Page 56 of Juniper Hill (The Edens 2)

Drake let out a string of babbles from his play mat. The oohs and aahs and guhs were coming more often these days.

I stretched out beside him, watching him kick his legs and work his arms. Above him, the mobile of safari animals smiled and swung as he hit one with a fist.

He smiled.

I smiled.

He cooed.

I cooed, mimicking his sound.

The idea of someone taking him away made my stomach churn. How Knox had endured it, how he’d walked away . . .

I pressed a hand to my heart and stared at my son.

We were still navigating through rough waters. Drake and I were close to drowning more often than not. Just last night I’d nearly cracked and answered my phone.

Then Knox had kissed me and as much as I wanted to say it had helped, that kiss had just sent me careening over a waterfall.

The imprint of his large hands lingered on my cheeks. The soft pressure of his lips. The sweep of his tongue.

A kiss to change a life. Or destroy one.

Beyond the windows, the sky was darkening, the Montana days growing shorter and shorter as winter approached. A flash of light had me shooting off the floor and tiptoeing to the glass. The hum of the garage opening below the loft rippled beneath my feet as Knox’s truck eased into the driveway and into its stall beside the Volvo.

I held my breath as a door slammed shut, watching at the window to see which direction he’d head. When he started across the driveway for his own home, I sighed.

Was I relieved? Disappointed? Both?

Knox hesitated on his front porch, glancing over his shoulder and up to my window. He spotted me and lifted a hand.

I waved back.

Then he was gone, under his own roof, flipping on lights as he moved through his home.

I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead to the cold glass.

Knox was a good man. He was as reliable as the sunrise. As breathtaking as the Montana sunsets. He was the type of person I wanted Drake to become.

I stared at his house as he moved into his bedroom and disappeared into the bathroom, probably for a shower after being in the restaurant all day. Only a door separated me from a naked Knox. I pictured the water sluicing over his muscled arms. Dripping over those tattoos. Cascading down the rippled planes of his chest and stomach.

My imagination would have to suffice.

I tore myself away from the window and picked up Drake from the floor. He was up later tonight than normal, but Jill had told me that he’d had a longer nap at daycare, so we’d spent more time playing tonight.

“It’s better this way,” I told Drake as I ran his bath in the sink.

He smiled as he splashed in the sudsy water.

It hurt to lose Knox. It hurt to lose him before I’d even had him. But it was better this way. I had no idea what the future held. I struggled to plan for tomorrow, let alone the next five years.

And I would not be the woman who took another child from Knox.

The beep of my phone’s alarm jolted me out of a dreamless sleep. I fumbled to shut off the beeping so it wouldn’t wake Drake.

Drake.

He hadn’t woken up.