Page 24

TWENTY-FOUR

Gray walked around to Meredith’s side of the car and opened the door for her.

He offered her his hand and she took it, but she wasn’t looking at him. She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head toward the firepit. Gray followed her gaze. Mo sat nursing what looked like a root beer, and Cal was beside him in Meredith’s regular seat. The location gave Cal an excellent view of the driveway, and Gray had no doubt both men had been waiting on them to return.

Meredith touched his arm and whispered, “Do you want to join them? Or say good night here?”

“We aren’t saying good night here. I’m not leaving you by the car just to avoid speaking to them.”

Meredith looked from him to the two men by the fire. “Cal’s your best friend. I don’t want you to avoid speaking to him ever.”

“I appreciate that, but tonight is about you. What do you want to do?”

She wrapped her hand around his. “Let’s go chat.”

They were ten feet away when Meredith pointed to Cal. “You’re in my seat.”

He stood and waved to the chair with a flourish. “My apologies, ma’am.” Cal went to sit in the chair beside her and then it was Gray’s turn to protest.

“Now you’re in my seat.”

Cal hovered over it, his hands braced on the arms of the chair. “Is it now?”

“Yes. It is.”

Cal stood and moved to his normal seat across the fire.

“What, no apology for me?” Gray scooted his chair closer to Meredith’s so he could continue to hold her hand.

“Nope.” Cal quirked an eyebrow at him but didn’t say more.

Meredith reached out her free hand to Mo. “You can’t refuse to speak to him forever. No one can do that.”

Mo didn’t look at anyone. He stared into the fire and said, “Wanna bet?”

Meredith gasped. “Tell me you’re joking. I left you in a room with her. How did you manage to leave without speaking?”

It took Gray a second to keep up. They weren’t talking about Mo not speaking to him anymore.

“Wasn’t too difficult.” Mo’s tone was calm. The tension in his body screamed frustration.

Meredith leaned toward her brother. “Please tell me you didn’t get up and walk away.”

“I did no such thing.”

Meredith relaxed in her seat.

“But she did.”

So Bronwyn had left without speaking? Gray had no idea what was going on between them, but that seemed harsh.

Meredith dropped her head on the back of the chair. “Seriously?”

“We sat there in awkward silence for a few minutes before she left.”

“You couldn’t have said something? Anything?”

“There’s nothing to say. If she wants to open the lines of communication, that’s up to her. I swore I wouldn’t speak to her again until she spoke to me first. Unlike some people, I don’t break my promises.”

“You did what?” Meredith squeaked a little on the last word.

Meredith and Cal were on the edges of their seats. This must have been new information for all of them.

“You mean Bronwyn knows why you don’t speak to her?” Cal looked at Meredith. “Did you know this?”

“No! What—”

“We aren’t here for that.” Mo cut her off and turned the tables. “We’re here to discuss the fact that you’re sitting here holding hands with a man who made you cry. A lot. For weeks. The same guy who made you so upset you didn’t eat enough, who had you so twisted in knots that it impacted your sleep. I volunteered to kill him. I volunteered to give him computer viruses. I took your refusal of my offers to be yet another indication that you are a better person than I am. I did not think you were protecting him so you could date him.” Mo said date like it was the vilest option available to anyone.

But Gray was hung up on one new piece of information. He brought Meredith’s hand to his lips. “Please tell me you didn’t stop eating.”

“He’s being dramatic. I didn’t want dessert at dinner.”

“For weeks.” Mo glared at his sister.

“It’s not like I was on a hunger strike. Let it go. I have plenty of extra to lose. It didn’t hurt me.”

Again, Gray pressed her hand to his lips. “Meredith, please don’t ever let me hear you talk about yourself that way. Your body is perfection, and it houses your beautiful soul. You have to take care of it.”

“Okay.” Her response was breathy and a little bit of something that Gray didn’t like. Meredith Quinn was confident, gorgeous, and kind. But his instincts screamed at him that at some point in her past, someone had made her question all of that.

“Amen, brother.” Mo’s comment confirmed what Gray suspected.

She turned to Mo. “You butt out of this.”

“You can’t make me.”

“Wanna bet?”

And just like that, Gray could see the siblings they were. There was so little animosity between them under normal circumstances that he sometimes forgot that they must have squabbled as children.

Cal groaned. “If you two keep going, I’ll tell Aunt Jacque on you.”

Not Cal too!

The threat silenced them and had them turning identical glares in Cal’s direction. He threw up his hands. “She doesn’t like it when you fight. It upsets her. And none of us want that.”

“Traitor,” Mo muttered under his breath.

“Tattletale,” Meredith muttered under hers.

Cal gave them all a devilish grin. “Years of practice. Now, Gray, brother, we need to talk.”

Cal’s comment brought Mo’s attention fully onto Gray. But it also brought Meredith’s to him. “Callum Shaw, you have no business talking to Gray that way,” she said.

“Do so.”

Here we go again.

“You do not.” Meredith and Cal were both smiling now, and Gray realized they were teasing, not fighting.

“He’s my best friend.” Cal pointed to himself.

“Well, he’s my ... my...” Meredith looked at Gray, then back at Cal. “He’s mine.”

And Gray understood what it meant to melt for a woman. Because as long as Meredith Quinn claimed him that way, she could get him to do just about anything. And when she leaned over the arms of her chair and his to plant a soft kiss on his cheek, Gray didn’t even try to hide his triumphant smile.

“Ugh.” Mo groaned. “Great. Now I have to watch you both be all mushy and gushy.” He pointed a finger at Meredith. “I’m telling you the same thing I told Cal. No PDA. I don’t need to see you kissing and hugging and all that.” He waved a hand toward her and Gray.

Meredith leaned toward Mo and kissed his cheek. “Okay. I’ll be like Cal.”

Cal kissed Landry at any time and in any place. If Landry was near him, he was holding her hand, running his hand through her hair, tapping her foot with his, wrapping his arms around her.

Mo must have come to the same realization, because he pointed at Gray this time. “I have plenty of my own nightmares and I’ll thank you to avoid adding any more.”

Taking his cue from Meredith, Gray said, “I’ll do my best.” Which he could already tell wouldn’t be much at all.

Mo grumbled something unintelligible and took a long drink.

“Mo?” Meredith patted Mo’s arm.

“What?”

“I’m sorry about Bronwyn.”

He gave her a quick glance, then looked back at the fire. “Nothing for you to be sorry about.” Before Meredith could argue, he leaned forward in his chair and looked around her to focus his attention on Gray. “You hurt her again, and I won’t ask her permission to make your life miserable.”

“If you think that’s going to scare me or make me mad, you’re wrong on both counts.” Gray squeezed Meredith’s hand. “I had a sister, and I couldn’t protect her. I will never fault you for doing what I wish I could have done.”

Mo looked to Meredith, then Cal, then back to Gray. Gray could tell he was torn between wanting to ask for more details and desperately trying to avoid getting into a sensitive conversation. “Fair enough.” Mo stood, walked over to Meredith, and kissed her on the head. “Not trying to be bossy or anything, but you have to work tomorrow and it’s getting late.”

There was laughter in her voice when she said, “Good night, Mo.”

He threw up a hand and walked to his house.

Cal settled back and they talked for another ten minutes before his phone buzzed. He hopped out of his chair, a sappy grin on his face. “My girls are on their way home. Gotta go.”

“What were they doing out this late on a school night?” Gray asked.

“There’s no school tomorrow or Monday, but one of Chad and Naomi’s boys had a basketball game tonight in Waynesville. They went to watch and then went out to eat with everyone after.”

“Why didn’t you go?” Meredith asked.

“I had to work late tonight so I can be off while Eliza’s off.” Cal pointed his finger at Gray, then Meredith. “Behave.” With that, he jogged down the path that led him home.

Gray followed Meredith’s gaze as she watched Cal’s retreating form.

An indulgent smile crossed her face. “That right there is the definition of domestic bliss.”

“True enough. I’m so happy for him, I can’t even tease him about it.” Gray had walked with Cal through some of the hardest days of his life.

“God moves in mysterious ways, that’s for sure.” Meredith stood and walked around the firepit, straightening chairs. “Well, you survived Mo and Cal. Now you have to survive my parents, grandparents, and every Quinn you’ll come into contact with over the next few weeks. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

There was a teasing light in her eyes, but a definite hint of insecurity bled through the question.

“I’m sure.” Running the Quinn gauntlet had never been a concern. Her loving family was one of the best things she had going for her.

“Meredith!” Mo’s voice rang out across the open space between their homes.

“What?” She sounded a bit disgruntled. Gray couldn’t blame her.

“I checked your house, car, and shop a little while ago. You’re bug-free.”

“Thanks.”

Mo’s response was a nod and another wave, then his door closed and left them alone by the firepit.

Gray appreciated Mo’s efforts on Meredith’s behalf, but now the danger Meredith was in was at the forefront of his mind.

Her family was never going to scare him off. It was the people who bugged her scarf, cut her fuel line, and tried to run her over who terrified him. He took her hand and pulled her close, then walked her to the door of her home. “Meredith?”

“Hmm?”

“I will do everything in my power to keep you safe and to never harm you again. I want you to live life to the fullest, but right now, with everything so up in the air, please help me hold it together by doing everything you can to stay safe.”

Meredith pressed a kiss to his jaw. “I promise.” Her thumb traced the spot her lips had been. “I’m not always going to check in with you about every move I make. But I also won’t hold your fears against you. Right now, I’ll keep you in the loop. And I’ll pay attention to where I am and who’s around me.”

“Thank you.” He held her close and breathed in the scent of her. Her shampoo had a citrus edge to it, but it was now almost completely obscured by wood smoke. “I’ll do everything I can to get you back to your old life.”

Meredith wrapped her arms around his neck. “If it’s all the same to you, I don’t want my old life back.”

Her fingers were doing something glorious to the nape of his neck, and his eyes closed without his permission. He had to force his brain to concentrate when all he wanted to do was sink into her touch. “You don’t want your old life back?”

“Nope.”

Her body shifted against his and her lips brushed his. “I want a new one. With you.”

He pulled her closer and took over the kiss. There was no more talking about lives, new or old. But for the first time in a long time, when he walked into his house an hour later and fell into his bed, he knew his days of being alone were over.

Meredith woke up wondering if she’d dreamed the events of the day before. She still wasn’t convinced it had happened until she pulled into the parking lot of her office. Gray leaned against the sign that reserved her spot, and he held two coffees and a paper bag.

She pinched her arm. Not dreaming.

She grabbed her things, hopped out, and walked to him. She knew her smile was goofy, and she didn’t care. “Good morning.”

“Morning.”

She hadn’t needed to know how delicious he sounded early in the morning. But now she did. Mercy.

“Is one of those for me?” She nodded toward the coffee.

“Yes.” He leaned toward her. “You should know that it’s going to be all over town by midmorning. There were two middle-aged ladies in Mountain Brew eavesdropping on my conversation with Judy. One of them pulled out her phone and took a picture of me.”

Meredith took the coffee. “Nosy Nellies.”

“Intrusive and unacceptable is what it was. What do you think they’re going to do with the picture?”

“Probably send it to Granny with a note explaining what was going on when they took it.”

“What is wrong with people?”

Grumpy Gray was also rather appealing. Interesting that she didn’t mind him like this as long as his grumpiness wasn’t directed toward her.

She took a sip of her drink. “What is this?” She tasted it again. “It’s delicious.”

“I tried to order you a caramel macchiato. Judy said this was a new drink and that you wanted to try it. It’s a maple praline latte, I think.”

“Mmm.” Meredith approved. “What are you drinking?”

“Americano with a splash of cream.”

“I thought you would say black coffee.”

“I had enough black coffee while I was overseas. I promised myself I’d never willingly drink it black again.”

“Good to know.” She entered the key code to her office, and Gray opened the door for her. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

He followed her into her personal office and placed the paper bag and his coffee on her desk. She set her bag on the floor, and as soon as she put her coffee down, his hands came around her waist and he pulled her close.

She couldn’t get as close as she’d been last night. He wore a vest under his uniform, and his belt held all the things cops usually had with them. It made the hugging a bit of a dicey proposition.

But she wasn’t going to let that stop her. She let her hands land at his waist and made no protest when his lips found hers. He pulled away a fraction and whispered, “I woke up this morning and knew I wouldn’t be able to focus today until I made sure this is really happening.”

When he was done confirming that she was his, she blinked up at him and said, “Will you be able to concentrate now?”

He shook his head. “Not a chance. Might need to come over here a few times to be sure we’re still good.”

“Well, I would never shirk my civic duty. I want to be sure you can work at full capacity, so whatever you need...”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He kissed her nose and stepped away. “Although, too much of that might addle my brain permanently.” He took the bag to the small table in her office and opened it.

“I’m pretty sure you’ll get used to it.”

His grin was positively devilish. “Oh, I don’t think I’ll be getting used to it anytime soon.” He pulled out a muffin and a scone. “Which do you want?”

“Can we split them?”

“Of course.” He broke each one in half, and she joined him at the table.

He took her hand. “Can I ask the blessing?”

Meredith wanted to say, “Yes, you can ask the blessing, and I love that this is how you want to start our first morning as a couple, and you don’t realize it yet, but I’m so gone for you that I’m never, ever coming back.” What she did was nod.

“Dear heavenly Father, thank you for this food and thank you for miracles. Amen.”

She picked up her half of the scone. “Miracles?”

“You kissed me.” He took half of the muffin. “If that isn’t a miracle, I don’t know what is.”

She took a bite and waited until his mouth was full before she said, “The real miracle is that you kissed me .”

They laughed and talked about their day, the wedding in Neeson, Cassie and Donovan’s upcoming wedding, and Cassie’s anticipated reaction to the monstrosity of a floral arrangement.

Breakfast was over far too soon, and when Gray reached for her hand and started playing with her fingers, she knew he was going to say something she didn’t like.

“One of my officers called this morning. Stomach bug.”

Meredith tried not to react but failed. She took in a deep breath through her nose and then pinched her lips together.

Gray laughed. “How is it possible that you put your hands in people’s mouths, and the thought of a little regurgitation makes you squirm?”

“Don’t use that word. Don’t even say it.”

“So the v-word is out?”

She shuddered. “All the way out.” His smile eased her discomfort, and she tried to explain. “I don’t know what it is. I can handle blood. I can pull teeth and drill out cavities. But not that. Sorry. I’ll make a horrible mother. My poor kids will be in the bathroom all alone. And heaven help me if they don’t make it to the bathroom.”

She shuddered again, and that’s when the expression on Gray’s face registered. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” His voice was a little gruff. “But you shouldn’t joke about that. You’ll make a phenomenal mother. Having a phobia about something doesn’t make you a bad mother. You’d deal with it if you had to. You wouldn’t leave them alone to suffer without help. Your children will be blessed beyond belief.”

Oh, there was so much to unpack there. “First, thank you. That’s very kind of you.”

“Second?”

“You really don’t like it when I say anything negative about myself, do you?”

“No, I do not.”

“Care to elaborate on that?”

Gray ran a thumb across her hand. “Words have power. I’ve seen words used as weapons. I’ve been on the receiving end of the wounds. But most of them were self-inflicted. If you say something negative to yourself long enough, you’ll start to believe it.”

Meredith shifted in her chair. “Sometimes the negative stuff is true. It isn’t healthy to think you’ve attained perfection.”

“True. But it isn’t healthy to think negative stuff all the time. You’re beautiful exactly as you are. Loved exactly as you are. If you want to make changes to yourself because they’re part of your personal growth, that’s great. But only if it’s because it’s what you really want, not because you think it will make people love you more or accept you more. If they don’t love you for who you are, present tense, then they’re missing out.”

She should have said something more eloquent, but all she managed was a low-voiced, “Wow.”

“Does it bother you? For me to tell you I don’t like it when you talk about yourself that way?”

She took his question seriously. “I’m not sure yet. I mean, no. Not at the moment. Ten years from now, it might be getting old.”

He bit back a smile. “Ten years from now, huh?”

Her skin heated as the implications of her words sunk in, but she didn’t backtrack. “Full disclosure. I’m in it to win it. If you aren’t, you should run for the hills, or maybe the coast. The hills are sketchy.”

“Indeed, they are.”