He gave another tug on her hand until his girl was close enough to let her hand go so he could wrap his arms around her.
“And I am,” she declared. “I am a girl.”
“Thank Christ,” Garrett muttered, feeling one side of his mouth hitch up.
She lifted her chin.
“I’m also a girl who’s moving into your house. Invite or not. Crappy bathrooms or not. We can use my furniture, which is comfortable, even if half of it’s from a garage sale. If you say no, we’re moving in with Mom. But no way am I makin’ my kid egg goo in a kitchen where Ryker nearly bled out on the floor.”
“Babe, have you been anywhere outside my bed, my house, or my sight unless you’re at work for the last three days?”
“No.”
“You think I’m gonna let you make dude food in a kitchen where Ryker nearly bled out on the floor?”
Her lips started curving up. “No.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Why?” she asked back.
“Why wouldn’t I do that?”
It didn’t take long for the answer to come to her.
When it did, she melted into him.
“You take care of me,” she said softly.
“Yeah. And Ethan. So yeah. Ask for time off. We’ll pack up all Janis Joplin’s shit that lunatic didn’t smash and move it to my place. But first, tonight, we’re putting fuckin’ pink ornaments on our first Christmas tree.”
She drifted her hand from his chest up to curl around his neck and rolled up on her toes.
She did this, staring into his eyes.
“Thanks for shooting a man in the face for me,” she whispered, her brown eyes dancing.
It hurt a fuckuva lot, but seeing as they were in a hospital corridor, Garrett managed to force his roar of laughter down to just a chuckle.
“You’re welcome, Cherie.”
“I love you, Garrett Merrick,” she told him.
“I know you do and I love you too, but just to repeat during this gooey moment where you might think you can get in there, Ryan is not recuperating in our guest room.”
The warmth in her brown eyes turned partially flinty at the ongoing argument they were having about her friend who was recovering in a hospital in Indy.
He’d lost a lot of blood.
He’d taken shots to worse parts of his body.
And he’d been left longer.
He’d also been taken off the critical list that morning.
“His mother is a ball-breaker,” Cher told him.
“So are you.”
He had her there. It was written all over her.
It took her a few beats, but she finally found her comeback.
“She’s not the good kind.”
And she had him there.
He tried a different tack. “Babe, I don’t have a bed in either guest room.”
“You will if we use my old one.”
Fuck.
She had him again.
“Right. I don’t want a geek genius in our house, playing video games with Ethan, possibly teaching him geek-genius stuff, which would not be bad, but also teaching him Ryan-stupid shit, which would absolutely not be good.”
“Hmm…” she murmured.
It was a good call to pull the Ethan card. She wanted Ryan to teach her son to be stupid less than Garrett did.
So he dodged the bullet.
This, and looking forward to store-bought-but-home-baked Christmas cookies and pink ornaments, made him pull her even closer.
“It happens,” he replied.
“What happens?” she asked.
He dipped closer and held her tighter.
“It happens,” he repeated. “For people like us, baby. It happens, eventually. Just as long as we hold on.”
She liked that. She showed it with her pretty brown eyes. She showed it by pressing closer. She showed it by wrapping both arms around his neck.
Finally, she showed it by rolling up further and taking his mouth.
And he liked that.
So he showed her too.
While she was taking his, he took hers.
And with that—as they did and as they’d continue to do—together, Cher Rivers and Garrett Merrick successfully weathered yet another storm.
Epilogue
Such a Girl
Feb
May
Hold On
Kristen Ashley's books
- Holding the Dream
- Dance Upon the Air
- High Noon
- Moon Island(Vampire Destiny Book 7)
- Illusion(The Vampire Destiny Book 2)
- Upon A Midnight Clear
- Son Of The Morning
- MacKenzie's mission(MacKenzie Family Saga #2)
- Loving Evangeline(Patterson-Cannon Family series #1)
- A Billionaire's Redemption
- A Convenient Proposal
- A Dishonorable Knight
- A Headstrong Woman
- A Passion for Pleasure
- Atonement
- Beyond a Doubt
- Beyond Control
- Cavanaugh on Duty
- Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds)
- Conceal, Protect
- Conflict of Interest
- Confessing to the Cowboy
- Dreams Don't Wait
- Explosive Attraction
- Find Wonder in All Things
- Forbidden Fires (Bondage & Breakfast)
- Galveston Between Wind and Water
- Game On
- Gone with the Wolf
- Honor's Players
- Illusions of Love
- Intaglio Dragons All The Way Down
- Just One Song
- Living London
- Lone Wolf (Shifters Unbound)
- Love Resolution
- Lyon's Crew
- Mountain Moonlight
- Need A Want Companion Novel
- Of One Heart
- Once a Bad Girl
- Once a Thief
- Once Again a Bride
- Once and Again
- Once Touched, Never Forgotten
- Once Upon a Kiss
- Once Upon a Prince
- One Desert Night
- One More Kiss
- One More Sleepless Night
- One Night of Misbehavior
- One Night Standoff
- One Texas Night
- Only Love (The Atonement Series)
- Operation Endurance
- Primal Bonds
- Questions of Trust A Medical Romance
- Reflection Point
- Retribution
- Savage Redemption
- Second Chance
- Secure Location
- Someone I Used to Know
- Son of a Preacher Man
- Soul Bonded
- Sunset Seduction
- Sweet as Honey (The Seven Sisters)
- Sweet On You
- Tempting Cameron
- That Carrington Magic
- The Bridgertons Happily Ever After
- The Demon's Song
- The Dragon and the Pearl
- The Lone Rancher
- The Millionaire Cowboy's Secret
- Translation of Love
- Twisted Perfection
- Vision In White
- When Love's Gone Country
- The Lost Tycoon
- Down on Her Knees
- Love, Your Concierge
- A Demon Made Me Do It
- Campbell_Book One
- The Lady of Bolton Hill
- Born to Ride_A Clubhouse Collection
- A Question of Honor
- Blood on Copperhead Trail
- Passion and the Prince
- Top Secret Twenty-One
- Dungeon Royale
- Make Me Bad(Private Lessons)
- My Fair Billionaire
- Writing Our Song:A Billionaire Romance
- Kissed by Moonlight
- Redemption in Love
- The Masterful Mr. Montague
- Diamonds are Forever
- Every Second with You
- If You Only Knew