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“Oh, I’m deep in this with you. And I’m sorry if I don’t say it enough. I don’t want you to have a single doubt about the way I feel about you. Mostly for selfish reasons.” He stroked her again. “Because I like when you turn pink.” He cupped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Your mouth goes soft, and you let out this shaky little breath. Same thing you do after I kiss you senseless.”
She squirmed on the hard bench. “Is it warm in here?”
“Not sure if you know how an ice-skating rink works, but there’s a frozen element to the whole thing.” He rubbed her bare arm. “No, I think it’s me that gets you hot and bothered.”
“Yes, well, your body heat’s basically sourced from the sun, so you might want to scoot over a few feet. Give me some space.”
“I’ll give you everything you want but don’t ask me for space.” He closed the gap between them. “I can’t stand being apart from you.” His nose brushed the hair away from her ear. “If I could keep you in my bed, I’d do it. Do you know what my favorite part of the day is?”
“When you’re balls deep?”
His head tipped back, and he barked out a laugh. “Nope.”
“Hm. That might mean we’re doing it wrong.”
“Four a.m. You, me, the kitchen. Watching you bake, talking to you. I like it best when it’s just us. That’s my favorite time of the day.”
All her defenses melted like candle wax. One hand on his cheek, she kissed him, gently, softly, even though she wanted so much more. “It’s my favorite time, too. And I love when you say we fit. I love that you touch me all the time.” Then, she whispered in his ear, “I love how hard you go in bed because it makes it feel like you’re desperate for me.”
He swallowed. His features didn’t go pink. They went dark red. “Good.” He swallowed again. “Good. That’s how you should feel.”
“It is, isn’t it? Wow.” The truth hit square in the center of her chest. “All this time, I accepted the kind of watered-down love Ian gave me. I’m one of five kids, so I guess that’s all I knew.”
“You deserve everything, Gracie. And if I don’t give it to you, you need to tell me. We have to promise we’ll always talk to each other.”
“I promise.” She reached for his hand. “And the same goes for you. Because you deserve everything, too.”
There it was. That flinch of pain, that…uncertainty.
And that’s what scares me. Deep down, he doesn’t believe he gets to be happy.
What do I do about that? Do I trust he’ll work through it? Do I leave my family, my life on Duff Island, and take a chance on a man I’m absolutely, one-hundred-percent falling in love with…but who I know might push me away?
She didn’t have answers.She would just have to take the leap. Speaking of which... “Hey, so, I talked to Ian today.”
He tore his gaze from his daughter and looked at her with concern.
“He and his parents came up with an idea to help us recover the money we lost.”
“The money hestolefrom you.”
She smiled because…warrior.That’s hot. “True. But anyhow, his parents are going to buy a building in Newport so we can open a second Renzo’s—and since it’s in an upscale neighborhood, I can sell my pastries, too.”
He watched her carefully. “How do you feel about that?”
She tried to cover her disappointment. It was just hard to see him go from warrior to…blasé when it came to her whole damn future. If he wasn’t going to get riled up at the idea of her opening a bakery two thousand miles away, then what were they doing?
Then again, to be fair, they weren’t talking about her leaving. They were only talking about the offer Ian made.Calm your ass down. “I don’t know why his parents should pay for his mistakes.”
“If we were talking a thousand bucks, I might agree with you. But it’s your life savings. And I’m pretty sure his parents will get something out of it, too.”
“They’re not. He said we won’t have to pay rent, and we could keep the profits.”
“Right. But I’m saying the building probably has other usable space that will cover their mortgage with the other businesses.”
“Oh, good point. I hadn’t thought of that.” She smiled. “You’re smart for a jock.”
“I’m not a jock.”
