Page 130 of Stay Wild Darlin’

I nodded, biting my lip. “Yeah.”

She reached out and squeezed my hand. “You go and enjoy yourselves. I’ll snuggle that sweet girl if she wakes. She’s safe.”

I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and gave her a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

Dalton stepped closer, wrapping an arm around my waist as he looked down at me. “You ready?”

“Yeah. I think I am.”

“Have fun,” Maribel said, waving us toward the door. “Don’t call me unless you’re dying. Or out of tequila.”

We all laughed at that.

I stepped outside with Dalton, the evening air cool against my legs as I tugged my jacket tighter. He adjusted his hat, pulling the front brim low with a grin.

We walked out to the truck, and he opened the passenger door for me. I slid in, pulling my seat belt on. I watched the house through the windshield as he shut the door and rounded the front of the truck.

God, I already missed Cora.

Dalton climbed into the driver’s seat, glancing over at me with that half-crooked smile of his. “Still nervous?”

“A little. I know she’s fine with Maribel. I’ve been around her for so long it feels strange leaving her.”

I let out a slow breath as he shifted the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway.

“I think I finally get how you felt . . . that first time you left her overnight with me.”

His brows lifted, surprised. “Yeah?”

“You were so protective, like leaving her was physically painful.”

He nodded, eyes focused on the road ahead. “It was.”

I glanced down at my hands, fiddling with the hem of my dress. “That’s what this feels like. Like I’m handing over this little piece of myself, hoping someone else will be gentle with her.”

Dalton slid his fingers between mine and brought our joined hands to his lips, brushing a kiss across my knuckles. “She’s safe,” he murmured.

My throat tightened. I blinked fast, biting back the wave of emotion that bubbled up at his words.

“You bein’ all nervous and soft?” he said. “Kinda sexy, if I’m bein’ honest. Got me wonderin’ where the no-nonsense nanny went.”

I let out a breathy laugh. “She’s still in here somewhere. Just buried under a few dozen diaper changes and a thousand bedtime stories.”

“Well,” he said, squeezing my hand, “I liked her. But I love this version of you.”

I smiled at him, heart still soft from the way he kissed my hand. We passed Kline’s place, and I glanced out the window, eyes naturally falling to the little house down the road from it. I’d noticed it before. More than once.

I pointed. “Every time I visit Fable, I always look at that house.”

Dalton slowed slightly, his gaze shifting toward where I pointed. “Yeah? I think it’s empty, to be honest.”

“What happened to it?”

“Think the owners got old and passed on. Been sitting quiet for a while now.”

I stared at it as we drove by, heart tugging a little at the sight. It was small, but something about it felt like it still had stories inside.

“Sad that they didn’t have anyone to keep it up,” I murmured.