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She shifted her hand in his so they were shaking hands. “Deal. Yes, Chase, I’d love to date you.”
He let out a huge exhale. “Thank God. I didn’t want my little girl to watch her dad crash and burn.”
Shelby laughed again. “We wouldn’t want to disappoint her.”
“I’m the one who’d be disappointed. She’d be embarrassed her dad couldn’t get a date.”
Shelby’s smile dimmed to a soft frown. “If you’re doing this thinking having her parents together is just for her, then—”
“Stop. That’s not what this is. At all. I don’t know how to make it plainer than to say I’m more attracted toyou now than the day we met. I’m interested in you and who you are, other than Eliza’s mom. This is personal. This is whatIwant.You’rewho I want.”
Shelby stared at their joined hands. “You do realize I have no idea how to do this... that I’ve never done this.”
He’d been surprised to be her first lover. He was even more shocked to discover she’d never dated anyone. “Wasn’t there ever some boy or guy?”
“Sure. Kinda. It’s just... I have a hard time believing guys are interested in me.”
“Really? No kidding,” he teased, then turned serious again, so she’d know he really wanted to be with her. “But seriously, that makes no sense. You’re beautiful and kind and shy, yes, but not rude or dismissive in any way.”
Her cheeks pinked. “Well, thanks. It’s just... the way I was raised... my past. People remember the story and want me to spill all the salacious details. Instead of wanting to know me, they want to know about that, and...” She didn’t go on even though she’d basically told him nothing.
“What story?”
Shelby looked at Eliza. “A long one, better left to tell another time. She needs a bath and story time before bed.” Shelby slipped her hand free of his, stood, and took his empty plate and hers to the sink.
“I want to hear that story. I feel like it will answer a lot of questions and tell me a lot about you.”
“Then we’ll see if whatever it is you think about me appeals to you still holds.”
He purposely let his gaze drop and roam over the curves she tried to hide beneath her oversized workpolo that did nothing to display her perfect figure. The boxy black scrub pants were a bit too long and didn’t show the curve of her hips, her heart-shaped ass, or her toned legs, but he remembered mapping those curves and her legs with his hands and tongue. Her hair was pulled up into some kind of knot at the back of her head. He remembered how silky soft it felt running through his fingers. Her skin felt like a rose petal and smelled fresh and clean with the barest hint of citrus. Her eyes held an honesty and warmth that always pulled him in. And when she touched him, it was like she needed the contact and connection that buzzed between them.
She couldn’t deny it, just like he couldn’t keep ignoring it.
She offered him her support and understanding, and there was something so easy about her that made him relax and just be himself around her.
“There’s nothing you can tell me that would change the way I feel about you. You’d still be beautiful.” He didn’t just mean her looks. He meant her spirit and heart.
Her eyes locked on him. “No one would call me beautiful, Chase, especially if I’m standing next to you. You’re gorgeous. You’re the one every woman stares at and wants and dreams about.”
It had been a while since he felt like that was true. “You’re the only woman I dream about. Night after night after night. You probably think I spend so much time watching the monitor because of Eliza. I do, but it’s also so I can look at you. I’m fairly certain I’ve memorized every curve of your face, the slope of your neck, the way your hair falls on your shoulders and brushes the tops of your breasts. I know the way you breathe, how you sigh with contentment when Eliza falls asleepin your arms, and how every time you lay her in her bed, and right before you turn to leave her room, you look at me with the barest hint of a smile. I’ve lived on that few seconds every night when your attention turns from her and you acknowledge that I’m there and it makes you happy in some way. I hope it’s because you remember that night we spent together and that I did one thing right and made you want more of me.”
He’d laid it all on the line. He’d bared his soul to her. If she didn’t believe him now, that he truly wanted a chance to see if they could turn something that was amazing into something that was forever, then he didn’t know what else to say or do.
Except maybe show her how good they were together again. If she’d let him.
Shelby stood in the kitchen still as could be and stared at him, her eyes misty again.
The last thing he wanted to do was make her cry, though he had no idea what he’d said to bring on the tears.
Finally she moved, and he breathed in, hoping she’d say something to let him know how she felt.
She came up beside him. So close, but still too far away. “I’ve only ever had that night with you. And if there’s a chance that I could have that again...”
He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her close, her hips to his chest. With her standing and him in his seat, he stared up at her and gave her another bold truth. “You can have it every night if you want it.”
She cupped his face, her soft hands rubbing against the stubble he hadn’t shaved this morning. “I want you.” She whispered it like a secret.
He heard it like a wish come true.
