“Why not?”
“It sounds like a bad excuse, but I never believed anybody could want me the way I am. I always needed to be more—more successful, more interesting, more everything.”
She ran a finger along his cheek, and he closed his eyes at the unbearable sweetness of her touch.
“Oh, Gavin,” she whispered.
He caught her eye and held it. “My experience tends to confirm it, but I let my past color my present to the point that I couldn’t relax around you and enjoy our marriage.”
“You aren’t the only one. I was always worried.”
His head jerked back. “What? Why?”
“I thought I could never measure up to Catherine. She’s just so perfect. She seemed like a more suitable wife for somebody like you.”
He snorted. “She and I would’ve been utterly miserable. I was more in love with the idea of marrying a pretty young woman who’d look good on my arm. Thankfully, she realized that too before things went too far. It would have been a complicated—and expensive—mistake.”
“That’s not all. Your family’s perfect too. They’re so intimidating. Everyone’s so well-educated and well-read and well-traveled and well-mannered and everything. I’m like an ignorant country bumpkin next to them.”
Gavin frowned at her. “That’s crazy. My family loves you, and we aren’t golden the way you think. Look at Jacob, for god’s sake. And Meredith. She had a baby out of wedlock, you know. Uncle Tony thinks money falls from the sky. I understand if being surrounded by staff bothers you, but it’d make me feel better if you have somebody with you at all times, at least until you deliver the baby.” He kissed her gently. His heart expanded with warmth and joy when she responded, opening her mouth to let him in.
“I guess Brooke can do that,” she said against his lips.
“We can sell the mansion and move into the penthouse,” he murmured. “It’s smaller and much more manageable.”
She pulled back a little. “No. That won’t be necessary. I know you like the house, and so do I.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Gavin, what I want is you. It doesn’t matter where we live so long as I have you with me.”
Relief and love coursed through him. He laid his forehead against hers, his eyes on hers. “I love you,” he murmured.
“I love you, too.” She smiled. “Guess we’ll have to call our lawyers, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“We still have to pay their fees, don’t we?”
“Yeah.”
“How much do you owe Craig?” she asked, anxiety tightening her voice. “I bet Samantha’s really expensive.”
God, his wife was adorable when she worried about money. You would think she would have gotten used to having lots of it around by now. “I don’t know, maybe around two hundred thousand all told?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars?” She gasped. “If I’d known they’d cost that much, I would’ve never asked for a divorce I didn’t want in the first place.”
He chuckled. “Honey, it’s nothing. I’d pay twenty times that if I could keep you.” He kissed her mouth. “Love you.”
“Love you.”
* * *
The morning after she’d gotten discharged from the hospital, Amandine didn’t get up until well after eight thirty. She rolled over and blinked when she saw Gavin sitting in his boxers in one of the comfy armchairs in their bedroom, tapping away on his laptop.
“Morning,” he said, closing the computer and putting it aside.