The next day while Grace was showing me her new bed, my phone rang. The number was one I didn’t recognize.

“Hello?” I answered cautiously.

“Is this At Flight Graphics?” a female voice asked.

I couldn’t say how long it had been since anyone called looking for my company. Grace was bouncing on her new mattress when I pointed to the receiver and mouthed the words, “Oh. My. God.”

“Yes, this is Ana. What can I do for you?” I raced into the living room to grab a pencil and paper from my desk. The woman asked about logos and then asked whether I could design postcards and other promotional items.

“Yes,” was my answer and within minutes I had a new client.

Grace breezed past me and sat on the old sofa. “You’re welcome,” she said.

“What did you do?” I picked up my computer and held it to my chest.

She patted the cushion beside her. “I tinkered with your search engine optimization. I might have also tweaked your webpage a bit. Then there was this hour that I posted to Facebook groups. And I may have sent it to my old client list. Other than that, I did nothing.”

I sat down beside her and brought up my website. She had indeed changed things a bit. My new tagline was Make Your Business Soar With At Flight Graphics. It was perfect. In all honesty, she should have been doing my advertising. That was her specialty, but I never wanted to be an imposition.

“You are the best friend ever.”

Grace smiled and tipped her head. “I know. Now tell me about your night.”

I swept my tongue across my lips, thinking about the delicious way my body responded to Ryker’s hands, his body, and his tongue. “Amazing. It was amazing. He is a complicated man, but I think there’s more good in him than anything else.”

“I’m glad.” Grace’s expression was warm and loving, but there was also a hint of longing that flashed past her green eyes. “I saw the way you talked about him, Ana. I saw the way he looked at you. I've never seen you connect with someone like that. I think you need each other.”

“I think you’re right.”

I rubbed at the burning in my eyes. I’d spent another night in my contacts. “I need to take a shower and then get started on my new project.” I slapped my hands and rubbed them together like a mad scientist. I had work. Real paying work that could turn into more.

While the water sluiced over my body, I thought about my new life. It was turning into something more, and that something more seemed good.

* * *

Over the next several weeks, I picked up a few jobs. I was growing a solid client base. I still hid birds in all of my designs, but that was part of the fun. Birds were part of my brand.

I was undercutting my competition, but I liked to eat, and work was work. Work was money. Work allowed me to get more done on the house. Work was security for both Ryker and me.

Nate was spending a lot of time with Grace, and that left me a lot more time to spend with Ryker. We slept mostly at my house because in hindsight, he had already moved in before we started sleeping together. I wasn’t sure that he’d even realized it as it was happening—I sure hadn’t—but every piece of furniture he brought invested him into my life and home. And every gift I accepted brought him closer to me.

While I worked on my latest project, Ryker painted the exterior of the house light green. It was great to have a friend whose father owned a hardware store. When he asked me whether I wanted the expired paint, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Using expired paint wasn’t the same as eating expired food, something I must have done recently with the way my stomach lurched today. Expired paint could make your house look better; expired food could turn your stomach.

The thought of throwing up brought the action on, and I raced to the bathroom with just enough time to lift the lid.

“You okay?” Grace stood in the doorway.

I rose from the floor and splashed water on my face. “Yes. I swear Hannah poisoned my food yesterday.” My reflection in the mirror showed a pale face.

“Well, you did swoop into town and steal her man.” Grace crossed her arms over her chest. She’d been here for almost two months now. Her vacation and sick time was almost gone, and she’d have to make some hard decisions soon. In another few weeks, it would be hard to hide the bump that was starting to form.

“According to Ryker, he was never hers.” I breezed past her and walked toward the kitchen. She followed. Mint tea sounded good right now, and it always settled an upset stomach. Maybe two pieces of pie last night hadn’t been a good idea. Maybe mixing flavors had been an even worse idea. But I couldn’t decide whether I wanted cherry or apple, so I’d gotten both and made chapple pie. It had seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, but now I was rethinking my choice. “Tea?”

We moved together like a choreographed dance. I’d gotten used to having Grace here, and although I liked having time to myself or alone time with Ryker, I would miss her if she left. For a woman who initially made fun of Fury, she seemed to have acclimated just fine.

“What’s your plan?” I dipped and pulled my tea bag several times through the steaming water. Grams would be so disappointed. She’d been a firm believer in steeping tea for exactly three minutes, claiming it was the perfect time to avoid bitterness and yet pull the essence from the leaf. I, however, continued to dunk until my tea turned a translucent brown.

“Believe it or not, I have one.” She rubbed her stomach with one hand and picked up her tea with the other. She followed me into the living room.

Without the pie in my stomach, I felt like a million bucks.

Grace curled up on the couch next to me with her computer in her lap. “I sent a message to the asshole.”

I knew exactly who she meant when she said asshole: her boss, and the baby’s father. “What did you say?”

“I just told him that given my current ongoing condition, I thought a generous severance package would be the way to go. The man’s a partner. He can make it happen.” She looked over the rim of her cup. The steam rose to her flaming red bangs. “I might have also told him that failure to deal with the situation right away would require a paternity test.”

“You’re blackmailing him?”

Grace rolled her eyes. She’d been doing that since the first grade. Not even Sister Mary Mavis’s ruler could break her of the habit.

“No, I’m asking him to do the right thing. I’m having a baby. I didn’t get here by myself.”

I sipped my tea and pondered the situation for a minute. “Do you want him in your baby’s life? I mean, he told you to abort it. What kind of father would he be?”

She wrapped her hand protectively around her almost flat belly. “No, I don’t, and if he wants out completely, that’s fine, but he can’t plant a seed in my womb and not pay to fucking water it.”

“Been talking to Mona, huh?” Those words were straight out of the Mona handbook for dealing with assholes. Mona didn’t pretty anything up. She laid all the ugly out so it was clear. Grace and her mother, on the other hand, weren’t really close. It seemed obvious that Grace’s mother had felt trapped in a hopeless marriage once she had a child. I certainly didn’t want the same for my friend.

“I love that old lady. She’s as ornery as a swatted-at hornet, but she’s as sweet as simple syrup. And she does make the best lemonade on the planet.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Mona was keeping us supplied with lemonade. Grace drank it by the gallons, insisting that the vitamin C was good for her baby. I didn’t have the heart to remind her that the sugar probably wasn’t.

“So are you staying in Fury?”

There was no hesitation. “For now. This place feels like home to me.”

I scooted closer to her and pulled her into my arms. “You’re home to me, Grace, and I’m so happy that I might not have to give you up.”

“Who are you giving up?” Ryker entered the house with splotches of light green paint all over him. The man looked good in everything and nothing.

I set my tea on the table and walked over to him. “Not you. I’m never giving you up.” I rose up on my tiptoes and gave him a kiss.

“Good. I’m completely opposed to the idea of living without you.” He gripped my ass and lifted me into his arms. “I’m ready for a break. What about you?”

That was Ryker’s not-so-subtle hint that he wanted to rest between my legs, which didn’t involve rest at all. I swore half the money I was paying him went to purchasing condoms. It was a good investment.

I rubbed at my itchy eyes and nodded. Despite their name, I was sure my extended-wear contacts weren’t meant to stay in for days on end. However, I wasn’t ready to let Ryker see the true color of my eyes. Most guys found them distracting to look at—freaky, even. Once a guy had said it was like God couldn’t choose between shit and sky. I’d even been told my eyes were the work of Satan. So now I kept them covered with simple brown lenses. It took the weirdness out of the mix. Complete heterochromia was what they called it, and only one percent of the population had it. I was one of the lucky one percent, and having it had made my adolescence a living hell.

While Ryker kissed me, Grace groaned, “Get a room,” pretending to be annoyed, but I knew she wasn’t. Grace wanted me to be happy, and Ryker did just that. He made my heart feel full.

“We have one.” He walked me down the hallway and kicked the bedroom door closed behind us. The loose floorboard tripped him, and he lunged forward, dropping me onto the bed.

“We have to add that to the honey-do list.” I scooted back and looked at the man I’d grown to love. He was big and burly and often surly, but he was mine.

“I’ve got more important things to take care of right now.” He pulled my pants from my body and dove into his next project.