“Oh God, Scott, love you,” she cried out at the moment she peaked and fell, her slick walls clasping him tight and sending him spiraling out of control as he came.
“Oh fuck, Meg, love you,” he said, his hips slamming into hers, his hot come filling her. Love you, he thought. Don’t leave me, came next. But with everything in him, he knew that she would.
A while later, they lay in his big bed, the silence surrounding them almost painful. Meg curled into his side, one hand on his chest, her naked body pressing against his. He savored the warmth and the feel of her wrapped up in him.
“I have to leave,” she said softly, her tears dripping onto his bare chest.
The words hurt as much, if not more, than he’d expected. “Yeah, I know. But I have to tell you a few things before you do.”
She sniffed and nodded.
His throat hurt, but he forced out the words. “If you’re leaving because at any point I convinced you that I don’t want a family or the fucking fairy tale I said doesn’t exist, that’s just not true anymore.”
She stiffened, and he used her shock to his advantage, pulling himself over her, staring into her beautiful face.
“Dare I ask what changed your mind?” she asked.
The answer was easy. “You did. I can’t live without you, and I don’t want to. I love you. I am going to love that baby, and I want us to be a family.” The words, once out, felt freeing. “I mean that. I don’t want you to leave. I want you to stay here, with me. But if you don’t stay, make sure it’s for the right reasons.”
“Scott—”
He silenced her with a long kiss, losing himself in her sweetness before pulling back. “Go because you need to prove to yourself, that you can get by without a man. Without me. But know that I’ll be here waiting when you’re ready to fight for us.”
She cupped his face and ran her hands over his clean-shaven cheeks. “I love you too. And you’re saying everything I ever wanted to hear.”
“But you’re leaving.” He braced himself for the final slam.
In her big brown eyes, Scott saw all the hurt and pain he himself was feeling.
She nodded. “Like you said, I have to prove to myself I can be an adult and not the needy woman who chose a man, any man, as long as she wasn’t alone.”
He was so damned surprised she didn’t know herself yet. Didn’t see herself the way he did, as a strong, self-sufficient, woman capable of raising a baby alone. But she didn’t have to.
“Okay,” he said, forcing himself to roll to the side, off of her lush body. He felt the chill deep in his bones. “I’m not going to stop you or beg you to stay.”
She bit down on her trembling lower lip, her eyes still damp. “You’re not?”
He shook his head, his clenched fists the only outward sign of how difficult this was for him. But inside, he was dying. “I told you, I’ll always give you what you need. So if you need to go, go.”
Scott didn’t have a plan. He didn’t know what he’d do or how he’d get her back. Instead, he breathed in deeply, searching for a sense of calm he didn’t feel, only to inhale the musky scent of sex and Meg.
Meg drove herself home, and Scott didn’t argue. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that she totally missed him telling her what he wanted her to do. It wasn’t that she’d always listen, more that his insistences told her he was thinking about her, her welfare, and that he cared. Like he cared enough to let her pack up her things and move out.
Idiot, a very large part of her brain told her. Who leaves a man who loves her with everything he has? Who walks away from the best thing that ever happened to her? Apparently, she realized as she strode into the apartment she called home, the empty apartment that no longer felt like home, Meg wasn’t finished making stupid, wrong, bad-for-her decisions.
Because as she unpacked her clothes and toiletries, she couldn’t help but feel like she was in a strange place. A place she’d lived both with Mike and alone. And as she picked up the phone to order pizza, because she had no food in her pantry or refrigerator, she was forced to ask herself: Was being alone taking a stand? Who was she proving a point to? Not herself. She was miserable. She had a lump in her throat, her chest hurt, and she missed Scott like crazy. What was she accomplishing?
She sat alone at her kitchen table, a box of uneaten pizza in front of her, and she hated herself for her decision.
Her phone rang, and she dove for it on the first ring like a crazy person, but it wasn’t Scott. It was Lydia Ashton.
“Hi, Lydia. How’s Walter?” Meg asked. She’d called the hospital, but since she wasn’t family, they wouldn’t give her any information.
“He’s doing well, thank you. In fact, they’re releasing him as long as he promises to take it easy, and you can bet I’ll make sure that he does,” the other woman said, relief in her voice.
“I . . . I don’t know how to thank him for what he did for me,” Meg said.
“Don’t worry, honey. He knows.”
Meg sighed.
“There’s something else I wanted to tell you. It’s about Mike.”
Meg stiffened but forced herself to remain calm and listen. “Yes?”
“Walter and I talked to Mike. We told him we would pay for his lawyer if he signed away his rights to the baby.”
“What?” Meg asked startled.
“We explained that if he did, we’d hire a lawyer whose
