Page 61 of Love Restored
Blake nodded. “Yeah, she’s so freaking strong. Though she’s been sleeping in my bed, I think she’ll be okay in her own in a bit.” She bit her lip. “She’s been asking for you.”
“I know.”
Her head shot up. “What?”
Graham shrugged. “Jake told me she wanted me to read to her. Killed me that I couldn’t do it.”
She let out a shaky breath. “Killed me, too. And that’s how I knew I’d really stepped in it.”
Graham kissed her softly, his world finally settling after being off-kilter for far too long. “Marry me, Blake. Let me make you mine in truth. And Rowan, too. Be my family.” He paused. “I’m not replacing the family I lost. I want you to know that. But I want to make a new family with you. Can you do that? Can we do that?”
Blake threw her arms around his neck. “Yes! Yes, I’ll marry you, and oh my God, Rowan is going to be so happy. I mean, I’d have asked her first before I answered, but she’s been all about you since you left so I don’t think it’s going to be a problem.” She kissed his face, and he laughed with her, holding her close. “Graham, Blake, and Rowan Gallagher. I like the sound of that.”
Graham’s heart swelled to twice its size. “I fucking love the sound of that.”
Blake slid back down his body and landed on her feet. “Did you really come here to get a piercing, by the way? Or was it just to get me alone? Because I’ll totally pierce your nipples right now. They’d be so hot pierced.”
Graham chuckled. “Yeah, actually, I think that sounds perfect.” He pulled a box out of his pocket. “Fitting since I have a ring for you here. You can give me a ring or two for my nipples. Or maybe a barbell, but that kind of ruins the symbolism.”
Blake froze. “You…you have a ring.”
Graham rolled his eyes and went to one knee. “Of course, I have a ring. You already said yes so you can’t take that back.”
“He’s so romantic,” Maya said dryly from behind them.
“Fuck off, Maya,” he growled.
“You ever realize how many people you tell to fuck off in that growly tone?” Derek asked innocently.
Graham ignored the fight behind him and stared into the eyes of the one woman for him. “What do you say, babe, will you wear my ring?”
Blake bit into her lip. “Hell, yeah. And I can’t wait for you to wear mine.”
He slid the solitaire on her finger and crushed his mouth to hers. He had his woman, his life, his everything.
Graham never thought he’d end up in a new life with a new family. He honestly thought he’d die the same way he’d been living—alone yet content. Working with his hands and half his heart. Then Blake had sauntered into his life and onto his jobsite. He should have known from the second time he’d seen her with his brother’s dick in one hand and a needle in the other that he’d fall in love with her, but sometimes, it took a little more than that for him to get it.
She had restored the faith he had in life and the idea of a future. He’d built the foundations long ago, though he had been afraid they’d cracked when he’d lost his purpose. But she’d restored who he was and would help him build a new life.
“I love you,” he whispered.
She ran a hand through his beard. “I love you, too. Now get on the table and take your shirt off. This will only hurt a bit.”
He laughed but did as she asked. “You’re the only woman I trust with a needle and barbell in her hand anywhere near me. Just saying.”
Blake smiled and patted his beard again. “Aw, you really do love me.”
He reached around her and gripped her ass. “Yeah, I do. Now pierce me so we can go home and fuck.”
She batted her eyelashes. “Aw, baby, you say the sweetest things.”
Graham smiled and watched as she worked. He wasn’t the most eloquent of men, but he knew she understood him and his meanings better than anyone.
He’d found his Blake, his family, his future. And with each new day, he couldn’t wait to see where this woman took him next.
