"I should have warned you. Sorry." The more he thought of going to his parents' for the day, the more he warmed to the idea. He would show her a good time, let them end on a positive note. And maybe if she spent more time with his family and saw his parents together at home, she might understand his need to stay away from her. "I want you and Magda to come."
Her brow quirked, Lori-spunk firmly in place and stirring his exhausted body wide awake. She also looked three seconds away from telling him to go pound sand.
Gray plowed over the silence before she could speak. "Come with me for the day. My mom can watch Magda. We'll talk without distractions."
"Wasn't today enough for you, Gray? It was for me."
She was giving him his walking papers, a chance to end it here and now. But he couldn't do it. Wouldn't do it this way. "We can't leave it like this. At least at my folks' we can find some time to talk—"
"Won't your mother think—"
"I'll take care of my mom. This isn't about her." He lifted Lori's hand and held it loosely in his, studying the fragile bones with an odd sort of objectivity. He knew the names of every bone in that hand. Just regular bones. But infused with Lori's vibrancy, they were beautiful, unique. "We have to talk."
Bells chimed eleven times—or was it twelve—while he waited, already lining up his next argument. Gray shifted Magda more securely on his shoulder, arm hooked under her bottom.
Head bowed, Lori stared down at their clasped hands. "I guess if the king of keep-it-simple wants chitchat, it must be pretty bad." She tugged her hand free and pressed it to her stomach. "We tried so hard to avoid this."
"Too much like last summer."
"But worse."
"Worse?"
Her mouth twitched with a reluctant smile. "We didn't even get to have sex."
Her words punched him square in the libido, and he could only laugh. His body hurt like hell from the rapid decompression. His head wasn't much better off, and still he ached for her. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into Lori's big bed and sleep tangled together.
Instead he laughed at himself and the colossal mess he'd made of his attempt to forget her. Lori joined him until she sagged against the balcony rail, swiping her wrist over her eyes.
He took her hand again and wouldn't let her pull free this time, instead tugging her to him. Her tear-filled eyes met his, stealing the breath from his lungs more effectively than any rapid decompression.
"Oh, God, don't cry, honey. Everybody's fine. No one got hurt today." He brushed his thumb along her cheek, absorbing a lone tear.
"That's not why I'm crying."
"I'm not worth it."
Her chin tipped up. "I know that."
"Of course you do."
Unable to resist, not that he'd ever had much luck resisting Lori, Gray skimmed his lips over hers, kissed her once, then again. A nice safe twelve or so inches separated them. He couldn't get closer or any more intimate, not with a sleeping kid on his shoulder.
Adrenaline letdown in the aftermath of his hazardous flight left him susceptible. He wanted those warm sheets and Lori's soft arms around him. All those moments when he'd thought he might never see her, kiss her, touch her again hammered down on him.
Too much emotion. He needed to pass off the sleeping kid and get away from the temptation of Lori and those welcoming daisies arched over her door.
Easing his face away, he nipped her full lower lip one last time and stared into her stormy eyes. "Come with me tomorrow. I have a reason, something I want you to see." He would come up with something by morning. "I know I've asked a lot. But do this one last thing for me."
No answer had been this important since his first pilot training check ride. His fingers worked a massage on her scalp, a silent plea for her to relax and trust him. A smart woman wouldn't.
"Okay."
Relief made speech tough. Thankful Lori had checked her brain at the door for once, he passed over the sleeping child. He should have offered to carry Magda inside, but he needed to keep his feet firmly on the other side of Lori's threshold since he was already on shaky ground around her. "I'll pick the two of you up around noon."
"I'll be waiting with both my shirts."
Apparently her brain had checked back in, and just in time. Intelligent thought seemed to be in short supply for him. If he didn't pull it together before he picked her up in the morning, he might do something they would both regret. If he hadn't already.