Can't Help Falling In Love (The Sullivans #3)(60)

Megan frowned. “Are you dating anyone?”

Again, Sophie shook her head. “Not really. A couple of guys keep calling, but I’m not really interested.”

Obviously, her friend was saving herself for someone. Again, Megan knew the easier thing was to back away from this discussion. It would be safer to talk about the weather or their plans for the weekend.

But Megan was tired of having acquaintances. She wanted real friends, women she could share tears and laughter with, women she could confide in.

Maybe it was time to step out on a limb.

“Is the guy you’re interested in worth it, Sophie?”

Her friend covered her eyes with her free hand and made a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a sob.

She looked at Megan with such sad eyes that her stomach clenched. “Sometimes I’m sure that he is, but then other times...well, I have to wonder if I’m just fooling myself because I don’t want to see who he really is.”

Megan was heartbroken for Sophie for having fallen into what seemed to be unrequited love with a man who might not deserve it.

But even as she pushed the slice of cake a little closer to Sophie, and the two of them fed their careening emotional states with chocolate and carbs, she couldn’t help but think about Gabe.

And the fact that he definitely was worth it.

* * *

Summer was bouncing on the playground as she waited for Megan to come pick her up from school.

“Glad to be back at school, huh?” she said as she ruffled the top of her daughter’s blond hair.

“Guess where we went today for a field trip?”

Megan tried to remember what it had said on the permission slip she’d filled out a few months ago. But before she had a chance to guess, Summer opened her backpack and pulled out a plastic firefighter’s hat.

“Oh,” Megan said, her mouth suddenly dry. “Wow, how exciting.”

“Gabe was there and he was so awesome showing us everything. We got to slide down the pole from the top bunks and hang out in the ambulance and sit in the seats at the back of the truck.”

During the short walk back to their apartment, Summer regaled Megan with firehouse stories. And as she started slicing cheese and apples for their afternoon snack, she couldn’t stop thinking about one word.

Fate.

She’d never been a big believer in things like that, had always believed that solid decisions and hard work were what paid off. And they had.

But, really, it was getting to the point where it felt like the universe was screaming at her to pay attention!

“And, Mommy, he asked if you like roller coasters as much as I do.”

Megan surfaced from her strange thoughts as she realized what Summer had just said. “And what did you tell him?”

“I said of course you do. That you aren’t afraid of anything.”

Megan put down the paring knife and went to put her arms around her daughter. “Thank you, honey.”

As Summer hugged her back, so hard that her little arms shook with the force of it, she lifted her green eyes and said, “What for?”

“Just for being you.”

And for believing in me when I sometimes forget to believe in myself.

A few minutes later, while Summer was eating her snack and coloring at the kitchen table, Megan picked up the wireless phone and walked into her bedroom, closing the door.

She forced herself not to hang up when voice mail kicked in. “Hi Gabe. It’s Megan. I know you’re still at the station working, but when you’re back home and rested, I’d—”

She had to stop, had to take a breath, had to remember Summer saying, You aren’t afraid of anything.

“I’d love to see you again. Maybe we could meet for lunch sometime during the week?” She added, “Sometime soon, I hope,” before hanging up.

Chapter Twenty-four

The next day, Gabe knocked on Megan’s door. He’d been on a medical call when she’d left her message. As soon as he got back to the station and made it through his paperwork, he’d quickly started planning a surprise for her. One he hoped she’d love.

He’d missed her like crazy these past few days, had wanted to call her a hundred times. But he knew he couldn’t push her, couldn’t risk having her run, possibly for good this time. As he waited for her to contact him, he kept reminding himself that she hadn’t said goodbye.

Instead, she’d told him she’d had fun...and she’d kissed him on the cheek.

Still, it had been a seriously sweet moment of relief when he’d heard her voice on his phone. But when she opened the door, gorgeous as always in a pair of jeans and a sweater, what he felt went so far past relief, past lust, into uncharted territory, that he finally knew for sure.

He was in love with her.

Overwhelmed by the depth of emotions he felt for this beautiful woman standing in front of him, he probably would have just stood and stared at her for hours were it not for Megan reaching for his shirt, taking a handful of the material in her fist as she pulled him toward her.

He finally reacted, dragging her body against his just as she made a play for his mouth. They kissed as though it had been three years since they’d last seen each other rather than three days, clothes flying off all around them just as they had up on his roof.

Sex had never been this desperate a need before, had never been as vital as breathing, as necessary as food and water. But it wasn’t just the quest for an orgasm that drove them stumbling over to her couch, that had him ripping off her bra, yanking her panties down her legs, and dropping to his knees between her thighs.