Accept Me Read Free Page B

you’re old as the hills now, how old will you be next year?” I do my best to make light of the conversation that there really isn’t a need for. She’s coming home with us and that’s final.
    “Well, I’m old as the hills now, I’ll be older than sin next year and older than dirt the year after that.” She smiles a toothy grin that has us both erupting in laugher, as per usual.
    “Come on. It’s time for you to see your new home.” I stand and lead Grams away from this place and to the home that awaits both of us.
    The first home I’ve had since Maman and Papa died.
    The home that Damon has made.

 
     
     
    The entire ride to the new house is nerve wracking as hell. I want Grams to love the new place as much as I do. Anyone with a brain would be impressed with the property; I know that, but I can’t help my rising anxiety. The house itself doesn’t mean a damn thing if she doesn’t feel at home here.
    I peek over at her in the passenger seat of the pricey SUV that Damon insisted upon. She’s been quiet and watchful of the passing scenery the entire drive, which is unlike Grams. Her silence magnifies my already sky high level of concern.
    I carefully pull into the drive and switch off the ignition. “Ready?” I ask nervously.
    “As I’ll ever be,” she chimes back right on cue.
    I snatch her walker from the cargo net in the back and jog around the car to help her out. She eases out of the passenger seat and onto her feet, a wide smile exposing her dentures. Those awful, giant, pearly white dentures! I’ve never been so pleased to see them in their full, toothy glory. She likes it. Thank fuck! I melt into a puddle of sweet reprieve nearly instantly.
    “Niiice crib,” she drawls out coolly.
    My eyebrows arch skyward at her terminology. She’s hilarious. “Crib, huh?” I mock.
    “I keep up with the youngsters’ language.”
    I don’t doubt it for one second either. Cable TV has been her insight into the world from inside the retirement home. Her blue eyes light up and I turn to confirm what I already know has earned Grams’ smile. That particular smile is reserved for only one person.
    “Damon, you’ve really gone all out this time.” She edges around me and heads for my Big Man, who is standing under the awning at the front entrance looking like heaven personified.
    I’ve never seen a more gorgeous man. When my eyes land on him, whether it’s the first time or the one thousandth time that day, it’s like seeing him for the first time; my stomach flutters as I drink in every handsome attribute. His height. His frame, filled out with the perfect amount of lean muscle. His dark hair. His defined jaw, spattered with coarse five o’clock shadow that he knows I love. The sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up his forearms exposing ribbons of sinewy muscle. Of all things about Damon Cole that leave me breathless, his eyes are by far my favorite. Persuasive doesn’t even adequately describe those golden irises of his. Those eyes are captivating. Absorbing. My gaze meets his and I’m sucked neck deep in an instant, like some strange gravitational pull so damn intense draws me nearer to him and is impossible to escape. Even if I felt like fighting, I wouldn’t do any good because that same force that pulls me into Damon’s orbit steals any desire for solitude that I once had. I’m his. And then there’s that subtle smile when his eyes meet mine, that smile that’s always laced with something more, something primal and compelling that consumes us both—one look in those eyes, one glance at that smile, and it’s clear as crystal to both of us that I am exactly where I belong.
    He doesn’t even have to speak. Not aloud anyway. Something in the way he’s looking at me sets my feet moving on a path straight to his arms.
    “You were gone too long,” he says just loud enough for me to hear.
    I wrap my arms around his middle and rest my cheek against his chest. Grams is milling about on the