Page 42 of My Silver Fox Savior

He laughs. It feels so normal and effortless despite everything—so natural. It’s almost like we were destined to be together. I stop the thought before it can finish as if it will make any of this more manageable.

“I’m not much of a cook, but for you, I’ll try.” He stands up. “I’ll check what we’ve got.”

Once he leaves the room, I try to convince myself to get the heck out of there.“I’ve done my part,”I try to reason with myself. Ididn’t have to tell him what Grace told me. He knows now and says he has a plan, but I don’t want to leave even if I should. Even though Mom will be pissed, and the nerves twist through me at the idea of going all the way with him.

Nobody will see us together. My job can’t end because of ameal.

When he returns, he’s got this almost boyish look on his face. I think it’s just the excitement of me saying I’d hang around for a while. It makes me grin and fills me with much more positive emotion than should be possible between us, considering everything.

“Pizza, okay?”

I laugh. “Pizza sounds perfect.”

“I don’t use this room much,” he says when he sees me looking around his dining room at the tall ceiling and its sheer space.

“It’s perfect for dates …”

He shakes his head. “I meant what I said. I haven’t dated in years.”

“Even then,” I murmur, remembering a shimmer dancing over me. “It wasn’t like with us …”

“Exactly,” he growls.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask what you meant by that.”

“You shouldn’t be asking now if this is strictly business.”

“I am anyway,” I say, then take a bite of my pepperoni pizza so I don’t keep going.Do you feel the same as me? This crazy mixture of everything being new, exciting, dangerous, yet oh-so-natural?

“Natural,” he says, like he’s reading my thoughts. “That’s how it’s felt, being with you, but your mother is right. It hasn’t been long.”

“Is that all she’s right about?”

“I wasn’t lying about the health stuff,” he shrugs. “That’s life; it is what it is.”

“But …” I almost chicken out but force myself to continue. “What do you want with me, then? I guess Mom had a point there.”

“I want you,” he says fiercely. “I can’t put a label or a trajectory on it. It’s probably damn unfair of me to even tell you this. Maybe your mom’s right. Maybe I mean too much for you to think clearly?—”

“I can make my own decisions,” I snap.

“Either way,” he remarks, “it makes no sense for me to tell you this. You’re just so damn beautiful, so kind, so intelligent, so sassy, so determined, so impressive.”

My body floods with so many warm emotions that it makes me suspicious.

“You think I’m love-bombing you,” he says, looking closely at me.

“It’s that obvious?”

“It makes sense. I met your father, remember? I know what he was like. What sort of man he was. I’m not, by the way. I’d neverdo that to you. I said all that because it’s the truth. Youarean amazing person, whether or not you like me saying it.”

“I never knew my dad, not really,” I murmur, changing the subject. “I saw him hurt Mom sometimes if he was drunk. You saw the bruises.”

The mood darkens immediately. He clenches his fist, trembling. “Yeah, I did, and that’s why I pushed for you to stay with your mom. It was pretty damn obvious who was in the wrong there.”

“That wasn’t often.”

“Either way, it was evil,” he growls. “What happened to him?”

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