Page 44 of Merry with Me

Blakely rolls over in my arms and rests her hand on my cheek. “I like this,” she says, running her fingers over my stubble.

That’s… not the response I was expecting. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t her ignoring what I just told her.

“I was home alone yesterday, so I didn’t shave.”

“I like seeing you this way. Not so poised and put together.” She lifts that same hand and runs her fingers through my hair. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“That’s true, but my heart still hurts for you and for how you were treated.” Her hand moves back to my cheek, and her eyes lock onto mine. “Thank you for trusting me with your story.”

“I needed you to know.” I push her hair back out of her eyes. “I can’t give you that life, Blake. I’m just not cut out for it. She broke me.Theybroke me.”

“I never asked you to.”

“I know, but I enjoy spending time with you. You’re all I’ve been able to think about since that first meeting, and having you here, in my home, in my arms… I like it a whole hell of a lot, Blakely Kincaid.”

“That’s why you didn’t wake me up last night,” she teases.

I crack a smile. “Guilty.” I have zero regrets.

“So, what now? You want to date? Spend time together? What’s going on in that big old head of yours, Dr. Thompson?”

“I don’t date. I mean, I haven’t since Hannah. No dates. No kisses. No intimacy at all.” I watch her eyes as my words sink in.

“You want all of that with me?”

“Yes.” I don’t have to think about my answer. “But this can’t go anywhere. It will be two consenting adults spending time together, doing… whatever we please, and when that time is over, it’s over.”

“So, you want a fling?”

It sounds incorrect in relation to her, but she’s not wrong. I wish I could get a read on her, but her face is neutral as she waitsfor me to answer. “I guess, but can we just call it… us? Can we just be us?”

“Can I add something to this… agreement?”

“What?”

“You have to let me help you see that it’s not Christmas’s fault. You can’t let Hannah and Josh take away the joy of a holiday. They’re nothing to you, to me, to us. You have to let me show you that you can love the holidays again.”

“They’re married.”

“What?” I can hear the outrage in her voice.

“Yeah, she ended up pregnant, and they’re married.”

“Are they happily married?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care.”

“Good answer.” She grins at me. “If you ask me, you dodged a bullet. Cheating is a hard limit. There’s no reason for it. You can break up, sure; that’s hard and full of emotions, but if you want to stray, that’s your sign that the relationship isn’t working.”

“I agree with you. Hannah tried to say it was because I was always at the hospital.”

“You were in your residency!” Blakely exclaims, and it makes me smile. “What’s that smile for? How could she blame this on you?” She’s raging mad on my behalf, and my hardened heart softens just a smidge for her.Becauseof her.

“I was home most every night. There were some late-night and overnight shifts, but for the most part, I saw her every day. We shared meals and slept in the same bed. It was an excuse. She knew it, I knew it, and Josh knew it. Hell, even our parents knew it.”

“Are your parents still friends with hers? Oh, and his? Wait, are they still neighbors?” she fires off questions.

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