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“Something smells delicious.” Goose bumps prickled my skin at the sound of his voice, and as I turned back to the stove, I caught him watching me, his gaze following my every movement.
“Do—” I cleared my throat, my word coming out croaky. “Do you want any breakfast?”
My hands shook as I turned back to face him where he was standing in the doorway, his hands outstretched and holding on to the top of the frame. A sliver of his stomach showed beneath his zipped-up jacket, a reminder that I was still wearing his T-shirt.
“Nah, I’m good.” He let his arms drop, maneuvering over to the table where he said hi to the boys before beelining it to me, and all the while, I was as still as a statue, trying to make sense of everything, but mostly trying to work it out in my head.
How had I gotten here? How did I manage to be this confident around another man? How was I not on edge, waiting for something bad to happen with him?
It was simple: I trusted my gut. A small thing but it made so much difference.
“I’ll see you in a couple of hours, yeah, mama?” He sauntered toward me, wrapping his arm around my waist and bringing me to him.
“I…I will?”
His lips lifted on one side, a glint in his eye as he dipped down and placed a slow kiss on my cheek. “Yeah. Romeo’s party, remember?”
I closed my eyes, letting out a little laugh. I’d completely forgotten about that, and the fact that he’d taken my car to get new tires. I hated that my car wasn’t there, ready for me to jump into and escape at any moment if I needed to.
“Yeah, I’ll see you there,” I whispered, pulling back just enough to look up at him.
Neither of us said anything for a few seconds, instead just simply taking each other in, then with one last kiss to my forehead, he was gone, letting himself out of my house and shutting the door behind him. There was something so much more intimate about his forehead kiss than anything else we’d done in the last twelve hours.
Shaking my head, I turned my focus to the boys, but neither of them were paying attention to me, too busy eating and babbling away. And I was grateful because in that moment, if they would have asked why Raf was here, I wasn’t sure what I would have been able to tell them.
My mind raced a mile a minute as I tried to think of an excuse as I cleaned up, then set them both into the playroom to give me time to catch up on chores, and before I knew it, several hours had gone by, the clock ticking down faster than every other day. Maybe it was because I knew I was about to see Raf again.
Grinning, I told Kian to head upstairs as I picked Reed up out of his playpen that he liked to try and break free from but never achieved, then headed up behind Kian.
It took over thirty minutes to put Reed down for a nap, but even if he only got an hour before we went next door, it was better than a cranky baby around the guests—Romeo and Rafael’s parents. Fuck, I was going to meet his mom and dad and I’d slept in the same bed as him last night.
My cheeks heated. Dammit. I hadn’t even realized until that very moment, and now I was all kinds of nervous as I headed into Kian’s room where he was sitting at his little desk, drawing yet another picture. I needed a distraction, because if I thought too deeply about it, I’d end up bailing, and that was the last thing I wanted to do when Bailey had put so much effort into this surprise.
“We need to get ready, bud,” I told him, pulling some clothes out of his closet. He ignored me, too busy with what he was doing. “Come on, Kian, we’re going to be late.”
“I’m busy, Mom.” He huffed out a breath, sounding just like a teenager and letting me know that although he was six now, he’d soon be sixteen and then it would be a whole other ball game.
“No, Kian, come—”
A loud knock ricocheted throughout the house, causing both Kian and me to jump.
“Peyton!”
My eyes widened at the booming voice, my heart jumping into my throat. But it wasn’t just me who had recognized the tone, Kian had too because he instantly dropped his crayons and came running over to me. I wrapped my arms around him so tight I was scared I’d hurt him, but I needed him to know it was okay—at least, I hoped it would be.
Banging echoed again, this time so loud I was equal parts afraid that it would wake Reed up, but also take my door down. And then there wouldn’t be a barrier between us.
“Mommy,” Kian whispered, a single word but it told me all I needed to know. He was petrified, just like I was.
“It’s okay, Kian.” I rocked us back and forth, trying to soothe us both. “It’s okay.”
He’d found us. He’d finally found us.
How had he discovered where we were? It had been weeks since the grocery store incident. He hadn’t seen me that day, I was sure of it. So how was he now at my door? I needed to dosomethingbut I was paralyzed, the only thing I could do was hold on to my oldest son as tight as I could and hope that Travis would leave.
I shook my head. It was a stupid thought, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t hope for a miracle to happen.
It was all over now.
