Page 51 of Her Last Hope
“You’re trembling,” she whispered.
“My mother still scares me.” But that wasn’t what caused the fear swirling in his gut.
What if Leandra didn’t love him back?
They hadn’t talked of marriage or being together as a couple; although, every time they were together, they ended up in bed.
She could have stayed in one of the other guest rooms, but she didn’t say no to staying with him.
Or meeting his mother.
“Wonderful. Now I’m even more terrified.” Leandralet out a long sigh. “What time is she supposed to be here?”
“She’s already here.”
“What!” Leandra bolted upright. Her tank top shoulder strap fell down her arm. His boxers rolled down low over her hips.
“She got in yesterday, but since we got in so late, she was already asleep. I’m sure she’s down in the kitchen making food for everyone.”
“We’re eating brunch here?” Leandra slapped his arm. “You should have told me that. I thought I was meeting her at some public restaurant where she’d have to be nice to me.”
“You’re carrying her grandchild. She’s going to love you.”
“I wanted her to like me for me, not because you knocked me up.”
“Well, same went for your folks, but you shoved me under the bus.”
She leaned back in the bed, her shoulder rubbing against his. “That’s different.”
“I don’t see how.”
For a week now, he’d been trying to find the perfect moment to tell her he loved her and wanted to marry her, but every time a moment came, something like her parents, or his mother, ended up ruining that moment.
“What the fuck,” he muttered.
“Excuse me?”
He jumped from the bed and rifled through his rucksack until he found the little box. With tremblingfingers, he climbed back onto the bed, hiding the box behind his back.
“I’ve wanted to say this for a while now, but honestly, something gets in the way, or I’m just afraid.” He sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a long swish before looking her in the eye.
She smiled sweetly, her brown eyes melting his heart like a marshmallow over a campfire.
“I love you.” He braced himself for the ‘oh, well, I don’t feel the same way, just having fun, but we can co-parent’ rejection.
“I love you, too.” She cocked her head.
He blinked, shoving a finger in his ear, wondering if he still suffered from temporary hearing loss. “What?”
“Why are you acting so surprised? It’s not like we haven’t said that before.”
He coughed. “We’ve never said those words. I’d remember since I’ve been terrified for weeks that you’d tell me all our future would be was occasional screwing and co-parenting.”
“Oh, my God. We’ve never said we loved each other?”
He shook his head.
“But I’ve known for a while you love me. How could you not know? Don’t I show it?”
