“What?” She nestled herself into him, gazing up into his eyes that made Gray bite the inside of his lip.
“I’m going to make you so fucking glad you asked me to teach you to stay, Terra. Because I’m going to teach you a few other things along the way. Trust me, I’ve got some goddamn sinful things I can teach you once I get you home.”
Terra’s eyes lit up with a heated mischief that matched his own, but she chuckled, nudging against him. “Oh yeah? I like the sound of that, Gray.” Her fingers snaked up under the hem of his T-shirt, making him suck in a breath at the electricity that zapped through him with her touch. “And what’s the second thing?”
“The second thing is the most important, if you can believe it.” He ducked his head and kissed her again, not pulling back until he knew she’d be left breathless. “The second thing,” he started again, surprised at just how breathless he was, “is that there is absolutely nothing fake about how I feel about you, Terra.”
The eyes that sparkled back at him glistened with more tears. “I’m falling for you, Gray,” she confessed. “That can’t be faked.”
“No, it can’t.” Gray stepped back and held his hands out to her, a symbol of just how true he was to his word that he would guide her and teach her how to stay and build a life here if she would let him. “You...this...us...it’s all very, very real, Terra. It might’ve started off as a fake engagement, sweetheart, but I plan on making good on every promise I just made to you. You just have to trust me.”
Terra stared at his outstretched hand, then to his steady gaze and back again. Finally, just when Gray thought she was going to change her mind, Terra stepped forward and entwined her fingers with his.
“I do,” she whispered, saying her first vow to him that was just as real as the promises he’d made to her. “Take me home, Gray.”