“We both want the same thing for Charlotte. We agree she deserves to be raised by two parents who love her. We agree neither of us wants to share custody if we can live with her fully. And I know you can see the financial benefits to this marriage.”
She blanched. “I told you, your money wasnevera part of what I wanted from you.”
“I believe that,” he said quietly. “But now you have a child to consider.”
“You’ve already played this card, though, Gray. I know you’re planning to support her financially, whether we marry or not.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “That’s the bare minimum of my responsibilities.”
“So that’s hardly an incentive after all.”
“I don’t need money to incentivize you into marriage. The fear of losing Charlotte is enough.”
She stared at him, her heart racing. “Please, don’t…”
“I don’t intend to take her away,” he said quietly. “But even shared custody is not what you want, right?”
She bit down on her lip, rather than answering.
“But if you met someone else and decided to marry, it would be very likely that I would, at that point, seek full custody.”
She rolled her eyes. “You really think I’m planning to rush down the aisle?”
“Not now, but who knows in a year or two?” He shrugged.
“So you want to marry me so I can’t possibly meet anyone else?”
“To protect Charlotte,” he said firmly, making sure Abby understood that this wasn’t about her at all. He didn’t want her to believe that there was even a tiny part of him that cared about what Abby did in her personal life. But marriage?To Gray?
“I just can’t even imagine it,” she said softly.
“Can’t you?” His mysterious green eyes, the colour of the ocean, glinted as they caught hers. “Even a little bit?”
Heat flushed her cheeks. Did he know how often she’d dreamed of exactly this scenario? Well, not quiteexactly, but more of a genuine fantasy, a proper proposal, one that included love and the sort of happily ever after she’d always wanted for herself.
“We don’t like each other,” she rushed, as though that were a good justification.
“There are parts of each other we like very, very much,” he said silkily, letting the words drop, and enjoying, clearly, the moment she understood his meaning. “And we care about our daughter.”
We.
The word landed inside her heart like a stone.
She’d been alone a very long time – supported by her mom and Angie, but the sole parent with all the burden of worry that being a mother entailed. The idea of leaning on someone, just sometimes, when she needed to, was seductively appealing.
Was she actually considering this?
He moved into the kitchen, the tiny space seeming non-existent with his broad frame so close.
“This is not a disaster,” he said quietly, his voice low and husky, the timbre, and his intent, unmistakable. “There are good things we can take from this.”
Flames danced beneath her skin; her nipples tightened against the soft cotton of her bra. Green eyes dropped lower, a smirk on his lips as he slowly, purposefully, traced the outline of her breasts with his gaze. It was only a look, but it might as well have been touch. She felt warmth on her skin as though he were trailing fingers over her flesh, sending goosebumps in his wake.
“Like what?” She whispered, fully aware what she was doing – what she was inviting.
And he was too. His mocking smile showed he understood her weakness, her temptation, that he’d been expecting it.
Frustration licked at her feet, but it was nothing compared to the need that was barreling through her.