Page 43 of Silver Secrets

“I was cold this morning. I hope it’s okay.”

“You can borrow my clothes anytime you want, Red. They look better on you than they do on me, anyway.”

He loved the way her cheeks turned the same color as the tomato he was dicing.

“What happened to the pictures that were right here?”

“Oh, I, uh…”

“You put them away?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I dumped a lot on you last night. Too much. I didn’t know if you would feel okay waking up and seeing them around this morning.”

She padded over to him, taking his face in her hands. Even through everything the night before, Gage paid attention to each time she touched him. The most he had dared hoped for was to simply hold her hand. But she’d run her fingers through his hair, squeezed his arm, wiped away his tears. After she went to bed, he’d stayed up worried that she wouldn’t be able to stand his touch, or ever try to initiate touch with him again. But there she was, staring into his eyes just a few inches away from him with her warm hands framing his face.

“Gage, did you not listen to me? They are your family. Not were.They are. And if we’re going to try moving forward together, as something more than friends, then you need to know that I am comfortable having their pictures around. I love it, in fact. I know I’m not competing with them. Like I said last night, I want to be part of the family who helps keep their memories alive. I want to say their names. I want you to know it’s okay to talk about them to me. To feel safe to share your memories of them. I will always want to hear them. I will always want to remember them.”

“We’re going to move forward? As more than friends?”

Her hands dropped away from his face, a shy smile tilting the corners of her mouth.

“I’d really like to.”

He nodded, mentally jumping up and down. “Me too. I’d really like that.”

“Besides, I was promised the best ribs in the world and a slice of twenty layer chocolate cake.” She held up her braced hand and waved it back and forth. “I kind of need a ride there and back now. Having a boyfriend to take me would make that quite convenient.”

He laughed, ready to reply when a loud bang from the hallway completely derailed his train of thought. His gaze whipped towards the door. “What the hell was that?”

“What time is it?” Sloane asked as she looked down at her phone. “Oh, that’s probably just Emma.”

Emma? What the hell had he missed? Not that he minded her dropping by, but he knew Sloane was going to argue about seeing clients later that day, and he wanted to make sure she knew she needed to rest. “What’s she doing here?”

“I asked her to come.”

“Oh. Didn’t know morning girl time was a thing.”

“Girl time can happen wherever, whenever we want it to.” Sloane walked to the door, standing on her tiptoes before looking out the peephole. It gave him a chance to take her in again, and damn if his heart didn’t jump into overdrive. “You should probably know that if we’re moving forward with things. And I was right.” She smiled as she opened the door, Emma standing on the other side with both hands full of coffees and pastries.

“Good morning!”

“Em, you didn’t have to bring anything. Gage is making breakfast.”

“I know, I know, but I was at the bakery and everyone can use a little caffeine and sugar in the morning. Pastries pair well with protein, which I’m sure is what Mr. Navy SEAL over there was working on. Seb goes on and on about not just having sweets in the morning. Boring! Jesus, Sloane. You look like hell. What happened?”

Gage’s mouth dropped open. “Emma,” he growled, but Sloane just smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I might have forgotten to mention I was in a little car accident last night.”

Emma set the pastries and coffee down on the table in his living room.

“Ouch. Are you okay?”

Gage cleared his throat. “I’ll take my eggs to go and leave you ladies to it. Gotta get down to the office anyway.”

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