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But Gray got more than he expected—that was where he and Terra obviously differed. He’d awakened that morning after possessing her sexy body and claiming it as his own with even more devout desire to know her. To have her. In the darkness and moonlight of those wee hours of the night, Gray had developed more than just a raging physical need for Terra.
He woke up wanting her body, her mind, and her soul.
Then, she tossed him aside like it didn’t matter, after making him think it did. Gray wasn’t sure how he had read her so wrong, and he’d never been one to equate sex with feelings, but that was the thing...
He did have feelings for Terra Payton, and really, truly thought she had feelings for him as well. Fucking her in his bedroom was, well, more than fucking her in his bedroom. His daughter had been sleeping soundly down the hall, and never once in Allie’s lifetime had Gray taken that chance and brought a woman home like that. Terra had been different. In so many ways.
But that didn’t matter now. She had let him know in no certain terms that it didn’t matter what he felt, or what he wanted.
Because she didn’t feel or want the same. Terra was getting the fuck out of town the first chance she got. This gig had only been temporary.
He had only been temporary.
Gray threw the truck into park, thankful it was after hours and he wouldn’t have to face his father while he unhooked the sedan in need of repair from the tow truck. The man had been on his ass all day. For once, Gray couldn’t blame him. He hadn’t been able to concentrate all damn day because of—
Terra.
“What are you doing here?” The words came out of his mouth with more surprise and less malice than he intended. “And where’s Allie?”
Terra stood in the parking lot, leaned up against the steel siding of the garage. Dressed in a denim jacket and jeans, Gray could only see the edge of her lace-trimmed top peeking out where the top three buttons of the jacket were undone. Her hair was loose, falling over her shoulders in waves. She’d changed since showing up that morning to help Allie get ready for school. She looked different. Serious. Scared. But a different kind of scared from the look he’d seen yesterday morning.
She pushed away from the wall. “Allie is with your parents. I told them we needed to talk.”
Yeah, that didn’t sound ominous at all. Gray climbed out of the truck and slammed the door. “There’s nothing to talk about. You said everything you needed to say yesterday.”
“I didn’t, actually.”
“Jesus, there’s more?” Gray snapped, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead.
“There is.”
“Well, I don’t have time for it, Terra. As you can see, I’ve got a car that needs unloading and an alternator that isn’t going to fix itself. Don’t you have a town to get the hell out of or something?” He was being harsh, but he couldn’t help it. If she thought his defenses had been up before, having his heart ripped out of his fucking chest didn’t help matters.
“Gray, I was wrong.” She stared at him without blinking, hands at her sides like she didn’t quite know what to do. “I was wrong,” she said again, this time more adamantly.
Whatever he expected, that wasn’t it. Gray stared at her, feeling like the air around him had thinned and he couldn’t get his lungs adequately filled.
“When I was in high school,” Terra continued, “I spent the whole time wanting out of this town. I counted down the days until I could leave, and when I could, I did. And now I’m back, Gray, I don’t know how to stay.”
Her words broke something inside him. Gray figured it was his resolve crumbling down around him. No matter how determined he was to be angry with her, he couldn’t deny the longing he heard in her voice, or the plea in her words, like she was begging him to help her.
“Let me teach you,” Gray said finally, his tone void of the edge that had been there moments before. “Let us teach you.” He had to let her know that he and Allie were a package deal.
The sigh that came from Terra’s mouth was filled with both relief and gratitude. “Just be my reason to stay, Gray,” she whispered, a lone tear falling onto her cheek.
Gray closed the gap between them and reached out, pulling her against his chest. His arms were wrapped around her so tight he was afraid he’d never be able to let go. “If I’m going to be your reason to stay, sweetheart, you’re going to need to be my girlfriend.”
“Your real girlfriend?” She pulled back and stared up at him, eyes wide and wet from her tears.
He chuckled softly at her question, pushing a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. “I think it’s been real since the start, we just didn’t want to see it.”
That made her laugh despite her tears, too. Terra nodded. “And what about this godforsaken fake engagement?”
“Fuck it.” Gray laughed, wiping tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. “It’ll be a long engagement. No one needs to know it started off fake, and they can damn well wait for us to do it when the time is right.”
“We’re going to get married someday?” There was no mistaking the renewed fear in her eyes, and Gray gave her a crooked grin.
“Anything’s possible, sweetheart.” He leaned down and kissed her lips, the warmth of their mouths colliding in the chill of the evening breeze. “But I know two things for sure.”
