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She pulled back and met his gaze. “You sure know all the right things to say to a girl. And if you keep kissing me like that, I might fall hard for you, Drew MacIntire, and then where would we be?”
Ah. A question he’d asked himself daily since dancing with Baylee. And one he couldn’t give an answer to quite yet.
She blinked and pulled back. “I’ll go give this to Casey. He’s in his room, drawing. Please, make yourself at home.” She pointed to the sofa, headed down the hall, and disappeared into Casey’s room.
*
Baylee stepped intoCasey’s room, closed the door and then leaned back against it. The book pressed to her chest, she tried to catch her breath. Between the amazing gesture of bringing Casey something, kissing her senseless, and then her admitting she was falling for him, she couldn’t decide if she should hide under Casey’s bed all night or make a run for it out the window.
So caught up in the moment, the words in her head had just poured out her mouth. Sure, she’d love to have an answer from Drew about his feelings for her, but, well… did she? Her heart ached at the thought of him leaving. And he had to leave. There was no question about it. Baseball was his livelihood. His life. And her life was here.
“Hi, Mama.” Casey looked up at her from his little desk.
His sketchpad was in front of him. She blinked. Lost in thought, she’d forgotten she was in Casey’s room.
“Is Mr. MacIntire here? I made him a drawing.”
“That’s awful sweet of you, Case.” She moved away from the door and closer to her son. As she leaned over his shoulder to admire his work, she ran her hand through his silky blond hair. “And Mr. MacIntire brought something for you too.”
“What is it?”
“A book about baseball.” She handed him the book.
He took it and opened it, laying it on top of his sketchpad on his desk. Without another word, he bent his head and lost himself in the book.
Baylee shook her head. In a mere few weeks’ time, Drew had understood Casey more than his own father did having known him his whole life. How was that possible? She thought of what a friend had told her after Casey was born. She said, “Parenting isn’t something you do. It’s a relationship.” She’d never forgotten that. And she tried to relate to Casey as a person, not just as a mom or a disciplinarian. In the same way she had to communicate with her mom or sister or anyone in her life she cared about, she had to do the same with Casey. And after only a few weeks, Drew was willing to do the same.
She squeezed her eyes shut tight as a piece of her heart broke off and fell within her chest. When Drew left, a part of him would go with her, but what about Casey? Was she letting him get too close as well? As much as she wanted a great evening with Drew, they had to talk about the future, where things were going. It wasn’t about just her. It was about Casey too. She had to guard his heart as well as her own.
She ran her hand through Casey’s hair one more time before turning for the door. “I’ll be out here if you need me. Dinner will be ready in a bit.” Casey didn’t answer, his head still buried in the book. She pulled the door to but left it cracked.
Drew was in the kitchen, placing items from the bag he’d brought onto the counter. “Is he okay?”
The worried look on Drew’s face warmed her heart. The man was concerned with how much her son loved a book or not. Good Lord, she was in deeper than she thought.
“He loves it. He even stopped drawing to start reading it. That’s saying something.” She moved next to him and looked at the items on the counter. “What have you got here?”
“Well, I brought the movie The Natural to watch. If you aren’t in love with baseball now, you will be by the time it’s over.” He smiled down at her and her tummy did a funny flip. Oh, she was in love with baseball all right. A baseball player, more like it.
“Okay. Sounds good. And I thought we could bake cookies. I have dinner all ready to go. I hope you like lasagna. We just need to heat it up when we’re ready to eat.”
“You had me had at cookies. The lasagna is a major bonus though. You’re going to ruin all my training, woman.” He patted his six pack abs as he teased.
Baylee laughed. There was no way her cooking, or baking, would ruin the physique he had going. She turned to the sink to wash her hands, as well as to avoid him seeing the heat that flushed her cheeks. She had a Greek god in her kitchen, joking with her that her food would make him fat. Gracious, how her life had changed in a matter of a few weeks.
From the kitchen drawer she retrieved an apron from the bakery and tied it around her waist. “You want one?”
Drew looked as if he’d eaten a lemon. “Um. No. I’m not an apron kind of guy. Most guys I know aren’t.”
She laughed hard. “So, not even one of those guys who has a grilling apron that says something fun like, ‘I turn grills on’?”
Now he looked absolutely mortified. “Definitely not.”
“Well, now I know what to get you for your birthday.” She teased as she turned to pull her cookie sheets from the cupboard.
“You get me that for my birthday and I’ll wear it, but only for you.”
He didn’t see her smile. Her back was to him as she laid the cookie sheets out on the counter. The smile faded though. She didn’t even know when his birthday was. Another reminder of how little they still knew of one another.
