Chapter 71
GEMMA
Waking with a start, I open my eyes to the feel of late-morning sun streaming through the windows.
Shit.
I throw back the covers, panicked, because after amazing shower sex, Riggs took me to bed where we had even more amazing sex until I fell asleep, somewhere around dawn.
Which means my sex soaked brain completely forgot that I gambled my livelihood and my grandfather’s legacy on a bunch of baked goods that I did not load into my cute painted porch cabinet like I was supposed to.
Judging by the sun, I definitely missed the sunrise service church crowd, but if I hurry?—
Before I can jump out of bed, a thick, strong arm winds itself around my waist and hauls me back. Pulling me tight against him, Riggs mumbles against the back of my neck. “…Going?”
Going?
Where am I going?
Is he serious?
“Riggs.” Straining against the hold he has on me, I huff it out on a harsh breath. Pushing at his arm, I can literally feel much needed money slipping through my fingers. “Please—I need to get the cabinet loaded.”
Pulling me even closer, Riggs buries his face in the crook of my shoulder. “Done.”
Done?
What the hell does that mean?
“Riggs…” Struggling to turn in the tight circle of his arms, I work myself around to face him. “Please?—”
“It’s done,” Tilting his mouth up to meet mine, Riggs brushes a soft kiss against my lips. “I took care of it,” he murmurs, his eyes still closed.
Heart beating wildly, I stare at him, barely able to breathe around the pounding of it, every hard beat threatening to launch it into my throat. Like he can feel me staring at him, Riggs finally opens his eyes.
“You filled my cabinet?” I ask quietly, eyes stinging.
“Didn’t you see my note?” Dark gaze still cloudy with sleep, Riggs frowns at me.
“Yes.” It comes out out on a wobbly squeak while I nod my head against his shoulder. “But?—”
“I said I would.” Still frowning, Riggs loosens his death grip around my waist. Lifting a hand between us, he uses it to push the hair out of my face. “So I did.”
“When?” It’s not that I don’t believe him but…
The corner of his mouth quirks. “Not long after I fucked you to sleep.”
When he says it, I feel my nipples tighten against his chest and my core starts to throb at the memory of Riggs pounding himself inside me.
“I’ve got you, Gem.” Leaning into the space between us, Riggs kisses me again. “I promise, I’ve got you.”
Promise.
The word grabs me by the throat and starts to squeeze.
Before I can tell him to take it back, someone knocks on the pocket door that opens up onto the living room. “Gemma… Riggs… You need to come out here,” Emily calls out, her voice muffled by the closed door.
Seized by panic again, I lunge for the side of the mattress. This time, Riggs lets me go. “Go,” he says, sitting up so he can start the process of getting himself out of bed. “Get out there—I’ll catch up.”
Promise forgotten, I pull on one of the enormous T-shirts I’ve commandeered before streaking across the room and throwing the door open on a grim looking Emily.
Pushing past her, I head directly for the open front door.
Stepping onto the porch, I turn to look at the cabinet.
Its doors are open—the baskets Emily and Riggs packed for me last night are on the shelves where Riggs promised they’d be, but they’re empty.
Everything is gone.
Swallowing hard, I feel the sting of tears again as I move toward the old mailbox Emily painted and hung on the inside of the door for cash payments. Reaching inside, I pull out a wad of tens and fives—maybe a few hundred dollars. Not nearly enough to cover the cost of what was inside the cabinet.
Money in hand, I feel my knees wobble before they give out. Sinking to the porch, I look up at Emily. She looks almost as sick as I feel. “Gemmie…” Shaking her head, she moves toward me just as Riggs makes his way onto the porch.
“What’s wrong?” Looking at me, Riggs, maneuvers his chair around so he can see into the cabinet.
Seeing that everything he loaded into it only hours ago is gone, his face falls.
Looking down at me, he sees the money clutched in my hand.
Even from where he is, he can tell the same thing I could—it’s not enough.
Reaching down to give my shoulder a squeeze. Emily looks at the empty cabinet, her violet blue gaze hardening over a mouth that pushes itself into a thin, hard line. “I’ll go get Colt,” she says, flicking Riggs a quick look before she turns toward the porch steps.
“Wait.”
Before she can move, Riggs calls out. Turning toward him, we both watch while he angles himself in his chair and struggles to pull his phone from his back pocket.
Swiping his thumb across the screen, he gives it a few taps, gaze scanning it quickly before his shoulders sag in what looks like relief.
Pushing himself closer, he leans over the side of his chair and offers it to me. “Here. I forgot.”
Dropping money into my lap, I hesitate but only for a second, before I snatch his phone and look at it.
On the screen I see a picture of Janet, wearing one of my old aprons, on the front porch.
Below the picture are the same words Emily painted on the sign in the front yard. Gem’s Goodies. Below that it says?—
$3,689.00
“I started a Venmo account last night,” Riggs says to me while I sit here and stare at the sum of money on the screen. “I figured these days, not many people carry cash anymore so, it’d be a good idea to cover our bases.”
It’s entirely too much money—not enough to pay my taxes but it’s enough to make up for the loss of the paycheck taking care of Riggs provides and then some. It’s also more than what I calculated. Even if I sold every last crumb in the cabinet, I should only have around twelve hundred dollars.
Speechless, I tap a trembling finger against the icon that will take me to the payment history. There, I start scrolling through a long line of memos.
We’re here for you, Gem
Dent would be so proud of you
You bake it, we’ll buy it
Barrett takes care of its own
You’re not alone
Scrolling through, I recognize names of my neighbors.
Old regulars at June’s. River. Austin. Colt.
Jensen and Sloane. Sera and Penny. Reese.
Throat tight with emotion, I finally get to the bottom of the very long list. The first payment was made at 5:52AM.
It’s for $1 and it’s from Riggs. The memo says?—
Happy birthday, Gem
He’s right.
It’s May 17th.
My birthday.
I’d completely forgotten.
Shaking my head on a laugh, I reread his birthday message. “You gave me a dollar for my birthday?”
“Well… I also paid our taxes,” he tells me in the same matter-of-fact, it’s a done deal tone that always drives me crazy. “You can bite me about it if you want to.”
Stunned, I look up at him, head spinning from the emotional rollercoaster Riggs has strapped me into. “You what?”
“I. Paid. Our. Taxes.” He says it slowly and deliberately like maybe I’m too thickheaded to get what he’s telling me.
Like hell.
“Our taxes?” I scramble to my feet, money scattering across the porch, to stand next to his chair.
“That’s what I said,” he says with a barely suppressed grin because there’s little that gives him more joy than watching me get stubborn.
“Take it back,” I tell him, stacking my hands on my hips, feeling my temper starting to boil over. “Call then and tell them?—”
“Can’t. It’s Sunday.” Riggs gives me a shrug, that grin threatening to take over. “Made the payment online with that phone, right there,” he tells me, jerking his chin at the cellphone clenched in my fist. “And even if I could, I still wouldn’t do it.”
Something makes noise and I flick an irritated glare at it to find Emily standing on the porch steps, hand slapped over her mouth while she tries not to laugh.
Giving her a quick, narrowed-eyed glare, I advance on Riggs. “Who the hell do you think you are?” I ask, poking my finger into his ridiculously solid chest.
“I’m the man who loves you.”
“Riggs…” Hearing him say it takes the fight right out of me. “Is this because?—”
“Because I might’ve knocked you up this morning,” he finishes for me, that damnable smirk of his lifting the corner of his mouth.
“No.” Reaching out, he snatches my wrist and pulls me onto his lap.
“It’s because I’m in love with you, Gemma Rae Pierce,” he says, looking me in the eye.
“I’ve always been in love with you—even when I was a miserable coward—and I’m never not going to be in love with you. ”
Frowning, I shake my head on a sigh, ready to rehash the argument we had in the car. “I love you too, but?—”
“You can’t trust me.” When he says it, regret flickers over his face. Swallowing hard, he nods. “I know. I’ve left you alone for too long for you to trust me—but if you’re willing to let me, I’d like to spend the rest of my life trying to earn it by being here for you, ever single day.”
“How? You’re leaving.” Saying it out loud squeezes around my heart. “You’re leaving me, Riggs, and I can’t?—”
“I’m not.” Lifting a hand, he sweeps his fingers across my forehead, brushing my hair away from my face. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here, Gemma. I’m right here.”
“What about your CO?” I ask, grasping at straws. Trying to find a way to keep guarding my battered heart. “He’ll be here tomorrow. You said?—”
“When he comes, he’ll come with medical discharge paperwork and I’ll sign it,” he says calmly, dismantling my arguments, one by one. “It was always up to me. I choose you, Gem. I choose us.”
Staring at him, I feel my heart twist in my chest. A single, hard twinge before it starts to beat again, slow and steady. “You’re awful confident, Riggs Wheeler.”
Looking at me, Riggs’s eyes eat up the sight of me, shining with so much promise it breaks my heart and heals it, all over again.
“I keep telling you, it’s not confidence, Gem—it’s conviction.
You’re inside me. I’ve carried you into some of the darkest places I’ve ever been and you’ve carried me from heaven to hell and back again.
There’s nothing left of me without you. I couldn’t leave you again if I tried. ”
“Promise?” I whisper it because I want to trust him. I want to believe that this time, Riggs means to give me forever.
“Promise.” Thumb skimming across my cheekbone, Riggs brushes away my tears, the corner of his mouth tugging up into a crooked grin. “You want your birthday, present?”
“I’ve already got it.” Laughing through my tears, I shake my head. “You gave me dollar, remember?”
“That wasn’t your present… happy birthday, Gem.” Riggs whispers it against my mouth, right before he kisses me.