“So shit talking my bar? Making feel beneath you?”
I flashed a sheepish grin and nodded. “Yep. If you hated me then there was no risk of us ever becoming anything but enemies. And then my birthday happened.”
“My birthday,” he said with a small smile.
“Yes. On our birthday you were so nice to me and it took me off guard and forced me to admit the truth to myself. And then the incredible sex, I’ll admit it scrambled my brain a little which only made it easier to let you in, Grady.”
“Sorry?”
I laughed. “And instead of being a jerk about the pregnancy, you were understanding and excited, it was too much to fight against and I felt myself succumbing to your charms.”
“And you were terrified,” he guessed correctly.
I nodded. “I was worse than terrified Grady. You’re gorgeous and entirely too young for me and that combined with my own insecurities turned me into a version of myself I hardly recognized.”
“Kind of an odd reaction for a man you think so little of,” he grunted bitterly.
I resisted the urge to say something nasty in return and instead I just sighed and let the disappointment roll off my shoulders. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you if you’d remove that chip from your shoulder and just listen for once in your damn life!”
Grady’s lips twitched with a grin. “I’m listening.”
“I’m saying Grady that despite my best efforts and without me realizing it, I started to like you as a person. A man. That was alarming enough but then that like turned into something more than like. Fondness or affection combined with attraction, I guess. And right now in this moment, I’m pretty sure that I’m in love with you.” The last few words rushed out and I felt breathless. Exhausted.
He folded his thick arms across his wide chest and cocked a brow. “You’re pretty sure?”
“Yes,” I sighed. “I know it’s not exactly the romantic declaration that you deserve and it’s silly at my age not to know your own heart for certain, but what I feel for you Grady is unlike anything I ever felt before. I thought I’d been in love before, a few times actually, but then you came along and turned all my ideas upside down.”
Grady took a step forward and my heart soared again with hope. “So how do I make you feel Margot? Frustrated? Annoyed? Hot?”
“Yes to all of those and so much more. I feel turned on with you, sure, but I feel safe in my attraction to you. Confident that if I wanted to try something new you wouldn’t make me feel bad about it. I feel amused and relaxed, like I can really and truly laugh without judgment. It’s like I can be myself with you which has given me the gift of learning who I really am when I’m not worried about the rest of the world. That is a heady and beautiful and thoroughly horrifying feeling that I’m still getting used to and it has made me behave badly and for that Grady I’m sorry. I am really fucking sorry.”
He grinned. “You said fuck.”
“No,” I said seriously. “I said fucking. There’s a difference. Apparently.” I lifted my chin high in the air, teasing and defiant.
“I liked it. Say it again,” he demanded with the barest hint of a smile.
“No.” That was all I said as my lips tugged into a teasing smile.
Grady stepped closer and closer still until we were toe to toe. “Say it.”
My heart hitched at his nearness, the masculine scent of him and the intensity that burned in his blue eyes, not to mention the hope. Dear god, the hope had the power to undo me. “I’m not fucking saying it again Grady.”
He grinned. “You will.” One hand slid down the side of my face and his fingers tangled in my hair.
I shook my head as the rush of love and excitement ran through me, making me bold and confident. “Say what Grady? That I love you, or the word fuck.”
He shrugged. “Either. Both.”
I sucked in a deep breath and when I released it, the sound was shaky and breathless. This was it, the moment of truth or rather the moment when I admitted the truth and risked my heart. Again. “How about this? Grady, I fucking love you. I’m sure and I’m scared but I have a feeling that loving you is worth the risk of losing you.”
“Good,” he growled and hooked an arm around my waist so that my swollen belly and tender breasts were flush against his hard, strong body. “Because I fucking love you too Margot. You drive me crazy in a million different ways but there’s no one I would rather fight or make up with than you babe.”
My heart felt whole in that moment. Full and right and overwhelming and Grady enhanced that feeling with a kiss so strong and powerful and intense that it stole my breath, my ability to think straight. I couldn’t see or feel anything but this man and the strong beat of his heart, the possessive grip he had on me as he pulled me close and devoured my mouth until I was nothing more than a puddle of need in his arms. “Grady,” I panted when he pulled back to stare at my face, to make certain this was what I wanted, that he was what I wanted. “I want this. I want you.”