Playing For Her Heart - Megan Erickson Page 0,52
was giving it.
And fuck, if this was how they kissed as Grant and Chloe, she couldn’t wrap her brain around how they’d make love as Grant and Chloe. She wanted to get naked now, and might have if she wasn’t standing in her parents’ living room.
She broke the kiss and Grant panted against her lips. “Tell me this isn’t just me. Tell me you’re falling for me, too, Chloe.”
When she licked her lips, her tongue touched his. “It’s not just you, Grant. It’s not just you.”
His fingers flexed against the skin of her cheek “You working on reclaiming your heart for yourself? Because it’s yours, Chloe. It’s yours and not anyone else’s.”
“You still want some of my heart if I give it to you?” she asked.
“I’ll just borrow,” he said softly. “And I’ll take good care of it.”
“There’s one thing yet I have to do,” she said, slowly separating her body from his. “I’m sorry because I don’t know if it’s fair to ask you to wait—”
“I’ve waited thirty-two years for you. I can wait a little longer, okay?”
He was better than Ken, way better. “Okay.”
He gestured toward a foil-covered dish on the coffee table. “Those are from Sydney. She made chocolate-chip-cookie bars. I’ll, uh, leave them here.”
“You don’t have to leave, I—”
“I’ll say hi to your parents, and then I’ll leave. It’s okay. There are some things I can do in town before I head back tomorrow. I’m staying over at the Comfort Inn off Monroe Street. I just wanted to see you.” His lips quirked. “Touch you.”
“I liked seeing you and touching you.”
He smiled and pressed his forehead to hers.
Her parents wandered in from the kitchen then, and she introduced Grant as “the man she’d been dating.” Which sounded lame and was slightly inaccurate, but she didn’t have a better explanation, or one she could say in front of her parents.
But now Chloe thought maybe…they had been dating, just in a very unconventional way. Despite their roles, she felt like she knew Grant enough to want to know him better. And she figured that was half the battle with dating anyway.
Then tension in the room lingered, especially when Grant mentioned he owned a business with Ethan.
Months ago, even weeks ago, Chloe would have been embarrassed at her parents’ reaction to Ethan’s name. She would have tried to smooth it over while her heart cracked under the strain.
But Grant was there, his hand in hers, his presence reminding her that it was time to give up the responsibility she’d unnecessarily taken on herself. It wasn’t about her, what happened between Ethan and her parents.
When she walked Grant to the front door, he kissed her, a chaste one on her lips. “I’ll wait for you,” he said quietly. And she nodded, barely restraining herself from running after him as he walked out the door.
But she needed more time. And she wasn’t finished with her parents yet.
After Grant left, Chloe wandered into the backyard of her parents’ house to look for her parents. They lived on an acre of property. When she was little, her mother’s backyard garden had been small, mostly located along the back of the house, so that the kids could play in the rest of it without messing up Mom’s flowers.
Once all three children left the nest, her mom had reclaimed the backyard. The entire backyard. There were a couple of stone paths and some trees with patches of grass surrounding the base but the rest of the backyard was full of flower beds. Some were full of wildflowers, free and without too much fussing, while other beds were carefully laid out and tended to.
Chloe ran her hand over a tall bunch of zebra grass, the blades tickling her palm.
“So you’re happy in Willow Park?” her mom asked, perched on a stone bench along the edge of the walk.
“Yes, I like it. There’s a great market where I can get fresh produce grown locally. I might sign up for a CSA next year.” She was kind of babbling. “And I like being near Ethan.”
Her mother turned away.
Chloe took a deep breath, remembering Grant’s hand in hers. She needed to take back her life, her heart. And she had to be honest. “Mom, you’re losing Ethan, you know.”
Her mother didn’t move, not even a twitch, as she gazed away from Chloe, looking over her garden.
“You and Dad know that, right? You lost a daughter, and by continuing this…silent treatment, you’re losing your son, too.”
A muscle twitched in her