“What are you thinkin’ about over there, sunshine?” he murmured, his rich, gravelly voice sending shivers through me.
“I’m not thinking about a whole lot of anything at the moment. I think you might have broken my brain.”
My whole body shook against his when he let loose a low chuckle and I felt my cheeks pinch as I smiled big and turned to nuzzle my nose into his chest. “Glad to know I’m up to snuff.”
“Oh bunny, you’re more than up to snuff,” I said, lifting my head with that goofy grin still in place.
“You know, I wasn’t sure we’d ever get back to this. I’d hoped, fuck I prayed for it, but I knew it was a long shot. Now that I got you back, surprises the shit outta me to say this, but I missed the hell outta bunny.”
It was my turn to laugh as I snuggled even deeper against him, propping my chin on my hands. “I’m really happy right now,” I admitted softly. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”
He sifted his fingers into my hair, dragging from my scalp all the way to the ends. “I think I might have some idea, sunshine.” I let out a dreamy sigh and dropped my head back onto his shoulder, feeling lighter than I had in years. “Glad you’re happy baby, and last thing I wanna do is take anything away from that. I’ve been waiting for this for what feels like an eternity, but there’s still some stuff we really need to talk about. First and foremost, how did you find out about the bar fight?”
Until that moment I’d forgotten all about my run-in with that horrible woman. The past few hours had been so amazing, it felt like that confrontation had happened a lifetime ago. It was a massive bummer that I was going to have to put a pin in the little bubble of happy we’d been floating in all night, but my aunt’s words from earlier popped into my head just then, and I decided right then and there I was done waiting for the other shoe to drop. Jensen and I were going to build something solid, and I was done letting his parents ruin our future.
Letting out a sigh, I wrapped my arm around his chiseled stomach and squeezed. “Okay, so, before I tell you, I need you to promise me you’re gonna keep your cool.”
His body went still beneath me. “Why do I get the feeling this is about to take a turn?”
I pulled my lips between my teeth and bit down as I sat up, twisting around so I was facing him while holding the sheet up over my naked chest like a shield. “I was at the grocery store with Brantley this morning, and, well . . . your mother was there.”
At those words, he pushed up to sitting, bracing himself against the headboard. I tried not to get distracted by all that naked, tanned flesh stretched tantalizingly over all the ridges that had been created by the muscles in his pecs, abs and arms. Man, his body was insane!
“What? That doesn’t make sense. She wouldn’t be caught dead doing something like shopping for her own groceries.”
“I don’t think she was there to stock up her pantry, Jensen. I think . . . I think she was following me.”
He went completely rock solid. Silence enveloped the room as the air shifted. The chill suddenly coming off Jensen made the whole room feel like it had gone ten degrees cooler, and when he spoke next, the quiet fury and malice dripping from his rumbled words sent a shiver down my spine. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“I wish I was. She made an approach in one of the aisles, tried to tell Brantley she was his grandmother. I shut her down really fast, but she insisted she needed to speak with me, even grabbed my arm when I tried to walk away. I said some words and she backed off, but she cornered me a while later while I was loading my groceries in the car.” He looked like he was a second from exploding, so I hurried to get the rest of it out before all hell broke loose. “She was really desperate, Jensen. She confronted me because she was hoping I’d talk you out of trying to get that money back your father stole. She thought I’d feel sorry for her if she told me that they were gonna lose everything.
“Obviously, that didn’t work. That’s when she told me the real reason you left was because you nearly killed someone. She tried to get in my head, telling me you were dangerous, that you were gonna hurt me and Brant.”
“I would fuckin’ never—” he started on a growl, but I silenced him by straddling his thighs and taking his face in my hands.
“I know,” I insisted with a passionate whisper. “Jens, I know you. I know who you are in here.” I pressed my palm firmly to his chest above his heart. “I’ve never once worried that you’d lose control and hurt me or our son, not for a single second. That was her playing games, trying to get in my head so she could get what she wanted. It didn’t work.”
“Did she get anywhere near Brant? Say anything to him?”
“No.” I shook my head vigorously. “I didn’t give her the chance. I wasn’t about to let that happen. But, honey . . . she did freak him out pretty bad.”
He let out a long, steady breath, getting hold of his rage and letting it go. Letting out a weary sigh, he scrubbed at his face and groaned before dropping his head back and closing his eyes. “Christ, I can’t fuckin’ believe this. They just don’t quit. Every time I think I’m done with them once and for all, they come in and take a giant fucking sledgehammer to anything good in my life.”
“Hey, look at me.” Those stormy grays hit me and, in spite of the cloud swirling inside of them, when I looked at him just then, I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be. “We’re done letting them have any effect on our lives, okay? They can’t take a sledgehammer to anything because, from here on out, we aren’t going to let them. That’s done. They can play all the mind games they want, but for us, for our family, they don’t exist, okay?”
“You know it’s not that easy, baby.”
“But it is,” I insisted, scooting up on his lap and wrapping my arms around his neck. “It is that easy, bunny, ’cause they’re nothing to us. And when a person is nothing, they don’t have any control, they can’t hurt you anymore. From here on out it’s me, you, and Brant. That’s it. If we concentrate on that, nothing can touch us.”
Those clouds began to part, and a light I’d never seen before, even when we were at our best, came shining through. “Nothing can touch us.”
I slid my fingers into his hair, tangling them in the soft, silky strands. That’s right, baby. From here on out, it’s nothing but good. Even if we’re fighting because you’ve done something incredibly stupid that pisses me off, it’ll still be good.”
He hit me with that cocky smirk that made me fall in love with him. “And if you do something stupid that pisses me off?”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Pfft. Like that’ll ever happen. I’m freaking perfect.”
Just then, he grabbed my hips and rolled quickly, taking me to my back. “That you are, sunshine,” he said tenderly, looking into my eyes with so much love it made my throat grow tight. I lost his gaze a second later, but only because he lowered his head and gave me a slow, thorough kiss that made my toes curl and every nerve ending in my body spark to life. “Want you again, baby,” he said gruffly once he pulled back. “But to make that happen, I need to rehydrate.”