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Maybe one day I would fall in love the right way around.
“Jacob, hush baby,” I said around my tears. I caught a glimpse of him waving his hand in the rear view mirror—
And choked on my tears at the sight behind me. Andrew Greenwood was sprinting down the side of the highway, waving his arms like a madman.
Had I left something important? With the way my memory was these days, and the way my head wasn’t in the game today,it was totally possible. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I,” I muttered, pulling over to the side of the road.
I threw the car in park and rolled down the window, waiting for Andrew to catch up. He slammed his hands on the open windowsill of my car and gasped, breathing hard from his sprint.
“What the heck, Andrew?”
“Fuck no, Maria, we are not done.” He grabbed the door of the car and threw it open and fell to his knees in front of me, taking my shoulders in his hands. He panted, sweat dripping down the side of his face, and his cheeks… No. He wascrying.
“Drew, I—”
“Maria, I’m begging you baby, for the love of God, don’t leave.”
I struggled to catch my breath as the words tumbled from his mouth. My hand flew to my mouth to cover my own choking sobs.Damn this man.
“I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll make you happy. I’ll build us a house. You want a house, Sugar? With a big yard for our boys, and a huge kitchen, and a skylight to watch the stars? I’ll give it to you. You can have it all, you can have the world.”
“Drew,” I choked out, shaking my head. “I can’t do this.”
“Ineedyou.”
“I need someone—”I choked again, and forced myself to breathe. I felt laughter bubbling up from me, like my body couldn't quite believe what was going on around me, and laughter was the only way I could deal with the tension and the confusion inside me.
“I am not going to stick around and let you use us to clear your conscience. I’m sorry, but I’ll never replace your little girl.”
“You and those boys are notreplacingmy little girl. I’ll find her one day and I’ll love the shit out of her, but until then, why won’t you let me keep you too?”
“Because I know this isn’t about me! It isn’t about us!” I snapped, letting the words pour out. “It’s about what you lost, and that’s not fair to us! You’ve never wanted us around, you just feel guilty! And it’s killing me, because I love you, and I know you don’t—”
He cut me off by grabbing my face and crushing his mouth against mine. He pulled at my lips, sucking and biting, his tongue sliding into my mouth and claiming me. Every time I opened my mouth to speak, he kissed me harder, stealing the breath right out of my lungs.
When he pulled away, we were both openly crying, gasping for air, our foreheads pressed together. He brushed his thumbs across my cheeks, wiping away my tears as they fell.
“You think I don’t love you?” he whispered as he caught his breath. “Baby. Sugar.” A kiss on my cheek. Then my forehead. Then my neck, where he sucked hard for a minute before he let go, my skin popping out of his mouth as he released me.
He held my face and looked me straight in the eyes. “Maria Steel, I’m completely in love with you, and I swear to God if you leave me, it will kill me.”
I was speechless, sitting there as the cold March wind whipped into the car, the boys babbling behind us, an occasional car rushing by and honking loudly. Because Drew was on his knees in front of me, begging me to stay, and he loved me.
I felt like the whole world tilted. “You… you do?”
He pulled me to my feet and pressed me against the side of the car. His body seemed to envelop me as he wrapped his arms around me. Placing one hand on the small of my back and the other on the back of my neck, he pulled me into him. He dropped his face into my hair and I pressed myself into the firm strength of his body. I felt like I was flying.
“I do,” he whispered. He fisted my hair and tugged gently, forcing me to tilt my face up to meet him. “And I’ll give youeverything I have. I’ll give you my whole damn life. Maria I swear, when I met you, when I first invited you over, you’re right, I felt bad. And yeah, maybe at first, I felt like this was my second chance… but it wasn’t because… I didn’t… you just… Damnit.” He tilted his head and kissed me again.
“But you were never a chore. You were never a second-hand replacement for someone else. You and those boys… I couldn’t help but fall in love with you. Can you blame me?” He kissed me again, coaxing a sigh from my lips. He spoke against my mouth. “Can you forgive me?” Another kiss. “Will you stay?”
Warmth and joy bloomed in my chest, and I felt that familiar bubbling of laughter erupt from me. I was so damn happy I couldn’t even speak. I hugged him as hard as I could and let him kiss me over and over.
“Maria, Sugar, answer me,” he said around another kiss. “Stay with me. Marry me. Don’t you ever leave me again.”
I pulled back at that. “What?”
Drew looked like he just came up with a brilliant idea. His eyes widened and seemed to glow. “Marry me. Be my wife. So you’ll never leave. I swear to God, I’ll marry you right now. Today. Let’s go. I’ll adopt the boys. You guys belong to me. I will fight to keep you. I am not going to quit on you.” Another kiss, and then he nibbled across my jaw and nipped at my ear. “I warned you. Greenwoods don’t quit. I’ll chase you back to New Jersey if you try to leave.”
