I linked our fingers, working his words past the hurt to understand them. “I’m not mad at you. You’re worth all the nos until you say yes. And I’m glad you didn’t say yes out of fear I won’t ask again. I will for as long as it takes to get the answer I want to hear.”
31
OZZIE
Gray tightened his hand on mine and drew me to a halt on the porch. I’d slept fitfully last night and had been too tired to speak much since waking up. He must have known I needed some space without me asking because he hadn’t pushed for conversation. What was there to say? I was hurt by finding out about the inheritance. Why had Gray kept that secret from me? Had I known I would have been able to put things into perspective much earlier.
Who made that kind of stipulation for an inheritance anyway?
I was disappointed in Gray, which was a new feeling. Since we started going out together, he’d been perfect in every single way. Then he let me down, a good reminder I shouldn’t put him on a pedestal. Our relationship wouldn’t stand a chance if I didn’t see him as an equal—human. Things might have gone well between us, but Emma’s revelation last night dispelled the rose-tinted glasses through which I’d viewed our relationship.
We would have fights. We would require space away from each other sometimes. We would need to work on our relationship. There were no shortcuts, even if he was a good man.
“Ozzie, are you upset with me?” he asked softly. His face was haggard in the midmorning sunlight, his usual easy smile replaced by a grim line. He had smudges under his eyes. He hadn’t gotten much sleep either, and not just because I’d had to wake him several times to check on him.
I frowned. “You should be in bed. You’re not resting like the doctor said.”
He raised my hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “I’ll be fine, but I need to know. Are you upset?”
I opened my mouth to brush what happened under the rug like I would have done with Carter to keep the peace. But why should I have to? That hadn’t worked with Carter and me.
“I don’t know what to think.” I blinked rapidly to ward off the tears threatening to fall. “Maybe I’m upset a little, but mostly, I’m disappointed in you. I feel like you let me down by not telling me the truth. Why didn’t you?”
He squeezed my hand. “I know, baby. There’s no excuse for it, except I was in an awkward position. For one, I thought it was insulting to assume that’s the reason he wanted to marry you, especially when I got to know you and saw how sweet, funny, adorable, and incredibly sexy you are. Even though I thought it, I didn’t want to believe that my son would use someone so good in such a cruel way. I also admit I didn’t want to seem as if I was using the situation to steal you for myself. Somewhere in the whole mess, I was trying to be a good father.”
“I still wish you would have said something.”
“I’m sorry.” Gray rubbed my upper arms, looking serious—worried even—as if he thought what he’d done wrong would influence the way I saw him and us. Was he worried that he might lose me because of this? Nobody had ever cared whether I walked away.
Smiling, I nodded. “This isn’t exactly a bad thing. I looked up to you so much like you’re some sort of god. I put you up onthis pedestal. That was wrong of me. Now I know we’ll have tiffs. You’ll disappoint me sometimes, as I will you, but as long as we can talk about it and be open with each other, we’ll get through it.”
“You never have to worry about me taking your feelings for granted, Oz. If I ever do anything that upsets you, I want to know so I can do better by you because you deserve nothing but the best, baby.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You keep saying all the right things like that, and I’ll always let you off the hook.”
“No, don’t let me. I don’t want to take advantage of you ever.”
“Okay, then, I won’t.”
“Good. I just wish I could go with you today.”
To the airport to pick up Carter.
Gray wasn’t allowed to drive yet because of his concussion, so Matty volunteered to take me because I wasn’t comfortable driving the unfamiliar route. I preferred confronting Carter on my own. Only a fraction of what I had to say to him was about Gray and cheating on him. The rest was all about him and me.
“It’s better this way,” I said. “But I’m sure Carter will want to talk to you too. You can say whatever you want to then.”
“I’ll still worry until you get home.”
“And I’ll worry unless you get back into bed and rest.”
Gray’s lips stretched into a small smile. “Ozzie, you’re so good to me.”
Wait, wasn’t that my line?
He pressed his mouth to mine. My first reaction was to pull away in case anyone saw us, but we didn’t have to hide anymore. I shifted closer to Gray and wrapped a hand around his neck.
“Ahem.”
