Diamonds Are Forever - Brooke St. James Page 0,46

things and check out.

We ended up taking a cab back to the Four Seasons. It wasn't a long walk, but we were tired and we had my luggage.

"It's tradition," he said when he pulled me close and kissed me in the elevator on the way up to our rooms. I smiled in between kisses for saying that, and he kissed me two or three more times before breaking contact.

I officially loved elevators.

Drew walked me to my room. He helped me in with my luggage, and I thanked him and told him I'd be extremely comfortable there. He kissed me again before he left. My heart felt full to overflowing at the way his mouth constantly found mine. He had kissed me so much during our little adventure to the other hotel, that it took a while for me to replay and remember all of the times it happened.

I went to bed late that night in spite of being exhausted. I was elated. I knew I had done the right thing by going to New York. But it wasn't about New York. It could have been anywhere. The right place was anywhere with Drew.

Chapter 17

Drew

Four months later

January

Winters were mild in Southeast Texas. There was some cold weather, but it very rarely snowed. Once or twice in Drew's childhood, there had been enough snow to gather into small balls and form into a miniature snowman, but there was never any significantly cold weather like there was up north.

Drew had been on vacations to ski resorts in Colorado and even Canada, so he had been in snow that was several feet deep, but that never happened in Texas—at least not down south where they lived.

Drew was thinking about colder weather as he stood outside, watching the kids on the campus of Mac's school. He had offered to pick Mac up because Lucy was out of town. She was in Los Angeles at a meeting with a cartoon studio.

When Lucy was in town, Drew got to see Mac all the time. But Mac had been spending the night with Lucy's parents, so Drew hadn't been able to see him as much in the last few days. He missed him. The plan was to pick Mac up from school and drop him off at the hardware store with Lucy's dad. Drew thought he might stop somewhere and get a snack or drink on the way.

Mac was in preschool, but he went to the elementary school, so there were older kids around. Drew had been standing there contemplating the weather as he waited for Mac. He was thinking about it because it was a gorgeous fifty-five degrees out. Drew had on a long-sleeve t-shirt and no jacket, and he felt fine. Yet these kids were in heavy winter coats and hats with mittens. A few rare ones were in shorts, but some were all bundled up like they were expecting a blizzard.

Drew saw Mac through a window. He smiled when he realized Mac was dressed the best out of all of them. He had on little jeans with a t-shirt and a light hoodie. He was wearing a backpack, too, which made him even cuter. Drew grinned at him, feeling proud as he watched the little man approach.

Mac was walking with a young woman. She wasn't his regular teacher, but Drew had seen her before. Drew was standing at the side of the entryway, and he moved closer to the door. He stayed back, hidden from the doorway so that he could surprise Mac when they came outside.

"…Mister Drew," the woman said.

Drew heard the teacher say his name as he was getting ready to come around the corner.

"He's my dad," Mac said, causing Drew to stop in his tracks.

"Your dad?" she said. "No. It's supposed to be Mister Drew Klein who's picking you up. Your mom's friend."

"Yep. That's Drew. He's my dad," Mac said.

Drew was taking some time off to study for the bar exam. In the last few months, he rarely even went back home to Houston. He had basically moved into the Galveston house so he could be near Lucy and Mac. They had spent a ton of time together lately, but they never had this conversation.

Mac always called him Mister Drew. He told Drew he loved his guts on a regular basis, but the D-word was never, ever brought up. He had never discussed it with Lucy or heard Mac ask about it.

Drew's heart raced. He didn't want to interrupt them while they