Falling Fast (Falling Fast #1) - Tina Wainscott Page 0,64
about that.”
“You should be. Having a baby might mean getting a donor egg, going through in vitro. Or we’d have to adopt. Yes, I’ve thought about this, too. It’s always been the cloud hanging over my future, but it’s never mattered as much as it does now.”
He kissed her, soft and sweet. “We’ll handle it, babe. As you said, we’ll deal, whatever happens.”
She wanted to cry at his easy acceptance of something she’d always seen as huge. “You’re sure?”
“I’ve never lied to you. But you’re forgetting one—actually, two—important things.”
“My parents.” She had forgotten about them, at least in the moment. “I’ll deal with them, too. I would never give you up just to keep peace.”
“But, as you pointed out, family is important. And they don’t just think I’m not good enough for you; they hate me. I will forever be the reason you suffered so much. They suffered, too. I don’t want to cause any more suffering. Or dissension. For you or them.”
“When they see how happy I am, they’ll accept you. And being with you makes me very, very happy.”
Still intimately connected, he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “Mmm, me, too.”
She could hear his reticence, though. At hurting her, causing trouble. “Let’s just sit with this for now. We can ease my parents into the idea of…us.”
Us. The word vibrated through her. She knew they had hurdles ahead of them. His guilt, and his belief that he wasn’t the right man for her, were the biggest, in her mind. And the fact that he hadn’t seen her face without the cover makeup or her naked body in the light. What if he was repulsed by her? Then committed to her out of pity or responsibility for causing those scars?
Tomorrow she would show him. One more hurdle down. Several to go.
Chapter 12
Raleigh woke at first light, instantly aware of the warm, soft body curled into his. Mia was here. Real. He closed his eyes, a rush of emotion engulfing him. He didn’t deserve her, but he wanted to believe his life could go right for a change. Because he wasn’t sure he could let her go, either.
She stirred, cuddling closer and sighing. She looked like an angel, her thick lashes brushing the tops of her cheeks, her mouth lush and tempting. They had awakened sometime in the night and made love again, lost in a semi-dream state. His body still wasn’t satisfied, yearning for more of her.
She had gone to sleep with her heavy foundation. He would hold her to her promise of showing him her naked face. Not for him but for her. Was she afraid he’d find her ugly? Reject her? He needed to prove that none of her scars mattered, and that entailed his actually seeing them. All of them. Unfortunately, because they were plastered up against each other, he still couldn’t see her body.
He slowly turned to look at the shell-shaped clock on the outside wall. Damn, he needed to get going. Peter was putting a rush on all the jobs scheduled for the next month, just in case. Raleigh had told him his evenings were spoken for, unwilling to lose any time with Mia. Could he hope that he might have more? Weeks, months, years?
Her eyes fluttered open, and her face broke into a smile. “Not a dream,” she murmured.
He kissed her forehead, smiling at the fact that she’d felt the same as he had. “It is a dream, in a way. Unfortunately, I have to head to work soon. We should probably go inside, anyway, just in case someone from down the road comes by. The deck might be private on the sides, but we’re in full view of anyone who might decide to walk the beach.”
She glanced down at the sheet covering them. “Think we can walk together in this thing?”
If he said he wanted it, that would leave her naked. Totally visible to his eyes. But he couldn’t, in the name of chivalry, do that. “You take it.” He wrapped it around her shoulders, catching a glimpse of the scarred skin there. “It’s barely light.”
“Bare. I get it, ha-ha.”
“That was pun-intentional.” He reluctantly left the warmth of her body and walked into the house, turning to find her watching him with an appreciative grin. She rolled her eyes and flopped backward, as though she’d fainted.
God, he loved that woman.
The sound of a gasp behind him had him spinning around—and finding her parents standing just inside the front door.