Page 142 of Dancing in the Rain

He exchanged a pained glance with Peyton. Shit. “Come here.” He held out a hand to Chloe, and he and Peyton rearranged themselves beside each other on the couch.

Chloe stepped closer, took his hand, and sat next to him.

His two girls, on either side of him. For a moment he couldn’t speak, his chest so full of emotion. He swallowed. “Peyton and I made up,” he confirmed quietly. “We had an argument a while ago.”

“Over me.”

His throat constricted. “No,” he said firmly. “It wasn’t over you. We were both being stubborn and I was being stupid.”

“I was being kind of stupid, too,” Peyton said, and Chloe’s lips twitched.

“We both love you,” he continued. “And we both wanted what was best for you. The problem was, we didn’t want to admit what was best forus. So we’re going to be together from now on. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes.” The word came out of her in a rush. “Yes. I want you to be together.” Her eyes glistened with tears again. “And I want to be with both of you.”

“Oh, Chloe.” He pulled her in for a hug, feeling Peyton trembling beside him.

“We do love you, Chloe,” Peyton said, reaching out to rub Chloe’s back. “So much. Forever.”

“That’s all I wanted.” Chloe sobbed against Drew’s neck. “I just wanted us to all be together.”

“Is that why you stole that lip gloss, Chloe?” Peyton asked softly.

“Y-yes. I’m sorry! I’ll never do it again.”

“Damn right,” Drew muttered, but his heart contracted sharply. He caught Peyton’s eye and the expression of dismay on her face.

She touched her fingertips to her lips. “I’m sorry, Chloe. I’m so sorry.”

Fuck. Their obstinacy had caused pain for Chloe. That could not happen. He could tell Peyton felt the same.

“I just wanted you to be together,” Chloe sobbed again. “I know it was wrong. Then I was afraid I made things worse and you would both h-hate me.”

“No,” Peyton said quickly. “We could never hate you, Chloe. We don’t like what you did and there will be consequences to your actions. But we will always love you.”

“It’s all okay now,” Drew said. “It’s all okay.”

It wasn’tallokay. He knew that. Chloe had lost her mother. She’d been through major upheaval in her life. But she had the same strength her mother and her aunt had, and they’d get through this. It would be okay. He’d spend the rest of his life making sure she was okay.

“I don’t know if anyone’s hungry,” Peyton said, her voice a little quivery. “But it’s past dinnertime.”

Drew considered that. “I’m starving.”

Chloe sat up straight and reached for the box of tissues on the table behind the couch. She mopped her tears and runny nose and nodded. “I’m hungry, too.”

“I was getting things ready for dinner when you got home.” Peyton stood.

This all seemed mundane and anticlimactic after what had just occurred, but Drew stood, too, and followed the girls into the kitchen. He ached to hold Peyton, to be close to her; okay, yeah, he wanted to fuck her boneless. And he had so much more he needed to say to her, to make sure she knew how important to him she was.

But hopefully he had the rest of their lives to make sure she knew that.

Chapter 32

“Want you naked.”

Peyton smiled as she pulled off her clothes in her bedroom.

Chloe was in bed and asleep. They’d warned her that Drew would be sleeping over. She probably didn’t really want to know that, but he wanted to be open with her. He and Peyton were done sneaking around and having afternoon quickies. He was going to take his sweet time with her tonight, worshipping her body, showing her how much he loved her.

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