The word was like magic.

“Your folks don’t know you are here?”

Willow shook her head. “They should know by now that I’ve left. I know they’d try to coerce me into a decision that worked best for them if they knew any more.”

He worked his hands down her back. “I bet. You’ve been being sick like that a lot?”

“Yeah. And long haul flying and stress. None of it helps.”

She pressed her cheek to Luke’s chest, and he kissed the top of her head, chastely, almost sisterly. “It’s a head fuck, Will.”

There was a hint of levity to his comment. His hug reassured her it was in jest. But it still hurt.

“Right,” he said. “Give me a minute to change the sheets in the spare room, and we’ll get you sorted.”

He led her from the bathroom, from the intimacy of their conversation and her hope of convincing him she needed his help if she was going to salvage any of the threads of her life that would allow her to break free of her dad.

He owed it to her.

Tomorrow was a new day, and she’d get him on board.

A small part of her, the part that had felt secure in his arms, wished he’d invited her to sleep in his bed. One where he could hold her and chase away the shivers she got when she woke up panicked, fearing that she wasn’t capable of being a single mom.

But as she watched him make space for her in the spare room, she hoped he’d make room for their child in his heart.

Even if there was no room for her.