“I’m pretty open about it too. I just…we haven’t talked that much, which is weird, considering you’ve savedmethrice now, and it was bound to come up in conversation.”
“Five times, if we count this one.”
I smile at him and nod in agreement. “Thanks. I needed that break. I need to finish, but the thought alone is overwhelming.”
“I have time if you want help,” he offers.
I gasp. “You? Offering to help? For no reason at all?”
He freezes. I knew it. He won’t lie, so he would rather not answer. Lilly sent him. I knew it. She doesn’t trust me, but it’s okay; she has good reason not to, since clearly, I can’t do it on my own.
“I’m not saying you can’t do it. You can. You might just need to structure some things first. I happen to be good at that.” He pops up, offering me his hand, pulling me up effortlessly. Again, I’m in his space. Earth and flowers wrap around me, and desire fills my bones.
It was one thing when he was just the grumpy neighbor, but I’m starting to think he’s not really that grumpy, maybe just shy?Misunderstood? Direct? Something. And seeing the sweet side of him is more dangerous than I thought.
His gaze searches my face, taking me in before dropping to my lips. I suck in a breath but clear my throat when he looks away. I put my shoes back on silently before I follow him back into the shed to get this done, again.
16CINNAMON, SUNSHINE, AND SUGAR
Dom
“You’re back,”she shouts from a rocking chair on her porch. After I helped Riley earlier, I had to go back to the barn and finish mucking out the stalls. She was focused and working when I left, and it was exactly the right time to do so.
The way she beamed when I would praise her efforts or give her a thumbs up after completing a task... She was asking for help with things she wasn’t sure about, that she could have done herself perfectly. It’s not easy for me to not just do them, as my parents taught me, but she needs to know shecando it.
It breaks my heart that nobody has ever let her know how brilliant she is. Riley is a force to be reckoned with, and I find myself wanting to be in her path in more ways than one.
I’m affected by her like the tides by the moon, or the flowers by the sun. But I can’t let anything beyond admiring how formidable she is and watching from afar happen. Every relationship I’ve touched has ended up in flames, and Riley deserves more than being ashes on the ground. She doesn’t deserve to be in apolyamorous relationship with a man who doesn’t know how to put others before his work, and that’s all I know how to do.
Not that I learned it from anyone, since I was the first in my family to do the things I did—first to get divorced, to make a woman cry, to prioritize everything else but my relationship. The first one to lie, though not on purpose. It was when I put a ring on her finger as a promise of something I could never deliver. We never stood a chance.
I can’t be the one watching Riley’s light dim day after day, even if she makes me feel something I’ve never felt before.
I’ve never felt my soul lit on fire before. Not the way Riley does to me. And I just met her.
And we’re neighbors.
And she owns this ranch.
And she’s over a decade younger than me.
If I can’t have her, then why did my heart skip at the sight of her smiling at me, excited I’m back?
“I am.”
She stands, hands on the rail, wet, long blonde hair spilling over her breasts. “I was wondering if you would have dinner with me tonight. I cooked. As a thank you, again.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
She runs to me, barefoot through the grass, bottled up sunshine, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla all in one. Like a homemade dessert. I don’t know if it’s her hair, her skin, her laundry, or a combination of all those things at once, but it hits me, and I have no choice but to clench my jaw and hold my fists to keep myself from grabbing her and kissing her senseless. Wanting Riley is a mistake I can’t afford to make, but needing her in my life would be even worse, and judging by the way I can’t say no to her, when she stares at me with her impossibly hope-filled blue eyes, I’d say I’m past the point where I can deny it.
At least I haven’t done anything about it.
And I won’t.
“I wanted to,” she says. “And don’t tell me you already ate,because I know you didn’t. Please. It won’t take long, and I could use some company too.”
“Riley…”
