Now…

Well, this I was taking for me.

I got the sense that Merry knew I wasn’t pushing away because he pulled me closer and leaned more of his weight into me.

I felt his hand tangle in my hair and I closed my eyes tight, taking that boon too, no matter how risky.

“You know I’m teasin’,” he whispered. “It’s cool and warm and all you.”

God, he had to stop. If he didn’t shut up, I’d start believing, and I’d believed before—twice—and except for getting Ethan, it had not lead to good things.

“I thought you said you were tired,” I noted.

“Yeah,” he murmured.

“So shut up and sleep,” I ordered.

“Cher?”

“Callin’ my name isn’t sleeping, Merry.”

“You shut up and listen for a sec, we both can get some sleep.”

I shut up.

“No matter what, no matter how things go down—in life, with you and me—no matter I piss you off, no matter anything, sweetheart, promise me you’ll never block me bein’ able to get to you again.”

My eyes flew open.

Merry went on, “I don’t think I gotta convince you that you mean somethin’ to me. What I want you to know right now is, no matter the future, that’ll never change. If I gotta know things are good with you or with Ethan, I just gotta know. In the world we live in, don’t make it hard for me to get that information, baby.”

“I unblocked you about two seconds after you left us, Merry,” I whispered.

“All right. Good. But now I’m askin’, don’t block me again.”

“I won’t block you again, honey.”

The arm he had around me gave me a squeeze.

Shit, I had to give it to him.

Shit, shit, shit, there was no choice.

“I was pissed and I had reason,” I muttered into his skin, kinda hoping he couldn’t hear me. “But you were right. Callin’ in Tanner and the way he played it was what was needed.”

I didn’t get a squeeze at that.

He kissed the top of my hair.

He said no more. He didn’t rub it in. He didn’t push things to take advantage and gain more ground.

He just kissed the top of my hair and let it be.

God, he looked good, fucked great, liked my kid, liked my mom, liked me, was protective, smart, dressed well, drove an awesome ride, had a nice family, amazing friends, a solid job, was funny, thought I was funny, knew how to install countertops and skim walls, and he didn’t rub it in when he was right and I was…not.

Was he perfect?

And was I crazy?

“You’re not goin’ to sleep,” he noted.

“That’s because I’m freaking,” I shared openly.

“Tomorrow,” he stated.

“It is tomorrow, Garrett.”

I heard the smile in his voice when he said, “Right, then later today.”

“You can’t just turn off freaking, Merry.”

“Okay, then shut up, relax, and go to sleep, or, seein’ as your boy was probably tweaked at what went down tonight and isn’t sleeping soundly, I’ll need to haul your ass to my truck to fuck you until I exhaust you. And this doesn’t work for me because it’s had time to cool off, and a running truck on a street like yours is a curiosity. I don’t need your neighbors checkin’ things out and seein’ me doin’ you. That shit could get back to Ethan.”