Page 28 of Desired By Diesel
I set the grocery bags on the counter, and she turns to me with a smile that still hits me right in the chest.
"You get everything?"
"Everything on the list."
She starts unpacking — beans, tomatoes, peppers, onions. Then she stops. Pulls out the cereal box. Looks at it. Looks at me.
"What's this?"
I shrug. "Must've fallen in the cart."
"Fallen." She's fighting a smile now. "All by itself."
Amelia appears at my elbow, radiating innocence. "I have no idea how that happened."
Gracie looks between us — the seven-year-old con artist and the grown man she's got wrapped around her finger. Then she laughs and shakes her head.
"You two are a menace."
"But you love us," Amelia says.
"Yeah." Gracie ruffles her hair. "I do. Now go wash your hands and help Bella set the table."
Amelia bounces off, and I catch Gracie around the waist before she can turn back to the stove.
"Hey."
"Hey yourself." She leans into me, her back against my chest. "Thanks for the supplies."
"Thanks for feeding my brothers. Pretty sure they'd starve without you."
"They absolutely would. Have you seen what Ghost considers a meal? It's criminal."
I press a kiss to the side of her neck, and she hums softly, relaxing into me. Through the doorway, I can see the main room filling up — King and Demi in the corner, his arm slung over her shoulders. Rogue arguing with Lock about something. Bella and Josie helping Amelia with napkins while she chatters at them nonstop.
Family. All of it.
"Diesel?"
"Yeah?"
Gracie turns in my arms, looking up at me with an expression I can't quite read. Nervous, maybe. Excited.
"I need to tell you something."
My gut tightens. "Okay."
She takes my hand and presses it flat against her stomach. Low. Deliberate.
For a second, I don't understand. Then I do.
"Gracie."
"I found out last week." Her voice is barely a whisper. "I wanted to wait for the right moment, but?—"
I kiss her.
I don't know what else to do. My brain's short-circuiting, my chest is too full, and there aren't words for what I'm feeling. So I kiss her, deep and slow, until we're both breathless.
