“MY MOM’S IN THERE with him?” Nick peered around Unk toward the hospital room’s doorway.
“Yes.”
“And they don’t think he’s going to make it this time?” He shifted his grip on the backpack over his shoulder.
“It doesn’t look good, no.”
The remnants of his dinner shifted uncomfortably in Nick’s stomach. “Can you get my mom out of there? I want to see him, but I don’t want her around when I do.”
“Getting her to leave that room... I think you might have more luck if you just tell her you want some privacy with him.”
Nick sighed. “Okay.”
Unk moved to let Nick pass, then followed him into the room. Nick spared a glance at his stepfather. An oxygen mask covered his nose and mouth. Beard stubble dotted his jaw.
“Nick.” His mom set a cardboard coffee cup on the bedside table, rising from a recliner in the corner. “I didn’t think you’d come.” She opened her arms.
With attention still on the shrunken man in the bed, Nick hugged his mother. “I’m here. I—I need to see him. But...” He eased back from her embrace. “I need to do it alone. Can you...?” He jerked his head toward the door.
“Let me take you down to the cafeteria, Ronni, get you something to eat,” Unk offered.
“No, thanks,” she replied.
“All right, at least let me take you to the vending machines and buy you a candy bar.”
“Please, Mom.”
She stared at Nick for a long time, her brown eyes filled with hurt like he hadn’t seen in a while.
He hoped she couldn’t read the same thing in his.
“It’s important to you?”
“Yeah.”
She nodded. “Okay. There’s a waiting room just down the hall. I’ll be there when you’re done.”
“Thanks.”
She tightened her grip on his arms again, yanking him back against her. “I’m glad you came,” she said, her voice raspy.
“No problem.” Actually, it was a big problem. But he had unfinished business with his stepfather. Things he needed to get off his chest before the guy...died.
And a long conversation with his grandfather had convinced him to come and say what he needed to say before it was too late.
Who were they all kidding? It had been too late to talk to Scott since the accident. But if Nick could talk to his father, who’d been dead for thirteen years, he could talk to his stepfather, who wasn’t.
Quite.
Yet.
“Come on, Ronni.” Unk gently disentangled them and guided her toward the door.
“Just down the hall if you need me, Nick,” Mom called over her shoulder on the way out.
“Got it, Mom.”
And then he was alone with the man in the bed.
Nick dropped his backpack on the floor and moved closer. A machine beeped softly in time with Scott’s heart. A rattle gurgled each time he drew in a breath. The skin on his face was pulled tighter than the last time Nick had seen him, in the nursing home. But his eyes were closed, not open and staring vacantly, as usual.
“You look and sound like shit,” Nick said. “Maybe they’re right this time, huh?”
Don’t curse, he imagined Scott telling him.
“I will if I want to.” Nick grabbed the metal rail on the side of the bed, struggling to find the words he needed. But what came out wasn’t what he’d planned. “You’re not my father.”
How many times had he tossed that at Scott? Hell, he’d even tossed it at Unk a time or two. When either man tried to tell him what to do, or something he didn’t want to hear. “But—” Nick cleared his throat “—you were my dad. For a while. You coached my damn Little League team. Took me fishing. Let me sit on your lap and steer the big tractor out at Dan’s place.”
Tears he hadn’t expected trickled down his face. Nick swiped at them with the back of his hand. “It was good, dammit. We were a family. I loved you,” he choked. “Mom loved you. Why’d you have to fuck that up?”
Nick leaned over, buried his face in the scrawny, hospital-gown-clad shoulder. A shoulder that had once held him so he could see a parade. “Why?” He wrestled with his tears, a losing battle.
A few minutes later, a large hand settled on Nick’s own shoulder. He whipped upright, wiping his face, whirling to find Unk. “What part of privacy don’t you get?”
“It was me or your mom. She sent me to check on you.”
“I—I—I came to tell him what an asshole he is. And here I am, crying like a little girl. Over...over...”
“Over a man who filled the father-size hole in your life.”
Nick nodded. “The man who cheated on my mother and broke her heart.”
“Nothing’s as black-and-white as we’d like it to be, Nick. There’s a fine line between love and hate sometimes.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah. It does.”
Nick turned back toward the bed. “You’re an asshole,” he whispered, voice shaking. “Dad.” Since he didn’t know what else to say, he left it at that. Calling him Dad again, after all these years, said what he couldn’t find the words for.
###
“Thanks, doc.” Hayden shook the physician’s hand as the doctor strode from Scott’s room on the fourth floor to continue his early morning rounds.
Hayden returned to Ronni, who still lingered at Scott’s bedside. The past three days had played havoc on her. And the message the doctor had given didn’t seem to have registered. “Ronni?”
She turned bleary, bloodshot eyes toward him. “Huh?”
“Crap, you’re so out of it. Did you hear what the doctor just said?”
“I need more coffee.”
“No. No more coffee. No more chocolate.” He’d done his best to get something nutritional into her during their extended stay at the hospital. Amelia had hand-delivered dishes Finn had cooked specifically for Ronni. Hayden had ended up scarfing them down. The only thing he’d been able to entice her to eat had been Snickers bars. And coffee. “I’m done enabling you. You want coffee or candy bars, get them yourself. I’m done fetching them.”
“That’s mean.”
“Cruel to be kind, babe. Ronni.” He forced a hard edge to his voice that made her start. “You didn’t hear a word the doctor said, did you?” She’d answered Dr. Saunders, said all the right things, but sleep deprivation combined with the intense emotions of the situation had set in. The lights were on, but nobody was home. She clearly didn’t understand what had happened.
He took her hand, guided it to Scott’s face. “How’s he feel, sweetheart?”
“C-cooler.”
“Right. And listen. Is he rasping and gasping anymore?”
She shook her head. “No. No. I can’t hear him breathing.”
“Exactly. Because he’s doing better. Dr. Saunders thinks Scott has turned the corner. He thinks he’s going to make it.”
“Make it?” Her eyes widened. Her lower lip trembled, making him want to soothe it with his fingers. With his own lips. “He’s...not dying anymore?”
“Probably not, no.”
“Oh.”
That was so not the response he’d expected. She pulled her hand free and raised it to her mouth. Then she turned and dashed toward the bathroom in the corner of the room with a speed he hadn’t thought her capable of on her best day, let alone today.
Retching sounds echoed from the small room.
“Well, buddy, I’d like to officially welcome you back to the land of the semiliving.” Hayden patted Mangano’s shoulder, torn over the outcome. Despite his conversation with Scott days ago, he didn’t wish death on anyone. But Ronni’s torment—and Scott’s, as well—would only continue. “Now, I’ll go take care of your wife while she hurls her last round of coffee and Snickers.”
The toilet flushed as he entered. Ronni knelt before the porcelain god, a position familiar to anyone who’d ever drank too much. Or had a migraine.
Or the emotional shock of a lifetime.
He rummaged through the toiletries his sister Elke had dropped off. She’d visited several times a night, as breaks from her own nursing duties on the sixth floor permitted. She’d been a huge help, sitting with Ronni and Scott, allowing Hayden to grab a quick shower or catnap. The rest of the family, along with Ronni’s friend Tamara, had also provided support. Tam had brought her fresh clothes every morning. The others had delivered food, Ronni’s precious coffee, and had helped take care of Nick.
Hayden applied paste to a toothbrush, handed it to Ronni.
“Thanks.”
While she brushed, he uncapped the mouthwash from the counter, offered that to her. She rinsed and spit into the toilet. He extended his hand, helped her off the floor. “Let’s go. I’m taking you home and putting you to bed.”
“But—”
“No buts. I’ll swing you over my shoulder and carry you out of here if I have to. He’s out of the woods. It’s time to take care of you.”
Hayden waited, leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest, gritting his teeth while she stroked Scott’s face and planted a tender kiss on his cheek. Some part of her still cared about the jerk. Not just as a responsibility. Actually cared.
And while her capacity to care, to forgive, was part of what made Hayden love her, it also made him want to punch something.
He did a mental double take. Love? A colorful litany of curses threatened to erupt, but he swallowed them.
Greg and Finn had been right, damn them.
He loved Ronni Davidowski. Ronni Mangano. And it looked as if her husband was going to live.
All those years of not wanting anything more than thirty days with a woman had caught up with him.
As he was fond of saying, paybacks were a bitch.
The woman he wanted, he still couldn’t have. Not the way he wished to, anyway. He wanted his ring on her finger. His babies in her belly, with Nick as their big brother to look up to.
Wanted her forever.
And yet, when she stumbled toward him, with tears he wasn’t sure were from joy streaming down her face, he knew one other thing with total certainty: he couldn’t have her, but he couldn’t walk away from her again, either.
###
“Don’t leave me,” she murmured some forty minutes later, as he settled her on her queen-size bed. He’d repeated the ritual of removing her shoes and socks, but she’d crawled between the sheets without shedding anything else. “Stay with me. Please?”
She rolled onto her side with her back facing him, extending one hand out behind her. “Hold me. You’ve got to be tired, too. I don’t want to be alone now. Sleep with me.”
Though Hayden was utterly exhausted, his body went rock hard at the thought of climbing into bed with her. “If I get in there with you, we’re going to do more than sleep.” If he couldn’t even have thirty days with her, then he’d take what he could get. If that meant one day, hell, one hour...he’d take it.
She waved her hand. “Sleep first. More later.”
Though he wasn’t sure she knew what she was saying, he toed off his shoes and socks and shed his T-shirt and jeans. Wearing only his briefs, he slid into the bed, curling around her. The curve of her breasts grazed his forearm as he wrapped her in his embrace.
“Mmm. Nice.” She wiggled, grinding her denim-covered cheeks against his erection, sending pulses of pleasure through him. “Sweet dreams.”
Erotic dreams, more likely. Still, holding her seemed right. He surrendered to sleep, praying that when they awakened, she wouldn’t freak out, finding him in her bed.
Hours later, when he stretched and knuckled his eyes, the setting sun was slanting beams beneath the shade on the west-facing window, filling the bedroom with fiery light.
And he was alone.
He propped himself on his elbows. “Ronni?”
A cabinet slammed in the bathroom. She appeared in the connecting doorway wearing a purple satin kimono. She tugged at the edges, as if to make sure it covered her.
And all he wanted to do was take it off.
“Sorry. Did I wake you?”
“Not exactly.” He was fully awake now, though. Awake and on his way to ready. “Didn’t expect to find you gone. Whatcha up to?”
She hesitantly picked her way across the bedroom to stand beside the bed, one hand fisted at her side. “Just showered and stuff.”
“If you’d waited, I’d have been more than happy to wash your back.”
A charming blush colored her cheeks.
“What’s this?” He reached out, tapped her closed hand.
Her fingers slowly unfurled, revealing two condoms in her palm. The plastic crinkled as her hand trembled. “At the hospital, you said it was time to take care of me. I—I agree.”
Hayden rose to his knees, shifted to the edge of the bed. He encircled her waist with his arms, pulled her flush against him. “Oh, I’m going to take care of you, babe. I’m going to take good care of you.” He skimmed his lips over hers, a tease, a taste, a promise of things to come. Then he slanted his head and plundered her mouth fully, dancing his tongue with hers until the muscles in her body softened and she leaned into him.
He disengaged, running his fingertip over her now plump lips.
The slightly dazed but eager expression on her face captured exactly how he felt. “Hold that thought. Give me five minutes. Maybe six. No fair that you’re all fresh and clean and I’m not.” He leaped from the bed, spun her by the arms and sat her on the edge of the mattress. “Don’t go away. Five minutes.”
Ronni picked at the hem of the kimono as he vanished into the bathroom, giving her a terrific view of his gorgeous butt in his skin-hugging undershorts. Soon enough she’d be seeing it, touching it, au naturel.
The thought both thrilled and terrified her. She’d only ever been with Ian and Scott. And since Scott had obviously needed more than what she could provide in bed...
Still, Hayden had demonstrated his desire for her.
The shower turned on moments later. She set the condoms—who’d have ever thought she’d be raiding the just-in-case box she’d bought for Nick?—on the night table. Entertained herself by imagining Hayden naked in the shower. Lathering every inch of his body.
It kept the guilt at bay for a moment, anyway.
“I deserve this,” she told herself softly, staring at the carpet. “At least once, anyway.” Hayden had been totally amazing during the time in the hospital. Not only had he taken care of her, but Vera, as well. And more than once Ronni had returned from making a phone call to find him wiping drool from Scott’s chin, though he’d always made the tissue vanish and been feet away from the bed by the time she’d actually gotten into the room.
Shouldn’t have surprised her, given how hands-on he’d been with Ian’s care. Still, this wasn’t his brother.
It was her husband.
The husband she was about to cheat on.
Life is for living, Ian’s voice whispered across her memory. Promise me you’ll never stop living.
“Now there’s a woman who’s not thinking sexy things.” Hayden’s deep bass rumbled from the bathroom doorway. “I told you to hold that thought.”
“Sorry.” She swallowed the lump in her throat and raised her gaze to look at him. She never made it as far as his face.
A water droplet broke loose from his collarbone. She followed its path, down his eight-pack abs, until it blended with the smattering of dark hair that started near his belly button and traveled south to where her baby-blue towel rode low on his hips.
She pressed her lips together.
He chuckled, the rich, throaty sound vibrating through her core. She jerked her head upward again, this time meeting his eyes.
Merriment made them twinkle. “That’s more like it.”
He crossed the room in two quick strides, setting something beside the condoms, then pulling her to her feet. He grabbed the covers with one hand, stripping them down to the foot of the bed. “Please tell me these aren’t your favorite sheets. Because I’m afraid we’re going to make quite a mess of them before we’re through.”
“Not my favorites. Though they might be tomorrow.”
He broke into a smug grin. “I like that.”
He inched in front of her, reaching for the belt of her kimono and untying it. He parted the robe just enough to sneak his hands inside, wrapping them around her waist. He nuzzled her ear. “Your skin’s so soft.” His fingertips traced up and down her spine. Finding the strap to her bra. He ran one finger under the elastic. His fingers skimmed down again. Fondled the lacy fabric of her low-riding hipsters.
She’d chosen the sexiest lingerie she owned, a gift from Tam right after she’d found out about Scott’s cheating the first time. The tags were on the bathroom counter.
“You have something on under here,” he whispered in her ear. “Let’s have a look.”
She was fine until he had the kimono pushed low on her shoulders. Then she clamped her arms to her sides, stopping the slide of the satin any farther. She’d had a baby. Had he ever been with a woman who’d had a baby?
“Okay.” He brushed his mouth over her collarbone. “No rush. We’ve got all night.”
“Nick—”
“Nick is okay right where he is for one more night.”
“Tomorrow—”
Hayden pressed his fingertip to her lips. “No talk about tomorrow. No talk about five minutes from now. This is all about the moment, Ronni. Right now.” He kissed her. “This moment.” He nibbled her shoulder. Trailed his mouth along the curve of her neck. “This one. Get it?”
She nodded.
“Good.” He sat down on the bed. “I’m not going to take anything you don’t want to give, Ronni. So...whenever you’re ready to slip off that robe, I’m ready.” His eyes blazed with smoldering heat as he leaned back on his elbows, abs tightening in a way that made her long to touch them.
Made her wish that damn towel would loosen and fall.
“You’ve got gorgeous legs. I can’t wait to feel them wrapped around me.”
Emboldened by his compliment, deciding it was time to fish or cut bait, she shrugged off the kimono. It pooled around her feet. Leaving her standing before him in only the hot-pink, lace-covered pushup bra and matching panties.
She shivered.
His eyes widened. He drew in a deep breath. “Beautiful. Did you put those on just for me?”
She nodded, watching him through her lashes.
“Thank you.” He rose from the bed again. “You give. I give.” The towel joined the puddle of purple satin on the floor.
After a quick glance confirmed what she’d suspected—the man was built everywhere—she did her best not to stare.
He moved behind her, stroking her shoulders. His fingers lingered on her bra clasp. “This is beautiful. And I’m glad you wore it. But let’s get rid of it. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Thank you.” He placed his lips on her left shoulder blade while making short work of the clasp. A gentle push sent the straps sliding down her arms. He moved his mouth to her ear. “Take it off.” His tongue traced the edge, then nipped at her lobe.
She shuddered as electric currents traveled from her ear to the apex of her thighs.
And he hadn’t even touched her yet. Oh, yeah. She’d chosen the right man to be bad with.
She tossed the bra on the growing pile.
He skimmed his hands down her back again, then grasped her hips, rubbing the lacy material there. His thumbs lightly stroked her cheeks. “Panties now or later?”
If she was going to be bad, then dammit, she might as well be bad. Stop worrying. Live it up. If this turned out to be her only chance with him, she wasn’t going to be passive. “Now,” she said, and whisked them to her feet, then flicked them away with her toe.
She spun around, placed her palms in the center of his chest and pushed him onto the bed.
A moment later, she’d straddled his abs, pinning his hands over his head.
He grinned up at her.
“What?” she asked.
“You never stop surprising me. And that’s a good thing. Go ahead. Have your wicked way with me.”
She leaned down, pressing her breasts against his hard chest, keeping his hands captive. Just as she went to kiss him, he said, “I was going to give you a massage to get things started. But this is much better.”
She sat back up. “A massage?”
He nodded. “What did you think the oil was for?”
She looked over at the table, then jumped off him, shoving him toward the edge of the bed. “Never let it be said that I interfered with your seduction plan.” She threw herself facedown in the middle of the mattress, arms above her head.
His rich, deep laughter warmed her.
A bottle cap snapped open. He rubbed his hands together, then knelt alongside her, beginning with her shoulders. Oil lubricated the movements of his fingers.
Magic. The man wove magic with every stroke. Every once in a while his erection would graze her, igniting another firestorm of desire.
“So beautiful.” He reverently laid one hand on her ass, caressed the skin. “Can I massage here?”
“Oh, hell, yes.”
He chuckled. “You’ve embraced the spirit of the exercise very nicely.”
He rose from the bed, asking her softly to turn over. She complied, to find him facing the nightstand again, pouring more oil into his palm.
Giving her a front row seat to his naked butt. She sat up for an even closer look. There was something... “Is that a tat? You have a tattoo on your ass? What’s it a picture of?”
He froze. His glutes twitched. She shifted to her knees to examine it. A shield with four crossed swords.
Ian’s name was inked on the shield, along with the year of his birth. And his death.
“Ohmigosh. You did that for Ian? On your ass?”
Hayden’s shoulders lifted, the play of his muscles entrancing this close. “It was the only place we could think of to put them where Mom wouldn’t ever likely see them. Not even accidentally.”
“We?”
“Greg and Finn have matching tats. We got them together. The first anniversary of Ian’s death. I was on leave from the Marines. It’s what Marines do. They get inked.”
“I’m guessing most of them get an Eagle, Globe and Anchor.”
“Ink’s personal. There’s always a story. Just like yours.”
Touched by his tribute, she pushed him from the bed, then stood and sidled up behind him, wrapping her arms around him. Hugging him. “I think Ian would have been pleased. Or at least amused.”
Hayden let her hold him briefly. Then he spun in her arms, pulling her to him. Clutching the back of her neck in one hand. Crushing his mouth to hers.
Need coursed through his kiss. Hunger. And possession.
She opened to him, let him plunder her mouth. Gave as good as he did.
Finally he tore himself away, raking his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. That’s not how this is supposed to be.”
“Show me.”
“What?”
The sun had sunk lower in the sky, leaving the room in comforting shadows. “Show me how it’s supposed to be. Quit stalling and make love to me before you give me a complex, thinking you don’t want me.”
“Don’t want you?” After retrieving a condom, which he placed within arm’s reach, he sat on the edge of the bed again.
He patted his thighs. “Sit right here. Face me.”
She did, sliding forward until the base of his erection created friction in exactly the right spot.
He grinned at her, rocking ever so slightly. Creating lovely zings of pleasure. He took her hand, placed her palm on his chest, as he’d done the day of the rainstorm, and held it there. Placed his other palm on her chest. “Look at me, Ronni.”
She met his eyes, felt his heart thudding.
“Open yourself to me, sweetheart. Not just your body. Your spirit, too.”
Hayden poured everything he had into loving her. Everything he’d ever learned. Wanting it to be the most amazing experience of her life.
Needing it to be.
He showered her with kisses. Touched every square inch of her body. She gave him absolute trust. And everything else.
The first time she shuddered against him, moaning in pleasure, he damn near lost control. And he wasn’t even inside her.
A situation he quickly remedied, pulling her down on the bed on top of him, then rolling so he was staring down at her.
He used his knee to urge her wider, knowing she was ready. More than ready. Edging into her was bliss. So damn tight. So damn...right. The intensity of their connection stunned him. “Don’t close your eyes,” he told her. “Look at me.”
She locked gazes with him as he completed the process of making them one.
“Feel me.” He swirled his hips, grinding into her.
“Hayden.” The way she gasped his name snapped his already fragile control.
They spiraled up and up...and when she pulsed around him, he couldn’t stop the inevitable. Something that hadn’t happened to him since his early experiments with tantra.
So he went with it. Moaned her name. Claimed her mouth at the moment of his release. Then he pressed his face into the curve of her neck and murmured, “Mine.”
“Hmm?”
“Fine.” He pushed himself up on his arms as his thudding heart began to slow. “As in, holy crap, that was fine. Amazing. Incredible.”
She hesitantly smiled. “Really?”
“Are you trying to tell me it wasn’t good for you?”
The smile broadened as she shook her head. “For me? It was great. Fantastic. I just didn’t know how it was for you.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you a secret.”
She giggled, the sound causing just as much pleasure as the sex had. “Of course you will. You’re JabberJaw.”
He pretended to grimace. “You just undid years’ worth of practice for me, and made me...finish...long before I should have.” He slowly withdrew from her. “Don’t move. Let me go take care of things, then I’ll be back to take care of you. And in a bit, maybe I can try again to dazzle you with my renowned staying power.”
She yawned, pressing a hand over her mouth. “’Kay. Think we both could use a rest before another round.”
He kissed her forehead. “You did bring two condoms. Would be a pity to waste one of them.”
“Mmm. It would.”
In the bathroom, though, he got a shock. The condom had a small tear at the tip.
In all the years he’d practiced safe sex, he’d never run into condom failure.
His pulse kicked up again. He shivered as the sweat from their lovemaking chilled on his body.
Or maybe because of the condom.
The enormity of the situation left him frozen. He got checked for STDs on a regular basis, and always turned up clean, in no small part because of his fussiness in choosing partners. And Ronni had mentioned the emotional pain and frustration of having to get herself tested after she’d discovered Scott’s cheating, so he didn’t have huge concerns in that area.
But that she could get pregnant...
The sudden wave of joy staggered him. He leaned against the bathroom vanity.
If she got pregnant—with his child—she’d have no choice but to divorce Mangano. It would be pretty obvious it wasn’t his baby bump.
And Hayden wanted her badly enough to hope it worked out that way. So despite that it would normally never occur to him to keep something of this magnitude from a partner, Hayden decided to. It would be his...he wrestled with even thinking the word...secret.
Fate had been at work with their relationship all along. He wasn’t going to mess with destiny if it had plans for their future. He would, however, make sure Ronni knew how he felt about her and where he stood.
Returning to the bedroom, he slid into bed again. On his back, he pulled her to him. She laid her head on his shoulder, placed her hand between his pecs. He laced his fingers with hers, kissed the top of her head.
His heartbeat pounded, the sound heavy in his ears. Feeling the emotion was one thing. Confessing it... harder than he’d expected. Especially since he didn’t anticipate a favorable response. Best to just jump. “I love you.”
Her muscles tensed, and she went very still.
“Do you know how many women I’ve said that to?”
“All of them?” she whispered.
“None of them. Until now. Until you. I love you, Ronni.”
“Oh, God, Hayden. Don’t. Don’t do that. Let me be the same as the rest of them.”
“I can’t. ’Cause you’re not.” His chest tightened. Funny how it hurt that she didn’t return the words, even though he’d expected that. Because even if she felt it, Ronni wouldn’t say it. Not while she was still married. Saying it would be even worse, more of a betrayal than what they’d just done.
“I can’t give you forever, Hayden. Mine’s currently tied up.”
“I know.” He stroked her hair, relishing the silkiness, wondering how long it would be before he got the chance to touch it—touch her—again. “But you could fix that. Back in the hospital, when we were leaving, you were crying. What were those tears about? Were those happy tears that Scott was going to be okay?”
She shook her head.
“I didn’t think so. Why were you crying, babe?”
“Don’t.” Her voice caught on a sob, making him hate himself. “Don’t make me say it. It’s too ugly.”
“No. Truth is sometimes hard to take, but it’s not ugly. What made you cry?”
“B-because...I can’t see another way out. His death, my death...”
“Hey!” He squeezed his arms around her. “Don’t you ever say that. Not even in passing. Nick needs you. I need you. In whatever form that takes. There’s another way out. You’ve just got to be strong enough to take it. To say the hell with what people think of me, I deserve my own life, I deserve to be happy.”
He rolled onto his side, facing her. “Divorce him, Ronni. Be with me. Marry me.”
Her eyes widened.
“I swear, I’ll never hurt you like he did. I’ll be a Semper Fi guy for you. You know what Semper Fi means?”
She nodded. “Always faithful.”
“That’s right. I’ve found my forever woman. Let me make you happy. I do make you happy, don’t I?”
Tears glistened beneath her lashes. “You do. Before you came back into my life, I was so numb, I didn’t realize I’d forgotten how to feel anything. No pain, but no joy, either. You’ve returned that to me.”
“I’m glad.” He kissed her tenderly, with as much emotion as he could muster. Her lips trembled beneath his.
“Hayden...” She put her hand on his chest and pushed, creating some space between them. “I wish I could. I wish I were free. But...”
“You’re not.”
“No. And I can’t...I can’t...”
“Shh.” He laid his finger over her mouth. “It’s okay. I’ll wait. Keep hoping you’ll change your mind. Because I love you.” For the first time, he truly understood. Why Finn had drunk himself under the table when Amelia had blocked him from Chip’s birth, why he’d been willing to shut down his restaurant and pursue his family all the way to Maine. Why Greg had been so forlorn when Shannon had dumped him, insisting on driving past her apartment several times a day like a demented stalker.
Why his father had spent almost fifty years with his mother, through thick and thin, through the birth of twelve kids and the death of one.
Love truly was the glue that held it all together.
Even when it hurt like hell. Maybe especially when it hurt like hell.
Hayden had spent his whole adult life in short-term relationships just to avoid this kind of agony. Time to man up.
“We can’t keep doing...this...either.”
“I know. But for the rest of tonight, you’re mine. I’m going to make this a night you’ll never forget.”
Then he’d do his damnedest not to go crazy with wanting her. And pray that something changed.
Something that would offer them a future.