Page 48 of Seven of Hearts

She was quiet, and I wondered how long she was planning to keep up the charade.

I didn’t mind. I loved holding her like this, snuggled under the covers. Leah had laid in my arms all night long. Sometime right before dawn, she had rolled over and buried herself in my chest.

The feeling of her small bump pressed against my stomach was something I had never thought about experiencing. But now that I had, I couldn’t think of anywhere else I wanted to be.

Now we were chest to back, with my hand covering her bump.

Leah huffed. “I really have to pee. But I’m too comfortable to get up.”

I chuckled. “Can’t help you there, honeybee. But I can make you something to eat while you get up.”

She threw the covers back and eased out of bed. “You didn’t have to stay last night, and you don’t have to make me breakfast. I never eat breakfast anyway.”

I stretched out on my back and laced my hands together behind my head as I watched her. Somewhere right before midnight, she had slipped out of bed to brush her teeth, and I had lost my jeans and shirt, opting to sleep in my boxers.

Watching Leah strip out of her pajamas and wiggle into a pair of leggings was something else, and it made me wish I was still in my jeans. Morning wood wasn’t easy to hide.

She was so fucking hot.

If the voice note recording of the two of us having sex had been a cassette, I would have ruined the tape from how much I had listened to it.

Leah paused, wearing only leggings and a bra. She clutched an oversized sweatshirt to her chest. “Why are you staring at me?”

“You just started changing in front of me.”

“Yeah. Who cares? But you’re staring.”

“You wanna know why I’m staring?” I eased out of bed, thankful when my erection didn’t completely tent my boxers. I pulled my jeans on, but didn’t bother zipping them or buckling my belt. “Because it doesn’t matter if I’m drunk off my ass or sober as a judge. You are, hands-down, the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen.”

She rolled her eyes, and I wasn’t having that.

“I’m serious, Leah. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since that night we spent together. Not once.” I slid my hand across her belly and up her waist. “I haven’t stopped wanting you.”

Leah pushed away from me, yanking the sweatshirt over her head. “So that’s what this is about? You’re sticking around town to see if you can get laid since I’m not seeing anyone else? Great. Thank you for making your intentions abundantly clear.”

That’s what she thought I wanted?

“Leah, stop,” I said as she stormed through her apartment and ripped the front door open.

“You can go now,” she snapped. “I don’t want the ‘boyfriend treatment’ because you feel guilty. I certainly don’t want it simply because you want to stick your dick in something other than your hand.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said as I hurried to fasten my belt. I was still shirtless and would have to walk-of-shame it back to my sister’s house if Leah didn’t give me a chance to explain.

“No,” she said with a firmness I’d never heard her use before. “I’m not going to accept half-assed actions and guilty effort. If you feel guilty because I’m in this situation, then you’re forgiven. But I’m not going to have my heart dragged around because you’re sitting on the fence. So, stay in Beaufort or go back to Chicago. I really don’t care. We can figure out the co-parenting thing when it’s time. But I will not be led on. Either you’re all in with me, or you’re not. There’s no middle ground.”

She was giving me an out. A clever man would have taken it. But there was a difference between being a clever man and being a wise one.

My dad was a clever man, and it had landed him in prison.

But the man I credited with raising me was wise. And that made all the difference.

“I’m in, Leah.” I grabbed the seven of hearts playing card that was still sitting on her kitchen counter with the message I had scribbled on it. “I promised you I would do better. Let me prove it to you. I can’t promise I’m going to be great at this, but I’m going to be better than my parents were.”

That gave her pause. For a split second, I had hope. But Leah just shook her head. “Jumping into a relationship just because we fucked around and found out is a colossally stupid idea. There’s no way this ends other than the three of us getting hurt.”

“I’m not saying we should date. I don’t think it’s best for us right now.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Then why are we even having this conversation?”

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