"Lori, damn it, will you just listen?"
Her hands slid off her hips, her anger sliding away, as well, to be replaced by a bittersweet ache. "You just don't get it, do you Gray? This is forever we're talking about. Everything. No guesses or maybes or temporary live-ins. You have to be sure."
At least he didn't blink this time, just stared back at her with solemn eyes. She had to hand it to him. For a man who made a habit of managing life with his charm and a smile, he was laying it on the line for her. His offering touched her, even tempted her, but it would never be enough to satisfy the longing in her heart.
Lori kissed him gently, then ducked out the door into the hall, a much safer place to be than in the same room with naked Gray and his "maybe love."
She made it all the way to the front door before he caught her. She would have likely made it outside if she hadn't paused to grab her purse hanging off the coat tree. But a woman needed her keys, right? It wasn't that she was delaying to give him a chance to catch her.
And then he was there. Beside her. Naked and unrelenting. His hand fell to rest against the door.
"I'm leaving, Gray."
"Go ahead." His hand, pressed against the solid oak, defied her threat. He could keep her trapped inside, and they both knew it.
She'd run a year ago fully expecting him to follow, had even known she would likely cave to his conditional offerings in the end. But the past weeks had changed her, and she couldn't settle for less than all of him this time. She'd flat-out exhausted her ideas on how to win his unconditional love.
She couldn't spend the rest of her life cringing every time that caged look crept back into his eyes. Her love for him deserved a better end than that. She tried to tell herself remembering Grayson gloriously nude and smelling of peaches wasn't too shabby a swan song for their relationship.
"Let me go." Her eyes stung in spite of her best effort to make a dignified exit. "Please, Gray, just let me go."
He brushed away her tear and caressed it between two fingers.
His hand dropped from the door.
She stole one last look at him as he towered over her, moving neither toward or away. The message in his eyes was clear. Stay.
And the choice was hers. No choice really. "Please don't be here when I get back."
The door snapped shut behind her.
Gray stood in her entryway, the echo of the door mingling in his mind with a single word.
Stay.
Had he said it aloud? He'd meant to. The fact that he couldn't even speak the word said enough about why Lori needed to walk away.
His every instinct screamed, Bail out! Bail out! Bail out!
She didn't want him. He'd even offered her the ring she expected, and still she'd walked. He'd given her all he could. Just like when he'd been growing up trying to piece his family back together, it wasn't enough.
They should be in the car together on their way to pick up Magda. Instead he stood barebutt naked, smelling like some fruit farm.
Gray padded down the hall back to Lori's room, kicked aside the comforter and scooped up his clothes. What did he intend to do about the mess he'd made of their lives? Inaction wasn't even an option for him.
The way he saw it, he had two choices. Leave for Washington now. Tear up that house listing. Forget about her once and for all so she could find the love she needed.
That answer soured in his mouth.
Or he could track down Lori. He could fall on his sword and beg her to accept whatever he could give her. Even though he knew he would eventually break her beautiful heart.
Neither answer offered him much hope.
* * *
The next day Gray strode across the parking lot at his parents' condo. He wasn't sure what had drawn him there. He scratched his chest, freeing a fresh drift of peaches two showers hadn't been able to wash away. His room on base had been damned quiet, giving him too much time to think and offering up not even a single answer.
Nearing the front door, he saw his mom's car wasn't in its spot.