Page 121 of The Love Ambush
She sniffles and straightens. “Thank you, Levi. Thank you for helping us. I really appreciate it. And your family, too.”
“Not just us,” I say. “The whole town. Everyone loves you and your sisters and wants you to do well. With so many people helping to stop the sale of your house, inevitably the whole town heard about it. And so many people want to help. Kaley Reese, the owner of Flip-Flop gymnastics wants to offer Sophie a job teaching gymnastics to the little kids. Sophie will be paid a small wage, and she’ll get her classes for free.”
Gentry pulls away from me, gets up, and paces. “That’s really sweet, but is it too much? We can manage without charity and—”
I stand and face her, my hands on her shoulders. “Kaley wants to do it, Gentry. Just like Lazy Holiday wants to give Emily a fifteen percent discount on every book she buys and Henrietta wants to give Sophie a thirty percent discount on her prom dress when the time comes. And—”
Gentry drops her head in her hands. “Oh my god, this is exactly what I didn’t want. I don’t want everyone knowing about our situation.”
I pull her hands away from her face. “You live in a very supportive town full of people who love you. What can be wrong about that?”
She shrugs. “It just feels wrong. I don’t deserve it.”
I kiss her forehead. “You deserve the whole fucking world, baby. You’ve given so much of yourself to your sisters. You deserve to accept help from people who offer it. Because nobody wants to see y’all struggle. Nobody wants to watch as y’all drown while we do nothing. It makes people feel good to help, so let them.”
“How?” She looks genuinely bewildered. And adorable. God, I’ve missed her.
“By doing it for your sisters. Part of giving them the life they deserve is accepting help from your community.”
She nods. “Okay. I’ll try. It’s not going to be easy. Some mystery person’s been doing things around the house for months now, like raking leaves, and I hate that I don’t know who it is. I’m not sure I can handle the whole town helping us.”
I grin. “Oh, that was just me.”
She stares at me, mouth dropping open in shock. “That was you? But you were furious with me. And I was so mean to you.”
“Doesn’t mean I didn’t still care about you and want to help.”
She throws her arms around me and hugs me so tight. “I love you, Levi Sullivan. I love you so much.”
Her words catch me so entirely by surprise that the air leaves me and my knees go weak. I maneuver us until I’m sitting on the bed. She moves with me, her arms still tight around me, and straddles my lap.
I shift because I want to be looking in her eyes when I tell her how I feel, but she catches my mouth with her own, and it feels so good to kiss her that all thoughts go out of my head.
It’s been way too long since I’ve had this woman in my arms for me to want to do anything but get closer to her. I slide my hands under her shirt, feeling her warm skin against my palms, and she rocks against me, sending me from worried about her to rock hard and desperate to slide inside her in an instant.
“I want you,” Gentry breathes against my neck. “I want you so bad.”
“I want you too,” I say. “Gentry, I—”
She leaps off my lap like I’m radioactive. “But I have to stop kissing you, because if I keep kissing you, I’ll stay and I need to get home to the kids. I need to be there in case they wake up.”
I get up. “Does this mean you’ve forgiven me for not telling you about your dad being at the wedding?” It might seem obvious, but I need to hear her say it.
She tilts her head to the side with a tiny smirk. “Do you really think I make out with guys I’m still angry with?”
She’s teasing me, and I should probably let that be enough. But it’s not. “I need to be sure. I tried to keep you apprised of everything I was doing over the past week, but I did hold back. I don’t want you to realize later tonight or tomorrow that my behavior was unforgivable.”
“You explained your reasons for keeping information from me, and I understand, Levi. You were right to do it.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “I realized how much I love you when I was still mad at you, so I don’t think it’s a feeling I can just turn off if I get mad again.”
“I promise never to keep a secret like that from you again, Gentry. I want to be your partner. I want to have your back.”
“Okay,” she says. “As long as you let me have yours too.”
“Deal,” I say, finally letting the happiness of this moment in fully. “Will you let me go home with you tonight? I don’t want to let you go when I’ve just gotten you back.”
She chews on her bottom lip, her eyes still heated, but also sad. I want her in my arms tonight, and I’m willing to beg.
“I don’t know,” she says. “Is it setting a good example for my boyfriend to sleep over?”
