Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 41725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 209(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41725 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 209(@200wpm)___ 167(@250wpm)___ 139(@300wpm)
I wanted to belong here.
When Grant returned to the living room, he closed the door behind him and assessed me for a long moment, his jaw tight.
I gripped my fingers in my lap so tightly they turned white, and my mind blanked. Should I apologize first, or beg for another chance, or—
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Grant barked.
I jumped in my seat. “I… I’m so sorry, Gr—Dr. Brighton. I screwed up. I should have… I should have—”
Before I could get another word out of my mouth, Grant pulled me up from my seat and crushed his mouth to mine. The move shocked the breath out of me, and all I could do was clutch at his shirt while his arms wrapped tightly around me.
“Not Dr. Brighton,” he said roughly against my lips. “Not to you. Not anymore.” He touched his forehead to mine. “Tell me you want this, Brody. Tell me you want me.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, gasping for breath at the same time I was straining on my tiptoes, trying to push myself closer, wanting as much contact with him as I could get. “Of course I do.”
“Then why did you leave us? Why did you go back to Fen’s when we needed you, when I needed you?”
He kissed me again, even harder than before, but didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, words started pouring out of him between rough, possessive kisses, blanketing my senses. “Fuck. I had a whole speech prepared. I had flash cards. I wanted to tell you that you’re not obligated to stay married to me anymore if you don’t want to, now that Liza’s back to help out with Mountbatten, and then I planned to list all the practical reasons why I hoped you’d choose to stay with me anyway, like being there for the girls and keeping your health insurance. But fuck practicality. Fuck obligation. You can be with the girls as much as you want, forever, no matter what you choose,” he promised.
He pulled back just far enough to cradle my jaw in both of his hands. “This conversation is about us. And what it comes down to, Brody, is that I need you. I fucking need you. I need your sunshine and your passion, your understanding and your patience, your calmness when chaos strikes. I want you with me every day, as my husband, making pancakes and eating all the leftover pizza when I buy too much. Telling me ridiculous stories about Fen and your professors. Making my life better in a thousand tiny ways. Letting me take care of you, even when you don’t need it. I need you to tell me, right now, what you want.”
Once again, he didn’t give me a chance to tell him much of anything. His arms went back around me, and his mouth trailed hot kisses over my jaw and neck.
“Oh god,” I breathed, so stunned and wanting that no other words would emerge. The things he was saying, the things he was doing… “I didn’t expect this. N-not any of it,” I stammered.
Because maybe Fen was right. In my head, in my heart, I’d accepted the idea that loving people meant losing them. And while that hadn’t stopped me from falling for Grant or his daughters, it had stopped me from trusting that it could ever end happily.
Christ, I’d been an idiot.
Grant pushed me away and held me at arm’s length. His stare was intense enough to light an inferno in my lower belly. “Talk to me. Spell it out for me. No more halfways. No more misunderstandings.”
My legs felt like jelly. Without him holding on to me, I fell back down on the sofa like a rag doll. “I’m so sorry—” I began again.
Grant let out a frustrated noise and lowered to his knees in front of me. “No more apologies, either.” He took a deep breath and forced a brave smile, leaning away from me slightly. “And no obligations. If you don’t feel the same, just say so—”
Oh, god, no.
“I do!” I exclaimed. I lurched forward and grabbed his face, kissing his forced smile hard enough to wipe it from my memory. “I love you,” I blurted into our kiss. “I love you, and I want to be married to you… and I was scared you didn’t want me like that. That you were just trying to make the best of an awkward situation. That you felt obligated to me.”
“Oh, god.” Grant squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled shakily. “It didn’t even occur to me that you could have those same fears until today. I’m afraid I’m a bad bet when it comes to relationships, Brody—”
“You keep saying that,” I said sharply. “It’s not true. You just laid your heart out for me, and it was perfect. You’re kind, and thoughtful, and so damn generous, always. You give so much to your sister, and your mother, and your daughters, and your patients. You spend your whole day saving lives, Grant, and then you come home and devote yourself to your family. So don’t ever tell me again that you’re not good at emotions or good at supporting people. Because maybe you weren’t what someone else needed, but you are exactly the man I need. The man I want.”