed the contentment that he and Allie shared with each other. She was young, but she understood the value of quietness just as much as he did. Especially in the mornings, which he figured was a learned behavior from him. Either way, it gave him a chance to sit with
her and enjoy letting the caffeine hit his bloodstream slowly.
“Is Terra gonna be my new mommy?”
Gray just barely saved himself from spitting his coffee all over the kitchen table, clasping a hand over his mouth until he had himself under control again and knew for sure he wasn’t going to choke on it.
Shit, so much for the easy silence he loved so much.
