Page 86 of Grim

I was struggling to contain my emotions.

I was overflowing with love and appreciation when Luna rushed over to Lawson and wrapped her arms around his legs, hugging him as she shouted, “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome, kiddo.”

“Damn.” Skid stepped up beside us. “You went all out.”

“Yeah, well, they couldn’t just keep sharing that old room if they’re gonna be living here for the long haul.”

“Whoa. Long haul?” I turned to Lawson with a gasp. “You’re asking us to live with you for real? Like a permanent thing?”

“I wasn’t exactly asking.” He cocked his brow. “I was more telling.”

“Oh, is that right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” He slipped his arms around my waist. “You got a problem with that?”

“Nope. No problem at all.”

I slipped my arms around his neck and eased up on my tiptoes as I pressed my lips to his. His arms tightened around my waist, quickly pulling me closer as he took over the kiss. There was no denying it. I was in love with him, and with each moment I’d spent with him, I’d found myself loving him even more. People would probably think I was crazy for falling for a man like Lawson, especially when I had a young daughter.

But she was one of the many reasons why I loved him the way I did.

He put everything at stake to save her.

I may never know why he’d chosen to do the things he’d done, but the fact remained that he knew. He knew that lives were at stake—Luna’s, mine, his brothers’, and his own, but that didn’t stop him. He did what it took to get her back.

And the truth be known, his life would always be filled with danger, and I would have to learn to accept that. I would have to learn to live with the worry. It was worth it to have him in our lives. I eased back from our embrace just long enough to whisper, “I love you.”

He stared at me for a moment, and emotion filled his eyes as my words started to sink in. I could see the wheels turning in his head, but I had no idea what he was thinking. I started thinking I shouldn’t have said it, that maybe it was too soon, so I started babbling, “I know it’s a lot, and it’s okay if you don’t feel the same. I just...”

“I love you, too, Jenna.” He motioned his head towards Luna. “I love you both.”

“And you’re sure about all this? The moving into together? The having a kid around? It’s a lot.”

“I wouldn’t have done this if I wasn’t.”

It was fast, probably too fast, but everything I wanted was in that room, and there was no way I was giving up a chance to keep it. This was one dream I was going to let myself have, and no one was going to take it from me.

No one.

Grim

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

“I don’t know what to tell ya. It just slipped my mind.”

“How does getting shot just slip your mind?”

“We had other stuff going on.”

“I don’t care what’s going on. You tell me when you get shot.” Jenna’s face twisted into a worried frown as she checked my wound and said, “You need stitches.”

“I’m fine,” I assured her.

“You’re not fine. Doc needs to look at it and...”

“You’re looking at it. Don’t need Doc.”

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