I didn’t know that vacancy had been so obvious.
“I’m trying, Mom, and I’ll be okay, no matter what. I don’t want you to worry about me. I’m stronger than you think.”
She clucked a gentle sound. “Not worry about you? Impossible. And I know how strong you are. You make me so proud. I don’t think you have the first idea. How I see my fierce, brave, kind girl. You’re the whole package, Dakota.”
I choked over the affection. “Thank you. For everything. I couldn’t do any of this without you. I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”
She brushed her thumb under my eye. “Love is on the house.”
Everything swelled and rushed. “Thank you for teaching me that. What it means.”
“It’s who we Coopers are.”
I swiped a tear that got loose from my eye. “And now that I’m crying, thank you very much…” I drew out, forcing as much lightness as I could into it.
I blamed it on the whirlwind that was Ryder, all these emotions that were simmering at the top.
“Sorry about that.”
“No you’re not,” I told her around a grin.
Her laughter was easy. “You’re right. I’m not. I’ll forever be telling you how great you are.”
Sniffling, I turned back to the living room that was a complete disaster.
Ryder was right. My son was nothing but a tiny tornado.
“You’d better pick up your toys if you want to go to Ryder’s house.”
Kayden jumped into action, running around and tossing all his toys back into the bin. “Watch me. I fast, Mommy.”
“Hmm, someone sure loves that Ryder, don’t they?” Mom mused from behind.
Yeah, we definitely did.
“He spoils him rotten, that’s why.”
“Only because someone loves Kayden, too.”
More moisture threatened at my eyes, but I bit it back. The last thing I wanted was my mom to pick up on the scent. She would hound me until I confessed, and I was most definitely not ready for that.
“All done!” In victory, Kayden threw his arms into the air. “We go right now.”
He came bounding my way, and I scooped him up, laughing with a flurry of emotions.
Happiness and anticipation and the flutterings of fear because I was afraid I might be a fool for allowing myself to feel any of these things.
But I didn’t want to put up walls.
Didn’t want my questions and insecurities and the what-ifs to steal the seeds of joy that had just begun to sprout. “Well, I guess we are out of here since someone is really super fast.”
“Me!”
“You two have fun tonight. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Mom handed me Kayden’s bag, and with a wave, we were heading down her sidewalk. I buckled Kayden in, my son babbling on about his day, how he’d played with the hose in the backyard, his little hands animated, grin and dimples so sweet. “I got aww wet.”
“You got all wet?”
He giggled and kicked his feet. “Gammy spray me, Mommy!”
“She’s a stinker.”
“No, I a stinker.” He squished up his button nose, making little snorting noises.
“The best little stinker around.”
I shut his door and climbed into the driver’s seat, eased out, and drove down her quaint street. The long branches of the trees stretched out over the road, nearly touching. Glittering rays of light broke through the crown, tossing the afternoon in a cover of peace.
I came to a stop at the stop sign at Manchester before I pulled out onto the main road and wound the rest of the way to Ryder’s neighborhood.
It took all of five minutes for us to make it there, and I pulled into the spot behind his car and was quick to get Kayden out. I tossed the strap of his bag over my shoulder and started up the walkway with my son attached to my hip.
I was climbing the porch steps when something stalled me. When a feeling crawled over me, lifting the hairs at the nape of my neck.
Slowly, I shifted to peer over my shoulder, eyes moving over the street. Riding over the houses that sat farther back from the road and the lines of dense trees that gave each of the lots privacy.
More of the late summer afternoon peace hung in the air. Birds chirping as they flitted through the branches and a calm that whispered on the light breeze.
But it was hard to hold onto it when I went to the door and unlocked it.
Because it didn’t matter that I saw no movement or anything out of place.
I was sure we were being watched.
TWENTY-SEVEN
DAKOTA
I stepped into the sanctuary of Ryder’s house and closed the door behind us. The turn of the lock was enough to shut out the unsettled feeling that had followed me, my thoughts instantly jumping toward the man when I was hit with the smell of onions and garlic that wafted from the kitchen.
My stomach rolled in a tumble of nerves and excitement.
“Down, Mommy, down!” Kayden wiggled in my arms, and I set him on his feet, his tiny shoes a thunder on the hardwood floors as he raced that direction.
“Hi, my Rye-Rye!” he shouted as he blazed through the opening, his arms thrown over his head. “I here!”
“Hey, there, K-Bear.” Ryder’s voice echoed through the house, all rumbly and low, sending tremors through my body. I let Kayden’s bag fall to the floor near the door, and I slowly eased across the room, stopping at the threshold.
The sight of him hit me like a shockwave.
A sonic boom that reverberated through my senses. Shaking me all the way to the bone.
He was tossing Kayden into the air without letting him go, holding onto him to keep him safe while my son assuredly thought he was being launched to the moon.
Ryder wore dark jeans and a gray tee stretched tight across his solid chest, that shock of black hair flying back as he looked up.
His profile severe, carved in masculine beauty and edged in darkness.
It was his expression that weakened my limbs.
The sheer devotion that lined his features. The love that seeped from the razor-sharp angles.
And I was nearly dropping to my knees when he pulled Kayden to him and turned his attention on me.
Gunmetal eyes blazed, dragging over me in a slow slide of appreciation where I stood shaking like I was standing beside a freight train barreling through.
Chest rattling and legs quivering.
That intense gaze darkened, and a hazy fog of lust curled through the air.
Disorienting.
Both anticipated and unexpected.
I finally got myself together enough to offer him a smile. “Are you making dinner again? You really are trying to spoil me, Ryder. Keep it up, and you won’t be able to get rid of me.”
“That’s the plan.” He sent me the softest smirk, the man letting some of that easy cockiness into his tone. A slight razzing that touched his words.
My heart wouldn’t make it through if I dug too deeply into it.
I forced myself to raise a brow and casually stroll deeper into the kitchen like he wasn’t systematically plucking out every chink in my armor.
Not that there was a whole lot of that to begin with when it came to him.
“The plan, huh? It sounds like you’ve been giving it a lot of thought,” I teased.
“A whole lot of thought.” It was rough. Scraping the air.
I exhaled a shallow breath, and he seemed to shake himself from the direction we were going.
“I hope you’re hungry.”
“I hungee!” Kayden offered.
Ryder chuckled. “Good thing, little man. I made enough to feed a small army.”
He set Kayden in his playpen before he turned back to me.
“What are we having?” I chanced, edging closer and coming to a stop at the end of the counter. It was usually a safe spot. Where I could stand to put some distance between us.
But my mind was slammed with the memories of what had happened in that very spot last night.
The way my breasts had been pressed to the cold surface as he had knelt behind me.
The way his big hands had felt touching me for the first time.
I was pretty sure all those same thoughts hit Ryder because he groaned before he raked a hand over his face, winding around me as he went to the stove. “Chicken fajitas.”
“It smells delicious.”