Gage stood in her doorway, rubbing his head. She wanted to slam the door in his face, God, did she want to, but the problem was she also wanted to hug him and soothe him and tell him everything would be okay.
Maybe some long, slow sex as well. It couldn’t hurt.
“I would never, ever cheat on you, Rylee,” he said, his eyes focused on her face. “You’re all I want…why else would I be here? There are cameras at the bar. I can get you the feed. You’ll see I didn’t even know that girl…and I certainly haven’t gone home with her or with anyone else.”
“Look, Gage,” she said, sighing, “it’s not cheating because we aren’t together. You’re free. You can do whatever you want, so long as you don’t do it right in front of me.”
He shook his head, his eyes turning red. Rylee was ready to slam the door on him, except for one small thought that wouldn’t leave her brain.
Why is he here?
Why would he curl up on her doorstep instead of chasing tail if he was a guy on the hunt? Why bother?
“Please, Rylee,” Gage murmured, reaching out a hand. “Please listen to me.”
His voice cracked. As his beautiful blue eyes looked into hers, she could see and feel his heart breaking. At that moment, she realized there was more to Gage than she’d ever imagined…a lot more.
She also recognized that part of the reason she was so angry was because she wanted to believe him. She wanted to go back to dreaming about the two of them singing to her belly and going to prenatal classes. She wanted him there holding her hand, his massive strength carrying her through when she needed someone to lean on.
Rylee sighed, taking his hand. Gage’s eyes brightened, but there was still so much darkness in him. She had a feeling she was about to see it…all of it.
“Come on,” she said softly. “Come inside. I’ll have to order some breakfast, though. All I’ve got here are chocolate chip cookies.”
He nodded, not even seeming to notice her words. Rylee stood back, holding the door open for him and then closing it as he went into the living room. She followed him.
She had no idea where she wanted to start or what she wanted to say. She was so afraid, not just for herself but for her baby. It wasn’t just her feelings that Gage was playing with, and she wasn’t sure if he understood that.
She went to get her phone to order the food, and when she returned to the living room, Gage was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. When he looked up, and she saw his shimmering red-rimmed eyes framed by his broken expression, she couldn’t help it. Her heart went out to him, just a little.
She was still hurt. There was so much she didn’t understand. Rylee was also afraid of trapping herself in this situation for all the wrong reasons.
But, in spite of all that, she was ready to listen. The feelings she had for Gage could get her into a whole mess of trouble…they could get her heart broken in more painful ways than she could have ever imagined. Not just her but her baby too.
Or those feelings could completely change the life of a broken man. It could give both of them a brand new, beautiful future.
Together.
She just had to have enough courage to hang on a little longer and find out exactly what kind of man he was.
SEVENTEEN
GAGE
The apartment was too quiet. While Rylee ordered the food, Gage sat on the couch, looking at his hands. His head hurt…his chest was worse. Now that he was here, he knew what he had to do, and all he needed was the courage to do it.
When Rylee sat across from him, he didn’t look up. He was too ashamed. The way this situation had blown up in his face proved to him beyond all doubt that all he did was fuck everything up.
Gage knew that he couldn’t meet her gaze. He waited for the food to arrive as if that might solve all the awkwardness, but really, he was delaying the inevitable.
With a huge sigh, he decided to get on with it. At that exact moment, the doorbell rang. Rylee got up and went to get her breakfast. Gage sat and tried to focus on breathing. This was worse than being on a battlefield. A nice, gory wound would be easier to deal with than this.
That’s because this wound is infected, buddy. It’s deep, and it’s dark, and you tried to cover it up. Now it’s infected and spreading poison through every cell.
Gage knew lancing open this wound was going to hurt more than anything ever had. His only hope was that Rylee could heal it.
She sat and put a bacon and egg roll in front of him, taking one for herself. There was also a stack of hash browns and some donuts. He stared stupidly at the food, wondering why she had bought anything for him. He deserved to starve.
“You’re eating okay?” he asked softly. She nodded.