by Deanna Chase
He wasn’t even sure she was aware she’d moved her hand. And god help him, he couldn’t deny the tender feelings that rolled through him. “The town. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Yeah.” She smiled at him, the first genuine smile he’d seen from her that evening. “It’s a really special place. My friends say they go all out for every season and holiday. At first it sounded a little overwhelming, but now I love it.”
He chuckled. “It felt like walking onto a movie set at first. Over the top, you know?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. But I’d just come from Christmas Grove, the town that oozes Christmas magic all year-round, so it wasn’t quite as much of a shock for me.”
“Seriously?” He had a hard time imagining living with Christmas year-round.
“Yep. My brother lives there with his girlfriend, Holly. It’s a few hours inland from here. It’s a lovely place, but I prefer being closer to the coast.” Keating Hollow was about thirty miles from the ocean. She narrowed her eyes at him. “If you think it’s so over the top, why did you decide to settle here?”
“The people. Also, it didn’t take long for the magic of the town to seep into my bones. It just felt… right if that makes sense.”
Amelia nodded. “It does. I instantly felt at home here.”
After his initial shock, he had too. He’d already accepted the job on the West Coast when he’d found out Amelia had relocated too. At the time, he’d been hopeful they could rekindle what they’d had, though he knew it wouldn’t be easy. Not after the way he’d left her last December.
As he turned right into his neighborhood, a light dusting of snow began to fall. He grinned at Amelia. “Told ya.”
She squinted at the windshield and shook her head. “You had a vision, didn’t you?”
He had, but he didn’t want to get into that again, so he just shrugged. “I told you it felt like snow.”
“All of the weather reports said low forties.” She pulled out her phone and after a few taps, she frowned. “The weather app isn’t even updated. It still says chance of rain.”
Grayson glanced at the temperature gauge on the dashboard. “It’s twenty-nine degrees outside.”
Amelia wrapped her arms around herself and gave an involuntary shiver.
That was new. Amelia, a fire witch, was almost never cold. It was why she’d been able to leave the wedding party and not even think about her coat. Grayson reached over and turned the heater up.
“Thanks. My internal regulator has been a little wacky since you knocked me up. Temperature swings aren’t unusual these days.” She gave him another small smile, and despite the fact that he was freaking out a little at her knocked-up comment, Grayson decided things were looking up.
By the time Grayson pulled into his driveway, the snow had started to stick to the ground. “Come on. Let’s go inside. I’ll make hot cocoa.”
Amelia nodded, climbed out of the Toyota, and followed him into the small, blue, craftsman-style home. “Doesn’t Hope Garber from the spa live nearby?”
He nodded “Yep. Right across the street. The house with the red shutters. Why?”
“No reason,” Amelia said. “She invited me over one evening for girls’ night. I thought the neighborhood looked familiar.”
Grayson flipped the light on, illuminating his small living room. It was a little more cramped than he preferred, but it had been the only available rental in town. And it had come furnished, which was a bonus since he’d left all of his furniture behind when he’d left New York a month earlier. Waving toward the leather couch, he said, “Have a seat,” before heading straight for the open concept kitchen at the back of the house.
Amelia glanced at it, but instead of taking his direction, she walked over to the kitchen and stood next to him with her arms folded over her stomach. “How can I help?”
“You can grab the chocolate from the pantry.” He watched her walk over to the vertical cabinet and admired the long line of her neck. Her skin was so soft, and he’d loved running his thumb over her pulse as it quickened with excitement when he touched her. He’d missed that, those intimate moments, more than he’d realized.
“Stop staring at me like that,” she said without turning around.
“Like what?”
“Like you want to strip my clothes off me right here in your kitchen and have your way with me.” She grabbed the chocolate and turned toward him with one eyebrow raised.
Grayson chuckled because she was right. He did want to do that. It’s what he’d hoped would happen before he found out she was pregnant and went into utter shock. Though, if she offered now, he wasn’t likely to turn her down. Unfortunately, the look on her face said that wasn’t in the cards. At least not anytime soon. “I can’t help it if your neck is sexy.”
“My neck?” It was her turn to laugh. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Grayson?”
He sobered. “Since early December.”
Her eyes widened and she sucked in a breath of air. “I see.”
Why had that surprised her? Did she really think he’d left her and jumped right into someone else’s bed? Don’t be an idiot, Grayson, he told himself. What was she supposed to think? He hadn’t yet told her anything about why he’d left or why he’d suddenly taken a new job across the country. He cleared his throat and held his hand out for the chocolate. “Hand that over so I can get this going.”
She did as he asked and then sat in one of the high-backed chairs at the kitchen island.
He quickly made the hot chocolate, grabbed a plate of cookies he’d picked up from Incantation Café, and then led her into the living room.
Amelia curled up under a blanket in the corner of his leather couch.
Grayson knew he should probably take the matching chair, but he just didn’t want to be that far away from her. Instead, he sat at the other end of the couch, eyeing the blanket.
“Don’t even think about it,” she said, tightening her hold on the throw. “Get your own.”
He laughed. “That one is mine.”
“Not anymore.” She smirked at him and took a sip of her hot chocolate. The look of pure pleasure on her face, combined with her moan of appreciation, made him have to stifle a groan. “It’s really good,” she said. “Like award-worthy good.”
“I think it’s just been a long time since you’ve had hot chocolate,” he said, but he felt a rush of warmth run through him due to her compliment.
“I had it two days ago. It wasn’t anything like this. What did you put in it? Some sort of spice?”
“There’s a couple actually. Haven’t you ever had Mexican hot chocolate?” he asked her.
She shook her head and took another sip, closing her eyes as she savored the drink. “This is truly incredible.”
“You’re incredible,” he said and immediately regretted it. What the hell was he doing? That wasn’t something he should be blurting out. They had a lot more important things to talk about other than how much she dazzled him.
Amelia lowered the mug and frowned at him. “That can’t be true.”
“Yes, it can,” he said firmly, apparently going all in on his stupidity. “You’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”
She scoffed and got to her feet. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” He stood, taking a step so that they were just inches apart. “Tell you the truth?”
“Say things like that after what happened back in Cape Cod. It’s… cruel.” They’d been spending the week in Cape Cod when Grayson got the call. He hadn’t even waited until they got back to New York before leaving her.
Amelia walked away from him and headed to the kitchen where she put her mug in the sink. “I think you should just take me home. It’s obvious we aren’t going to talk about the elephant in the room, and I could really use some sleep.”
Grayson walked slowly over to where she stood in his kitchen. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No. You shouldn’t have.
You made yourself perfectly clear a few months ago when you said you weren’t a relationship guy, and I heard you. I wouldn’t have come here with you if it weren’t for this little one I’m carrying around.” She pressed both hands to her belly, appearing protective of their child. “Flirting just makes everything harder.”
Dammit. He’d known he was messing this up the minute he’d uttered the words. “Listen, Amelia, I’m sorry. You’re right, I—”
She held her hand up, stopping him. “No need to apologize. Let’s just drop it, okay?”
He nodded, eager to move on. He felt too much like an ass already. During that same Cape Cod trip, right after he’d gotten that call, she’d told him she loved him. And what had he said? I like you, too. That statement had been followed up with a big ‘but,’ and he’d quickly laid out all the reasons why he couldn’t be in a relationship. He’d broken her heart. That hadn’t been hard to figure out, but what she didn’t know was that his had broken, too. He’d wanted to tell her how he felt, actually ached to tell her, but his life had been too complicated.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he said, “There are a few things I need to tell you before I take you home.”
“What’s that?” she asked, sounding suspicious, like she was waiting for him to drop another bomb.
He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let’s go into the living room and sit down while we talk.”
Amelia nodded and followed him. They sat on opposite ends of the couch and turned to face each other.
Grayson tapped his fingers on his knee, trying to ignore the fact that his nerves were on edge. “I’m not going to pretend that your news hasn’t rocked me. It most definitely has.”
“I figured,” she said, slumping back against the arm of the couch and closing her eyes as if she wanted to hide her pain from him.
His heart hammered in his chest, and he longed to take her in his arms, but he knew he couldn’t. Not now. He had no right to touch her like that anymore. “I’m a lot of things, some good, some not great, but one thing that I am is loyal. When you told me that you didn’t expect anything from me, that you’d raise our daughter on your own, that gutted me.”
Her eyes flew open and flashed with fire. “What was I supposed to say? I know you don’t do commitment, but here we are. Get used to it?”
Most people Grayson knew would say that. It didn’t surprise him that it hadn’t occurred to Amelia to take that same path. She was far too independent and proud to expect anything from someone who didn’t want to be in her life. But she had no idea just how much he wanted to be there with her. And their child. “You could have. You had every right to. But that’s beside the point.” He couldn’t help himself. Reaching out, he slipped his fingers through hers and squeezed. He needed to touch her, to be connected with her somehow. “I’m not going to let you do this without me. I’ll be here, every step of the way.”
Grayson meant every word, but there was a hollow feeling in his stomach. His life hadn’t really been his own for over a decade. Between the time he’d left Amelia and landed in Keating Hollow, he’d finally cut ties with his past commitments. But could he stick with his decision? If Kira called, would he ignore her? He hoped like hell he would because there was nothing he wanted more than a family. And he knew better than most how toxic Kira’s life could be. He just didn’t know if he could live with himself if he ignored her call and something terrible happened like it had a few years ago.
“I don’t know what to say to that,” Amelia said, staring at their hands that were still connected.
“You don’t need to say anything. I just needed you to know that’s where I’m at with this.”
“You just found out less than an hour ago.” She pulled her hand from his and clasped both of hers together. “I don’t think now is the time for declarations.”
“No?” he asked, trying to keep the defensiveness from his voice. “What about you? How did you feel when you first found out you were pregnant?”
“Scared and pissed off.”
He almost chuckled at the irritation on her face. “Okay. Understandable. But what about after that? Did you consider walking away from her?”
Amelia jerked her head back in shock, her eyes going wide again. “Of course not. I’d never do that.”
He smiled gently at her. “That’s exactly how I feel.”
Amelia stared at him for a long moment before she finally nodded. “Okay. Fair enough. What’s the second thing you need to tell me?”
This was harder. There were things he couldn’t tell her, though he wanted to. Damn, did he want to. “There are parts of my life that I can’t talk about.”
She snorted. “No kidding. I got that when you disappeared the last time. What are you, a spy or something?”
If only it were that simple. And he couldn’t blame her for thinking that. Less than twenty-four hours after he’d left her in Cape Cod, his phone had been replaced and all of his things from his rental in New York had been packed up and sent to storage. He cocked his head and met her gaze. “Do I look like a spy?”
“No.” She raked her gaze over him. “You look like a businessman who travels extensively and picks up a lot of women in hotel bars.”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “You’re the only woman I’ve ever picked up in a hotel bar.”
Amelia rolled her eyes. “Sure, Grayson.”
He hated that she didn’t trust him. It was his own fault though. “I’m not a spy. But you should know that the reason I left you was because I had responsibilities that I couldn’t ignore. A call came in and I had to go.”
“That sounds like you’re either a spy or an agent with the witness protection program,” she said.
“I imagine both of those would be easier to explain,” he said with a sigh. “Let’s just say this was… a family obligation.”
Her entire body tensed as she gritted her teeth and asked, “You’re not married already, are you? Because if I was sleeping with a married man, I swear on everything that is holy that I will find a way to hurt you, Grayson Riley.”
He held his hands up in a surrender motion, shaking his head. “I swear I’m not married. No other kids. It’s not like that. I promise.”
The tension drained from her face, and she looked at him curiously. “You’re saying you left so suddenly because of a family obligation?”
“Yes, something like that.” Feeling completely exposed, he averted his gaze. He didn’t want to be talking about this, but he had to give her as much of the truth as possible. “Someone I cared for needed me, and I went to help pick up the pieces of their life after everything went to shit. It’s not the first time, not even close. But it’s the last. We’ve parted ways. For good.”
Amelia eyed him suspiciously. “An ex?”
“Sort of. We dated for a short while a long time ago. I can’t really talk about it. I’m sorry. I would if I could.”
Amelia waved a hand, indicating that his confession wasn’t that big of a deal. “You don’t need to explain it to me. You don’t owe me anything.”
That’s where she was wrong. He owed her everything.
Chapter 3
Amelia didn’t know how she felt about Grayson’s confession. So he had a past he couldn’t talk about. One that wasn’t resolved while they were together. She wasn’t sure she believed him when he’d indicated that the person wasn’t an ex. Obviously, whoever it was had been important enough for him to run when they called. Still, he’d completely changed his life in the past month, hadn’t he? And he hadn’t run when she’d announced she was pregnant. Those were good signs.
Trust was hard to come by though, especially considering her own past, and at that moment, all she really wanted to do was go home and unwind. Let herself process the day’s events. Grayson was living in her town and wanted to be a part of her and her child’s life. That was good, right?
Honestly, it was overwhelming.
“Are you okay?” he asked, concern
radiating off him.
“Yeah. Just wiped out. Do you think you could take me home now? It’s been a long day, and I get tired easily now.”
“Of course.” There was disappointment in his handsome expression, almost making her laugh.
When they’d reconnected at the wedding, it’d been obvious he’d wanted to start right back up where they’d left off. If things had been different, she might have been right there with him. Because there was no denying the chemistry that sparked between them. Even now there was a pull drawing her toward him. How easy it would be to fall into bed with him again and forget for a while all that had happened in the past few months.
Too bad she was still working with a rational brain. Sex couldn’t be on the table. Not now. The stakes were too high. They had a daughter to think about. Besides, what if he decided to bolt after he had time to think things over? Her heart wouldn’t survive it. “Let me just use the restroom before we go.”
“It’s down at the end of the hall.” He waved to the narrow hallway sandwiched between the living room and kitchen area.
Amelia hurried down the hall, focused on the business at hand. When she emerged, she couldn’t help but notice the flash of red in the bedroom to the left and did a doubletake. Stopping in her tracks, she stared at the red rose petals scattered on the gray bedspread. There was also a collection of candles set up on the dresser but not lit. She blinked. He really had been expecting to seduce someone.
The sound of Grayson clearing his throat behind her made her jump and press a hand to her heart.
“Seriously?” she said as she turned around to face him. “You were expecting me to fall into bed with you?”
He gave her a sheepish smile. “It’s rare when my visions don’t come true. But maybe I jinxed it when I added the rose petals. I didn’t exactly see that part. But it’s Valentine’s Day, so… I went all out.”
“What did you see?” she asked, raising one eyebrow and immediately regretting it when he stared down at her with a sexy half-smile.
“You, naked, leading me to the bed.”
