While she was in the shower, he relocated to the sofa so Simone would find him there rather than in her mother’s bed when she woke up. Wearing the scrubs that were her work uniform, Emma emerged from her bedroom to the smell of coffee percolating. So this is what it would be like, she thought, to have a partner in life and parenthood. They say you don’t miss what you’ve never had, and she’d made it all work somehow. But having him here made everything so much better, especially when he got up at six o’clock on a Saturday morning to make her coffee.

“This earns you huge, huge points,” she said as she accepted a travel mug from him.

He put his hands on her hips and took a good long look at her. “I’m digging the scrubs, babe. Sexiest office manager I’ve ever met.”

“Right,” she said, laughing.

“I mean it.” He gathered her in close to him and held on tight for a long moment. “How do I go about redeeming these points I’ve earned with the coffee?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“I’ll look forward to that all day.”

She looked up at him, studying his handsome face and wondering once again if it was possible for a life to change so completely in the span of one monumental week.

“What’re you thinking right now?”

“Still thinking I should pinch myself to make sure this is real.”

“I’d be happy to pinch you any time. Everything about this is real, especially the way I feel about you.”

“And how is that?”

“That’s a longer conversation than we have time for now.”

She whimpered. “So not fair to send me off to work with these questions.”

“I’ll make it up to you later.”

“I’ll hold you to it.” She kissed him. “I really have to go.”

“Okay.”

Emma stepped reluctantly out of his embrace and grabbed the lunch she’d made the night before from the fridge. Back to her same old boring routine, but with a twist. When she got home, Grayson Coleman would be waiting for her, and there was absolutely nothing boring or routine about him.

Chapter 24

There is no remedy for love but to love more.

—Henry David Thoreau

Grayson never did go back to sleep and was watching the news when Simone emerged from her room at around eight o’clock. She wore flannel pajamas that had little pink flowers on them. With her hair a mass of red spun silk around her head and her cheeks flushed from sleep, she was even more adorable than usual. Then he noticed she was holding her sore elbow at an awkward angle.

“Morning.”

“Morning.”

“How’s the elbow this morning?”

“I think I slept wrong on it or something. It’s stuck.”

He grimaced. “Ouch. How about some breakfast so you can take a pain pill?”

“That sounds good.”