Page 90 of Dotted Lines (Runaway 5)

It had been two days since Temecula, and I’d done exactly as I’d promised.

I hadn’t gone slow.

I hadn’t held back.

We’d returned to Elyria and there’d been no hotel. I’d brought Clara to my home and set her and August up in the guest bedroom.

She snuck into my room after he fell asleep each night and we spent the midnight hours exploring each other’s bodies. With her by my side, I’d slept better than I had in years. So much so that when my alarm had gone off at five this morning, I’d been totally dead to the world.

If she thought I was sleeping without her again, she was dreaming.

During the day and when August was in the room, I pulled Clara in for a hug. For a kiss. Gus had been watching. Closely. Clara had sat him down for a one-on-one, but it hadn’t erased all of the wariness in his gaze.

We just needed time. Thankfully, we had it.

Clara had called Aria on the way back to Elyria and told her about us. There hadn’t been a lot of surprise in Aria’s voice. Just a smile as she’d talked to us both on speaker.

I wondered about you two back then.

Then Aria had laughed and handed the phone to Brody.

The great thing about a boss slash brother-in-law who owned a private plane was that Clara had no pressure to rush home to Arizona. Which was good because we had some details to figure out first.

“I don’t have a dad,” August whispered.

There was such longing in his voice I nearly toppled over on my ass. Kids his age started to know what made them different. For August, it was that other kids had two parents. Clara was the best mother in the world, but her days of walking alone were over.

“You do now.” I put my hand on his shoulder and the smile that played on his mouth stole my heart. “I’m going to need your help.”

“With what?”

I winked. “We need to find two sticks.”

The light in his eyes was so much like Clara’s that when I stood, I couldn’t help but drop a kiss to the top of his head.

When I glanced over, Clara was watching with a hand pressed to her heart.

I waved and mouthed, “I love you.”

She blew me a kiss and went back to her call.

Then August and I went exploring for our sticks. By the time we were done with our job, I went to Clara, leaving Gus to splash on the surf with his promise not to go past his knees.

“Hi.” I collapsed on the blanket beside her and kissed her shoulder.

“Hi.” She leaned into me. “What were you guys doing?”

“Just playing,” I lied. “How’s Aria?”

“Good. She asked me if I was moving here.”

“Do you want to move here?” I took her hand and laced our fingers together.

“I don’t know.” She sighed. “I love Welcome. But I like it here too and your job is here.”

“My job is flexible, baby. How’s the real estate market in Welcome?”

“Probably not as exciting as it is in California.” She ran her fingers through my hair. “You’d move? Really?”