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And I was so glad I’d decided to share the truth about both Henry and Graham with Banks. I hadn’t planned on doing it, but after he’d shared about Violet, I couldn’t hold myself back.
I wanted Banks to understand just how much looking after Rhys had helped me and why. I hadn’t expected he would make the offer that he did.
Now, I had his friendship, and it was something he’d proven was genuine right from the start. Ever since we had that talk that day, I found that Banks and I were opening up to each other more and more.
He was no longer just my employer, or Rhys’s dad.
He sent me the occasional picture via text of Rhys doing something that would make me smile. One time, he’d included himself in the picture, making my heart swell even more than I had been prepared for.
And there had been two or three nights when I’d already left his place for the night, and he’d reached out to make sure I’d gotten home okay, since there’d been some light snow.
He cared, and it was nice to have his friendship.
Of course, there was the one small thing I hadn’t mentioned to him. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about Graham’s video and the possibility that it wasn’t a snake that killed him at all.
Banks was probably the best person to share that information with, and for some reason, I just couldn’t do it.
Maybe I was worried that Banks would want to investigate with some of the guys he worked with, and if they were as good as I’d learned they were, I was worried theymight uncover something unbecoming of Graham. I didn’t want Banks to judge him.
Aside from that, everything had been wonderful since we’d talked, and my job made me happier than I ever could have imagined.
Smiling at Banks, I answered, “He was wonderful, as always. Weren’t you, Rhys?”
I was holding Rhys up in a standing position on my lap. I had a firm hold on him while he bounced excitedly and yammered on and on at the sight of his dad.
Between the baby gibberish and the giggles, I didn’t know what I loved more.
Banks crossed the room, stood in front of us, and bent down to kiss his boy’s cheeks. As he did, he placed a hand on either side of Rhys’s body, which meant he was covering half of my hands, too.
I tried not to react to his touch, but that was getting harder and harder not to do, especially when I saw the way his face lit up at the sight of his son.
Though it was completely innocent, Banks had touched me several times over the course of the last couple of weeks. He’d held me in his arms that first day as I broke down into tears. It felt nice to be held and comforted, but I tried not to think about it too much.
But as time went on, I’d experienced more. Gentle brushes of his hand against mine as he’d take Rhys from my hands at the end of the day, or he’d occasionally wrap an arm around my back, so his hand could settle on my opposite shoulder and give me a squeeze.
There was nothing behind it, but it still made my belly flip every single time.
“What did you do today, little man?” Banks asked Rhys as he settled himself on the seat beside me.
Rhys’s eyes followed his dad’s movements, so I helped him out and turned his body in that direction and set him down in my lap as I answered for him. “He did lots of playing in between his naps and eating. We had so many conversations, I’d be here all day telling you about them. And he worked really hard during his tummy time today. We did some crawling. He’s getting much better at it.”
Banks’s brows shot up. “Really?”
I nodded. “Want to see?”
“Of course, I do.”
Not wasting a moment, I stood, walked to the middle of the room and set Rhys down on his belly on the floor. Once he was down, I started to walk backwards in the direction of the couch and urged, “Okay, Rhys. Show Daddy what we worked on today. Crawl over to him.” I stopped for a moment as Rhys pushed up onto his hands and knees. Then, as I continued moving backward, I said, “Good job, buddy. Now come this way.”
Rhys looked up at me with his wide eyes, and I was so caught up in him that I didn’t realize what was happening until it did. I’d misjudged how close I was to the couch, and I hadn’t even taken notice of the fact that I’d been slightly bent over, backing up, directly in front of Banks until his hands were on my hips.
“Oh, God,” I gasped. “I’m so sorry.”
Banks let out a soft laugh as he guided me to the cushion beside him. “It’s okay, Lamise. You were distracted by Rhys and his crawling.”
I heard the words he said, but I could barely focus on them. I was too caught up in how it felt to have him place his hands on my hips. It was firm yet gentle, and considering he’d been behind me, it felt far too intimate.
My eyes pinned on his, and I licked my lips.
