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He felt her fingers trailing lightly through his hair, and he could tell she was trembling.
“I love you,” she breathed.
He kissed her lips softly and slid out of her before dropping down beside her and pulling her into his arms. She cuddled against him, resting her head against his heaving chest.
“I love you,” he said. He watched her silently for a few more moments, basking in her presence, before he closed his eyes.
He needed this forever.
Chapter Sixteen
When Rose opened her eyes, sunlight streamed through the glass wall and bathed the bedroom in a soft glow. During the night, she and Luke had moved under the blankets, and they had made love twice more between attempts at sleep. The last time had been around sunrise, and now, Rose had no idea what time it was. She supposed it didn’t matter; they had nowhere to be.
She was enveloped by warmth beneath the sheets, but something felt strange. She couldn’t feel Luke—not his arm around her, not his body pressed to hers. She turned over to find that he wasn’t in the bed at all, and she frowned.
As her tired mind slid back into focus, however, she processed the smell wafting in from the kitchen. Batter and chocolate and bacon. She smiled and sat up, stretching, as she realized what he was doing. She saw their suitcases resting beside the dresser, and when she turned toward the nightstand beside her with sculpted metal ivy vines twining up its legs, she found her phone sitting on it.
He took care of everything, didn’t he?
She smiled. Luke had always been more thoughtful than she would’ve considered possible, before she’d met him. He was far better at planning than she was, and he went out of his way to make sure the little details were taken care of. That everything was perfect.
She reached out for her phone, and at the sight of the messages waiting for her, she froze.
Three texts from her mother.
“Were you planning to tell us about our grandchild?”
“Where are you? I stopped by and Alex said you weren’t living there anymore??”
“How many men are you sleeping with???”
A frustrated cry ripped from Rose’s lungs. She slammed the phone down on the bed and covered her mouth with one of the plush down pillows, and she screamed. She lay down again, bringing the pillow with her.
This is exactly it, Mother. This is exactly why I don’t tell you anything. Ever.
Footsteps thundered closer, and she heard the doorknob turn.
“What’s wrong?” Luke’s voice was panicked, and at the sound of it, Rose sighed.
Her fingers skimmed over the satin sheets for her phone, and she held it out to him, her eyes still closed beneath the pillow. After a moment, she felt a soft thump beside her and assumed he’d dropped the phone.
“You know my opinion on her,” said Luke.
She did. She’d told him how many nights she’d spent crying after Morgan had been kicked out of their house, and she’d spent more nights distracted and unable to focus on what she and Luke had been doing in college after fights with her parents. She’d been too terrified about what they would do to tell anyone—even Luke—about her first pregnancy. At the thought, tears stung her eyes, and her hand moved on reflex to her stomach.
She felt Luke sit down beside her, and at his gentle touch on her arm, she released her grip on the pillow.
“Hey,” he said softly. “What is it?”
He pulled the pillow away from her face, and as he watched her, there was nothing but love in his eyes. Rose couldn’t hold back her tears.
“I shouldn’t let her get to me,” she said. “I can’t do that anymore. The last time, I—the baby—I was so stressed, so worried all the time, that—”
Pain cracked Luke’s expression. He lay down beside her and pulled her into his arms, and he pressed a long kiss to her forehead.
“Rose, listen to me,” he whispered. “It’s absolutely awful that they had you so worried. But nothing about the way you handled any of that stress was your fault—you were in a situation that would’ve scared the hell out of anyone. And what happened to the baby—that was nowhere even close to your fault.”
“What if it was? What if I have some kind of medical problem, and I can’t—what if—”
