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She grinned. “Your alpha-hole is showing.”
“Maybe.” A shrug. “Okay, yeah, it is.”
Laughter in her belly. Love in her heart. Joy in her mind. Truth in her soul.
“I know it’s important for you to take care of the people you love.”
A nod. “Yeah, it is. Though I’m working on making sure that is no longer smothering.”
God. Shelovedhim. “I know, honey,” she whispered. “I was just going to say that I’ll make sure I find a way to let you do that.”
He frowned, started to shake his head. “No, baby. I won’t do that to you. I won’t hurt you that way.”
“That’s just it,” she said, snagging his hand and bringing it to her mouth. “I’m starting to understand. See?I’mlearning, too.” She smiled, kissed his palm. “You need to take care of the people you love. I get that. But you also need to make sure it’s not the only thing you are. I get that, too, and that’s one of the waysI’lltake care of you.”
Understanding in his eyes.
“But I also know now that I need to let people in. That I can’t live in numb and be happy. Hell, I couldn’t do it and just be content. Not now that I know what it feels like to live with all these pesky”—she thumped a fist to her chest, above the spot where her heart was beating a mile a minute, and grinned at him—“feelings.So…” A breath. “That’s one of the ways you’ll take care of me.” She smiled at him. “And I’m sure you’ll find other ways.”
To care and not smother. To not let her use a shield of numb to bury her emotions.
Just like she was going to make sure he never retreated behind his care, that he never again lived his life solely for other people and not for himself.
“I can do that,” he murmured.
She knew he could.
Because he wasn’t her father.
And she wasn’t her mother.
They could have something else. Somethingmore.
And there would be no more hiding. No more fear.
Just love and life andfeelings.
And after everything else that had happened, that sounded pretty fucking perfect.
Twenty-Nine
Jeremy
He was sleeping in.
He hadn’t done that before.
Not since his dad had died.
It was always get up, get moving, make sure his siblings were awake and ready for school. Then it was up and moving, making sure he didn’t miss a single class his mom was paying for.
Then it was up and moving, making enough money to buy his mom a new place, making sure she had what she needed after she’d worked so hard for so many years.
So no, there hadn’t been any lazy mornings.
But today he was jobless and had kept his woman—a woman wholovedhim (and further that, who’d actuallyadmittedthat she loved him, which was an even bigger feat in his book)—up into the wee hours of the morning.
So, he was having a lazy morning.
