I don’t have to settle.
We lingered in bed for a few more minutes, then moved to the bathroom. He must have had dozens of things to do around the ranch, but we washed each other unhurriedly. And although I didn’t come again when he rimmed me, I was fully decompressed by the time we got out of the shower.
Gray stripped the sheets from the bed, and I put on new ones, then hid the lube in the drawer for which Gray teased me mercilessly. Hand in hand, we walked out of the room.
“What do you have planned today?” he asked.
I shrugged. “It’s Hudson’s day off, so no babysitting for me today. I’m free to do whatever. Opie and I plan to meet in town later, but I’ll probably talk to my parents for a while, then spend some time with Indy.”
Gray chuckled. “You spend too much time with that animal.”
I pouted. “You gave him to me.”
At the foot of the stairs, Gray stopped me to kiss me. A random kiss that didn’t seem to end.
“Finally, you’ve made it out of bed.”
Emma’s voice echoed through the hallway, startling me. The urge to step behind Gray was strong, but I made myself stand next to him—which was my place now. Whatever opposition we faced, we faced together.
“Jesus Christ, Emma, it’s too early for this,” Gray muttered.
“You don’t even know why I’m here.”
“Let me guess. It’s about me being a rotten father?”
“Yes, you are, but…no. We need to talk.”
Gray sighed. “Fine. Ozzie, do you mind? I’ll meet you in a few for breakfast. I’m sure this won’t be long.”
“Actually, he should be here for this too. Can we step into the living room for a few minutes?”
“You can lash out at me all you want, Emma, but I won’t subject Ozzie to your abuse.”
Emma scowled. “Give it a rest already, Gray, and be grateful I am here to ease some of your worries.” She strutted ahead of us to the living room. What did she mean by easing our worries? Was she not going to contest the divorce after all?
Gray and I looked at each other, but there was only one way to be certain of the answer. I followed him into the living room. Emma paced in front of the couch. My throat went dry. She was acting out of character.
“Well, what is it?” Gray asked.
“Let’s be clear.” She wagged her finger at us. “What I’m about to tell you doesn’t excuse what you did, and I still think it was horrible for you to be involved together.”
“What are you saying, Emma?”
“I had a long chat with Carter two days ago. At first, I demanded that he be an adult and confess what he did, but Carter will always be Carter, so I’m doing it for him.”
At least she was finally admitting to Carter’s horrid behavior and attitude toward me instead of absolving him of the part he’d played in the ending of our relationship.
“Emma?”
“You were right, Gray. Carter was using Ozzie, as you both suspected, but you don’t know how far he took everything. I didn’t know about it until he confessed what he’d done.”
A shiver rolled down my spine, and a chill swept through the room. I grabbed Gray’s arm. What horrible things were we in for now because of Carter?
“He set the whole thing up.”
“What?” I croaked. “Set what up?”
She inhaled deeply and let out the breath. “Gray, when you made the stipulation for Carter and Matty to inherit a part of their inheritance right away instead of waiting, he came up with the idea of marrying Ozzie solely for that reason.”
