Wife by Design

Her hair was pulled back tightly and neatly as always. She had no makeup to cry off. And her clothes were pressed. But she didn’t resemble, in any way, the calm, controlled woman he’d come to know and…love.

The admission that he didn’t just care—that he was in love—was easier to accept knowing that she loved him, too. It wasn’t as if the concept was new to him. Just the admission.

“We’re a pair,” he said aloud.

Her frown grew.

And he said, “So are you giving Kara up? Giving Brandon full custody of her?” He tried to sound as if they were talking about the weather when he knew the question was crazy. But he hoped it would prove a point that was only now occurring to him.

He was fighting for something bigger than life here.

“Of course I’m not giving her up!” His half accusation, half assumption hadn’t sat well with her. “Why would you even suggest such a thing?”

“Well, just yesterday you were facing the possibility of losing her.”

“You think I don’t know that? You think I haven’t been up all night, reliving that horror over and over and over again?” Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. And Grant needed to hold her.

And to be held.

“Can I tell you something?” He needed her to listen. He might not find a way to get the words out a second time.

She nodded, watching him. Not quite suspiciously, but almost.

“Last night, while I was sitting at home, thinking about Maddie and Darin’s situation, I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t face the thought. It’s like I had this barrier inside my chest that stretched up to my mind.”

Her gaze softened. He couldn’t describe how, but he felt the change in her. And something within him pushed farther forward. “But coming here this morning, knowing that I was going to discuss the situation with you, it wasn’t overwhelming. I wasn’t daunted at the prospect. I’m not happy about it, mind you, but I can…believe that, together, we’ll find a solution.”

The first step she took forward was a little shaky. “That’s how I was yesterday,” she told him softly, sounding more like the woman he knew. And loved. Really, really loved.

“The whole time Kara was missing I was leaning on you, touching you, drawing all of my strength from you,” she said, coming slowly closer.

The words were uttered simply, but there was nothing simple about them. She stopped a couple of feet from him.

He took a step toward her. “Maybe, in loving, what we give up in control, we gain in strength to sustain us through the things we can’t control.”

She seemed to be giving the thought serious consideration.

“Sounds easier than it is, huh?” She was looking him straight in the eye. And his old Lynn was back. “I love you, Grant Bishop.”

“And I love you.” He’d never said the words to a woman before. Hadn’t ever thought he’d do so.

And they hadn’t killed him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“HOW MUCH TIME do we have?” Grant hadn’t come any closer, but the hungry look in his eyes brought him right inside her.

Setting down her empty wineglass, she looked at her watch. Darin’s therapy was over in twenty minutes. Kara and Maddie would be in day care a bit longer than that.

“Fifteen minutes.”

His hands went to his belt buckle. She took off her top. And felt wild and sexy when he stared at her breasts in her lace bra. Her nipples were already hard.

Maybe because he’d released his fly, giving her the first real look at his penis, leaving absolutely no doubt that she turned him on.

Really turned him on.

“I showed you mine, now you show me yours,” he said, leering at her. Reaching behind her, she unfastened her bra, letting it fall off her arms. She should be shy. She’d been so uncomfortable the first time she’d let Brandon see her naked.

She couldn’t get naked fast enough, for Grant.

He took off his shoes. Let his pants drop and stepped out of them, leaving them with his briefs on the floor.

She pulled her pants down, too. Leaving her underwear on. Because teasing him was fun.

It made her feel powerful.

And turned her on like she’d never been turned on before.