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“I’m thinking you don’t hate him at all.”
Emotion climbed high when he glanced at me, the way those icy eyes sought me out, like he just needed the confirmation that I was still there.
A tether that kept him in place.
Heat keened through the connection.
A livewire.
Electricity.
It was suddenly feeling very difficult to breathe.
“Oh, Paisley. You’re in love with that man.” Dakota whispered it low, like a secret I might have a chance of keeping, when in all likelihood there was a neon sign hanging over my head proclaiming it.
Gushing up from the well where I’d tried to keep it checked.
Shining out like a beacon that sought to call him home.
I guessed I’d never been so good at curbing what I felt.
“I just want to be there for him,” I said instead of admitting it aloud. “So much is going on in his life. He needs someone there who believes in him.”
“Just make sure he believes in you, too, okay? Though from where I’m standing, it looks like you might just be the meaning of it.”
“No, I don’t think that’s in store for us.” It was a breath, terrified of believing it myself. Because I knew I had myself in the most precarious position.
Falling hard and fast for a man who’d already fallen himself, but in an entirely different way.
Only when he’d gone over a cliff, he’d hit rock bottom, had gotten battered and broken, and he didn’t know how to climb out of it.
How to come back from the things he’d done.
I didn’t know details, but I had a hunch they weren’t pretty.
Ryder lifted Kayden high so the sweet little guy could tug free a string. He wasn’t strong enough to do it himself, so Ryder gave him an edge up. The piñata busted open. Candy and inexpensive toys scattered on the lawn.
“You did it! The birthday boy did it!” Ryder shouted.
Kayden giggled like mad while Ryder soared him through the air before setting him onto his feet just as a bramble of children dove in, screeching and stuffing as much candy as they could into their bags.
I let go of a soft laugh. “You’re trying to start a war out there.”
“I probably should have thought that through, but I couldn’t resist when I was ordering everything. Can’t believe my little man is already two.”
“You’re doing a good job, Mama.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so.”
“Ms. Dae! Ms. Dae! Look what I got. I got a whole bag and so much candy!” Evelyn held her bag over her head as she ran my way, her face filled with this smile that sheared me through.
So perfect and free.
My chest ached and another piece of me shattered.
“Hmm…looks like someone else is doing a good job, too.” That Dakota muttered before she roamed away just as Evelyn got to me.
I knelt in front of her. “Let me see what you’ve got.”
She opened it so I could peek inside. “See! I got a whole bag. Which do you like best? I’m going to share all of it with you.”
“What, are you really going to share your spoils with me?”
Her nose curled. “Spoils?” she drew out in a question.
Affection left me on a soft chuckle, then the breath was getting sucked from my lungs when I felt the presence enclose.
Encircle and surround.
My heart stumbled into a scattered beat.
I looked up.
Caleb was three feet away, those hands in his pockets.
Intimidating.
All harsh angles and sharp, sculpted beauty.
But I felt his spirit that had gotten locked inside. Fighting for a way out, so constrained and hardened and packed down I wondered when it was going to blow.
I found myself pushing up to my feet. Tremors rocked the ground as he came forward, and my stomach tilted at the way a smirk took to the edge of his delicious mouth. “You know, I never got that dance.”
I nearly tumbled back onto my ass.
Wait.
What?
Was he asking me to dance?
Right here?
My attention darted around the backyard. Most of the kids had moved to the jungle gym, and the adults were chatting casually as the day waned away. Darkness crawled across the grayed blue of the sky, stars blinking to life just as the timed twinkle lights had lit in the trees.
Music continued to play, the tune a soft love song.
A discomfited giggle slipped up my throat. “Are you serious? People will be watching us.”
And it wasn’t like I was shy or anything. But this was Caleb Greyson we were talking about.
“Let them watch.”
He stepped forward and looped an arm around my waist, tucking me against him.
Fire flashed.
“Have you lost your mind?”
His hand slipped to my cheek as he began to lead me in a slow sway. “I told you that cherry was going to be required.”
“And this is the cherry on top?” I choked around the clot of laughter. The clot of emotion. I couldn’t even discern all that I was feeling right then.
