Emma felt herself falling into something big, something so significant it had the power to flatten her if it went wrong. That scared the crap out of her. Simone relied on her for everything. She couldn’t afford to be flattened by a romantic disaster.

“You want to come down for game night?”

“I don’t want to leave her.”

“Molly said to tell you there’s a baby monitor in the room next door for when Caden is here,” he said of his cousin Max’s baby son. “She said to move it in here if you want to come downstairs.”

“Oh, um, I don’t know if I should leave her.”

“Colton said she’s going to sleep all night because of the pain meds they gave her. It’s probably safe to come downstairs, but if you don’t want to, I’ll stay up here to keep you company.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to, Emma. I want to spend every second I can with you.” His hand made circles on her back that comforted and aroused her.

She leaned into him, taking the support he offered so willingly. “Please don’t make me start to depend on you.”

“Would that be so awful?”

“It would be if it didn’t work out.”

“We’re taking it a day at a time, remember?”

“How could I forget?”

“Want me to get the baby monitor for you?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

He kissed her cheek and then her lips again. “I don’t mind.”

Watching him go, Emma was filled with longing for more of what she’d already experienced with him. In addition to the physical connection, he was easy to talk to, kind, supportive, sweet to Simone and understanding of the many challenges that stood in their way. It would be so easy to dive into this with no regard for potential consequences. And oh how she was tempted to take that dive, especially after the hours she’d spent in bed with him. A shiver traveled down her spine when she recalled the searing intimacy, the things they’d done, how he’d made her feel.

Grayson returned with the baby monitor, which he plugged into the wall behind the bedside table.

“Wow, that’s cool,” Emma said of the video monitor. “I had the old-school audio version when Simone was a baby.”

He handed her the remote portion. “You can watch her sleep from downstairs while you have a much-needed glass of wine and some fun. What do you say?”

Emma glanced at Simone, who hadn’t so much as stirred since Colton tucked her in. And then she looked up at Grayson, who was watching her with interest and desire he didn’t bother to try to hide. She reached out to him.

He took her hand.

“Let’s go have some fun.”

Chapter 8

Where we love is home—home that our