Page 36 of The Risk

"I just need to hold you." He buried his face in her red hair for a moment. And breathed her in. "Are you feeling any better?”

"A little. I just needed to eat something, and the sensor needed changed. I always carry spares."

"You sure you’re okay?" The idea that something could be wrong in an instant... terrified him.

"Yes. Just a little tired. Is Calvin tucked in?"

"He is a little upset. He heard that it was his buddy Ryan who was hurt tonight. It took a bit longer than usual to settle him down. To be honest, Genny usually helps at night. I think... I may depend on her a bit too much with him lately."

She’d become de facto mom to his son. Gene would never be able to repay his little sister for that.

"I don’t think she minds at all. She loves him. And you. Very much."

"Yeah. And now Giavonna is moving home, too." His sister had told them earlier. She needed to come home for a while. Of course she could—no questions asked. If he had his way, he’d have Greer tucked in her own suite every night, too. Where he could take care of her, too. Because he loved them.

"So I heard."

"Don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled. I love my sisters. But something’s going on with her that I can’t put my finger on." He tightened his hold on Chantal, then scooped her up again. He carried her over to the cushy recliner he’d bought for his own space years ago. When he and Carly had lived here together, and she’d wanted a retreat from his annoying younger brothers. She’d only lived there for the duration of her pregnancy and a few months after.

No one had liked her there much.

Especially him.

He’d gotten rid of every other memory of his short marriage, but had kept the chair.

It was plenty big enough for two. He settled down, with Chantal still on his lap, and kicked out the foot. He hookedhis arms around her when she squirmed. "Nope. Not going anywhere. I’m not ready to let go of you yet at all. I need to hold you, after tonight. More than I need anything in the world."

"Gene?" She pushed up on his chest with one small hand. "Talk to me."

"Ryan was in the backseat, in the middle, and as safe as Hudson could make him. And that guy ran them off the road. There was nothing Huds could do. Life can be... so tenuous, honey. He could have lost his son. Just like... we could have lost Greer fifteen years ago. Or we could have lost you... I guess that I’m getting to the point in life where... I am trying to figure out what matters most. And I know it now—it’s my son in there, and my sisters. My brothers and parents. My friends. And—you. I want to matter to you more than I have ever wanted to any other woman before."

His hold tightened on her. And he just... held her right where she was.

33

The man was...maybe there was far moredepthto Gene Matteo Hiller than Chantal had ever realized.

"You do matter. Faster than I thought possible." The words just slipped out somehow. But they were true. At heart, all arguing for six years aside, this man was a good man where it mattered.

She’d seen that before. Even when she thought she hated him, she had seen him with his family, his son. The people he cared about.

But did she believe he cared about her? Fully, truly? The way Charlie loved Rory or her father loved her mother? Well, that was where she struggled. "But I don’t know... how lasting... whether you are serious... I mean..."

"You don’t know if what I am feeling is a passing thing?" He toyed with the button on her pajama top. They were pajamas she’d left at his house a long time ago. Genny had kept them in her room as spares for when Chantal had slept over for whatever reason or another.

Always when Gene was gone. And definitely not while he had been married to Carly. They had been like two ships who had deliberately never passed in the night. For a long, long time.

But three weeks ago, their ships had collided. In that cabin on the corner of his property. Nothing had felt the same since.

That didn’t mean that this felt wrong, though. It felt the exact opposite of wrong. And that scared her.

That was exactly what she told him, too.

Then, before she could even stop to think that what they were doing would change everything, or that his son was sleeping two doors down. Or that Gunn, the minister, for heaven’s sake, was in his own room nearby, Chantal kissed him. Pressed closer.

Slipped the cotton t-shirt over his shoulders free.

"Can I..." He toyed with the buttons on her shirt. Deliberately.