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I unwound her arms so I could fully kneel in front of her, and I tipped up her chin. “I was counting the days, too. I couldn’t wait to see you.”
Shyness danced across her timid features.
Brown eyes soft and trusting and panging in the center of me like I’d been purposed to be there.
Right then.
I thought maybe the heartbreak I’d put up with had been required to be standing in this very spot today.
I should guard myself, but I wasn’t the type of person to quiet my emotions.
What was the point of love if you didn’t know how to give it?
If you didn’t know how to show it or receive it or accept it?
What was the point of keeping it bottled up where it would fester and rot and turn into something distorted and wrong?
Most of all, how could I hold it back when this child clearly needed it so badly?
“You mean you missed me?” She smiled at me like I was her best friend in the world. Or maybe her only one.
My heart squeezed. So tight I thought it was going to implode.
“That’s right, I missed you so much.”
A shy giggle slipped from her, and I straightened and took her hand. She sidled right up to me, swaying at my side.
My knees only knocked a little bit when I met the heated stare that burned into my cheek.
Caleb Greyson stood there with his hands stuffed in his pockets, grinding his teeth the way he seemed to like to do, as if he were in pain just witnessing the two of us.
Grief lined the harsh hold of his jaw.
God, what was with this guy?
There was something off. Something unsettling about the way he interacted with his daughter. Something that set me on edge but also made me want to dig deeper. Understand what put that haunted look on his face.
“It’s good to see you, Ms. Dae.” He rumbled it out in that low, seductive voice that hit my flesh like the needy scrape of his palms.
The sound of it did not make me shiver. Nope, not one bit.
“Only time will tell if I can say the same.” I curtsied with the razzing.
Mr. Greyson glowered.
Ha. He was so easy to work up.
“I suppose it will.”
“And look at me, right on time.” I lifted my watch and wiggled it around.
“I noticed.”
“Of course, you did.”
A grin played at the edge of my lips, and crap, I needed to stop standing there chatting him up like I was there to see him rather than to work with the child.
“What do you say we go spend some time with Mazzy?” I suggested to her, knowing I needed to whip myself into shape and focus on what was important.
“I’ve been ready for two whole days,” she said with her lisp, pushing back the errant strands of brown hair with her free hand that kept falling in her precious face.
Laughter bound my throat. “We better get after it then.”
I gave Caleb Greyson a parting glance as I let Evelyn lead me into the barn where Mazzy waited.
Nate was down the aisle a few stalls, and I grinned at him when surprise froze him to the spot. Amused disbelief played through his expression, like he couldn’t believe I’d returned, and he was only imagining how it’d come to be.
I only winced a little that he’d had a front-row seat to Caleb Greyson so rudely interrupting our dance, and he’d probably noticed we’d left the bar together, too.
Not that I’d left the bar with the guy.
Not the way anyone else would take it, at least.
I’d have to fill him in later. Definitely not while I was on the clock since that would likely cause Mr. Greyson an aneurism, you know, since talking with people was bad.
I inclined my head.
Later.
Which maybe I shouldn’t give him that because I got the sense he might be expecting something that I really wasn’t all that interested in.
I twisted to look over my shoulder when I felt the dark presence hovering at the big doors that sat wide open at the front of the barn.
Caleb.
I felt him like gravity pulling at my back.
A dark vacuum that would suck me into his oblivion.
It should be impossible, but the severe edges of his face sharpened, the man a freaking razor ready to slice.
I gave him a look that told him to watch it because I was still not playing games, no matter how gorgeous he was or that he’d left me a fluttery mess when he’d walked out on Friday night.
I unlatched the gate for Mazzy’s stall. My chest squeezed at the sight of her.
The horse was gorgeous, her white coat soft and shiny and dappled in black spots, her black mane long like a shock of ebony hair. Dark eyes kind and soulful. She gave a good huff of her own excitement when she saw Evelyn.
