Free Irrevocably Mine (Imagine Ink Book 3) by Verlene Landon Page A

overwhelming and she had to take it slow.
    Gus looked her in the eye and said words that would bond them together tighter than Stacy ever thought possible. “I’m in love with your brother. Pretty much have been since that day last winter when we had that freak snow and I slid my crossover off the road and hit the feral cat. I don’t know why I called him, maybe because he was closer or maybe because my heart knew something I didn’t, but either way, he showed up in no time. I was a blubbering mess over the cat. It was mangy and wild and probably better off dead, but you know me. That’s not something I can live with.”
    Stacy grabbed Gus’ hand and caged it in hers, feeling a sisterhood she’d never felt with another. “Ha, I remember the story and the scratches. He held it for the twenty-mile ride to the emergency clinic, hissing and clawing all the way there.”
    “Yep.” Gus got gooey-eyed. “He was bleeding like crazy, too, in his new car, no less. I don’t even think he’d made the first payment. Boy, that cat was a terror in the car, scared and hurt, but John held on to him the whole way so he wouldn’t hurt me. His allergy be damned.”
    The subject of their conversation slinked across the living room en route to the kitchen, probably to steal some pizza and terrorize Lynyrd. Lynyrd was the sweetest, most laid-back cat Stacy had ever seen. She liked him, and she was most definitely not a cat person. Gus said she named him that because he had the best purr, and she could listen to him all day long. Stacy wasn’t surprised when Gus had named the feral beast who had assaulted John, Skynyrd.
    “I’m going to tell you something that totally isn’t my place to tell, but I feel you need to know. I think John is in deep with you too, but he’s in serious denial. Why else would he hold a fucking pissed-off alley cat unless he thought it would endear himself to you?”
    Stacy paused. Unsure of how much she should say, but she couldn’t leave it there.
    “It wasn’t love at first sight with him, or maybe it was, but he claims it’s just lust. John is a very methodical man. He doesn’t dive into things without analyzing them, making a spreadsheet, and calculating risks. He’s not the free spirit you are, which makes you two perfect for each other. So, my advice is to keep doing you, Pixie, keep him interested and do what you can to push him into action. He craves that balance, and I think you would be good for him and vice versa.” Stacy rose, pretending to seek out a cat. She was stalling, and not very well. She hated cats, always had. Returning to the sofa, she continued.
    “However, he will pine away while calling it something else rather than approach you. You will need to spell it out for him. Let him know what you’re feeling, explain everything about the pregnancy and then let him in.” Tongue in cheek, Stacy added, “To your heart and your pants. But if you’re not in one hundred percent once you guys go at it a few times, please let him go. Once he admits to feeling or feels more, he won’t let go, and it will slowly destroy the very essence of who he is to be in it all the way with a woman that’s in it only a fraction.”
    Stacy didn’t mean it to sound threatening, but it kind of did—no direct threat but the implication hung in the air, coiling around them both.
    “That’s good to hear. I don’t want to be in a half-baked relationship and I’m the type that just kind of knows. With John, I just know, if he’s in it, then so am I.” Dropping her gaze and hand to her barely-there baby bump, Gus’ tone went from hopeful to defeated, “But this little surprise might be too much for him to overlook. I wanted to tell him, Stacy, I honestly did. You, too. I think keeping it from you was harder than him. In a way, I just believed that he would understand, in time, but I was afraid I pushed you too far.”
    Gus put on her game face and looked Stacy right in the eye. “I see what you