Page 122 of Guarding Over You
She came for him so easily, like she’d been waiting for this moment too. Her body fit against his, warm and certain, her heartbeat thudding against his chest. He cupped the back of her head, drew her mouth to his, and the kiss deepened from hunger to love.
The world outside fell away. The tension, the fear, the shadows of everything pressing in their lives... they disappeared under the steady pull between them. Every touch and every breath felt like a promise neither had dared to make until now.
It wasn’t about release. It wasn’t even about passion.
It was aboutbelonging.
Two people scarred in different ways, finally letting someone all the way in.
37
ONLY THE BEGINNING
“What’s for dinner, Mom?” Gracie asked three days later.
“I was thinking burgers,” Arden said. She had ground beef in the fridge still. That and pork chops, but her daughter wasn’t a huge fan of that.
She wasn’t in the mood for arguments. Not with the week she’d had.
“Fries too?”
“Yes, we can have fries.”
“Is Dr. Blaze coming tonight?”
He’d been there every night, but not once had Gracie seen him. Maybe tonight wouldn’t hurt.
“I can ask him,” she said. “He’s at work right now and you know he gets out later.”
“I want to see him,” Gracie said. “He’s your boyfriend. I want him to know that I know.”
She smiled. “He knows, but I’ll pass it along. You know, you can call him Blaze, not Dr. Blaze, like you were before.” Like her daughter had slipped a few times before her bike was stolen. Shehated to think they had to warm her back up again because there was a trauma in her life.
“But he’s a doctor.”
The smile was still tugging at her lips. “He is, but outside of the ER he’s just Blaze to me. He can be to you too.”
“Okay,” Gracie said. Should have said that before. Maybe she was just making more out of it.
She pulled into her garage, the new bike up against the wall where it now was taking up residence when not in use.
Gracie got over her sadness when her new bike was a little bigger. Not what she wanted to do, but she’d grow into it and all she wanted was to wipe out the memories of it being missing.
To her little girl, it was a thing of the past.
To her, it felt like only the beginning.
The dread driving to work. Waiting for security to come get her, which felt ridiculous though she knew it wasn’t.
All day looking over her shoulder, the visits to the ER to at least see Blaze once, even if it was at the end of her shift.
Playing it up, Maddy said.
Only it wasn’t play to her.
It was relief.
That he was there in front of her. A reminder of the strength she learned to lean on.
