Tempting Grace (Vaughn)

No one was more surprised than he when she stood and sat on the couch. Their bodies weren’t touching, but it was progress. If he moved an inch he’d be able to feel her curves.

He really wanted to move an inch.

“Touch me and you’ll be icing your crotch for a week.”

The woman was psychic. And scary. “You warned me,” he pointed out. “I must be growing on you.”

She laughed, and Jackson felt triumphant. She rarely laughed. Snarled, cursed under her breath, but rarely laughed around him. A man could grow to enjoy Gracie’s laughter. “So, tell me about the wreck. Merrick said it was pretty bad.”

“It was the day before Christmas Eve. I was driving home from my sister’s house. She’d been having a dinner party for some friends. It had snowed a lot that day. The roads were a mess. I should have stayed at my sister’s place, but I’d promised to work the next day.”

Since the day they’d met, he knew one truth, Grace was nothing if not loyal to her word. “Where’d you work?”

“At a grocery store. I needed the money for textbooks. I was a freshman in college at the time.” She paused. “I thought the truck driver was just being annoying. I didn’t know he’d been drinking. He swerved, I braked. Next thing I know I’m waking up in the hospital with broken bones and a headache.”

“Damn.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I was out for two days. Totally missed Christmas.”

He sensed she was glossing over the worst of it. “What else, Grace?”

When she turned her head and their gazes met. “What do you mean?”

He put his arm around the back of the couch, careful not to touch her. “You’re not telling me everything. What else happened?”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Then tell me,” he prompted. He wouldn’t let her hide from him, though she seemed to be really good at doing exactly that most days.

She smoothed a hand over her forehead and said, “Fine. The steering wheel pushed into my abdomen. The trauma caused some damage to my uterus. It’s not that I can’t have kids, but I’m high risk for miscarriages.”

He suddenly pictured Grace pregnant. She’d be beautiful. A woman like her would want kids, he thought. He could already picture her teaching a little blonde haired imp how to play chess and basketball and all the other games Grace excelled at. He thought of what she’d said about the steering wheel and frowned. “No air bags?”

“The car was old, it didn’t come equipped.”

He cupped her chin and stroked her jaw. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

She sat up straighter and moved away, forcing him to drop his hand. “I’m lucky to be alive.”

“But it bothers you, doesn’t it? You want kids.”

“Yeah, it bothers me. I would’ve liked being a mom.”

“You still can though, right? The option wasn’t taken from you completely.”

She nodded and started picking at some invisible spot on her black slacks. “The option is there, but with the scare of miscarriage hanging over my head,” she shrugged, “I don’t know. It seems like the odds are stacked against me.”

“With a good doctor, the right attitude and a little faith, a lot can happen.”

She smiled, and it warmed his heart. “Thanks for saying that.”

He winked and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. “You’re too stubborn to let percentages keep you from having what you want. Even I know that much.”

“Thanks…I think,” she said.

He leaned toward her, noting the way her lips parted and her breathing increased. “You know what I think, Gracie?”

“W-What?”