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We pulled into my empty driveway; as soon as Ryan put the car in park, I started moving.
“Thank you so much for the ride.” I forced a smile.
“It’s no problem. Let me help.” He got out before I could turn him down. Great, now he was going to see my disastrous house.
I went to help Cole, but Ryan had already grabbed him and started heading toward the porch. I went for my five-year-old, who was asleep.
With each of us carrying a child, we made our way up the steps. Opening the door, I stepped in and moved toward the couch to lay Bella down.
“You don’t lock your doors?” Ryan asked as he shut the front door, closing the four of us in yet another room that my mind would turn into a family photo.
“Only if I’m leaving for work, but this is a nice town—the crime rate is really low,” I volleyed back, pulling a throw over Bella’s legs. It may have been summer, but it had cooled down quite a bit.
Ryan’s eyebrows pinched together as he set Cole down on the opposite end of the couch, then he was standing looking around the room.
“Can I get you some water, or coffee?” I asked, moving toward the kitchen. Cole was already flipping through channels, finding something to watch. He’d been given pain medication that made him a bit quieter than normal.
“I’ll take some water.” Ryan’s smooth voice sounded behind me. I hadn’t expected him to follow me into the kitchen, but there he was: ass planted against the counter, eyes on me.
Handing him the water, I tried to keep my eyes anywhere but on him, certainly not on how much space he took up in my kitchen, or how his legs crossed at the ankle, making him look so good I nearly groaned.
“So, you still want to catch up, right?” I asked, feeling faux bravery steeling my nerves. We needed to just get it over with…the sooner we talked, the sooner he could move on.
Keeping his eyes glued to mine, he merely nodded.
His lack of words and intense stare made me feel flustered in all the wrong places.
“Dinner.” He stepped closer. “Tomorrow night.” His hands caged me in against the counter. My heart beat loudly in my ears, the pulse jumping in my neck as I tilted my head to see him. His presence was a tidal wave on that shore I’d been stuck on for the last decade.
“I’ll have to find a sitter…” I exhaled, proud that I had kept my head tipped, meeting his stare.
His finger ran along the counter, near my hand…the closeness of his body, of his skin was maddening.
“Let me know. I’ll be here to pick you up at six.”
A million and one seconds passed between us as our eyes locked, refusing to dip to one another’s lips.
Finally pulling back, Ryan stepped away and headed toward the front door.
I tried to catch my runaway heart by placing a hand over it and breathing through my nose, but it wasn’t my heart I needed to worry about. It was my damn libido that was out of control when it came to this man.
