Butterflies swarmed. I’d thought I was too old for them, but they fluttered and flapped, sending tingles rushing through my body. I sighed, and I leaned down to kiss him a little longer before I forced myself back before I got lost in him again. “I need to get Kayden up and ready. It’s Saturday…family breakfast at my mom’s.”
I hesitated. It wasn’t like Ryder had never attended before, but I wasn’t sure that I could face him in front of my family this morning without revealing what had happened between us. Without it being written all over me.
I thought he was probably thinking the same thing because he tipped up my chin. “How I’m supposed to keep my hands off you in front of your family and this town is beyond me. Now that I’ve touched you, Dakota, it’s the only thing I want to do.”
Everything squeezed. My heart and my stomach and the achy spot between my thighs.
“But I imagine if your brother even sees us in the same room together, he’s going to catch the trail. Not sure I’m that good of an actor, and now that we’ve finally just begun to make good use of my dick, I doubt it would be in our best interest for me to lose it now.” His joke was soft, woven with something more, a quiet intensity that whispered of his secrets that he continued to keep locked on his tongue.
“I might have an issue with you losing it,” I murmured back, the faintest smile pulling around my lips.
Ryder’s gaze turned serious, and he brushed back the lock of hair that kept falling in my face. “Your brother is going to be against this, Dakota. He’s going to lose it, kick my ass, and I mean it in the most literal way, and I’m going to deserve it.”
“Why?” How could he? Not when he and Cody were so close.
His thumb skimmed the hollow beneath my eye. “Because he knows me.”
Disquiet blustered through, and Ryder’s voice became a little rougher when he said, “I am supposed to meet up with Ezra this morning. I need to get going, too.”
“Okay.” Hesitation brimmed, and I stayed there staring down at him, like I could get behind his mask. See everything he kept shrouded. Questions burned where I held them in my chest.
He’d asked me to trust him. To give him this. So I forced it aside and kissed him quickly again before I slid off the bed and went to the suitcase still opened on the floor. I snagged a dress off the top. It was short and red and always made me feel pretty.
Ryder groaned. “You’re really trying to wreck a man, aren’t you?”
From over my shoulder, I frowned at him.
His brow lifted like it should be obvious. “The number of times you’d be wearing that dress when I’d come into the café and the only thing that I could do was imagine following you into your office and pushing my hands up under it. Bending you over your desk so I could get to all the goodness hidden underneath.”
How hadn’t I known?
“I wished you would have, but I guess we’re going to have to make up for lost time, aren’t we?” How I managed to get it out flirty, I didn’t know, but Ryder was rumbling again as he climbed out of bed.
Naked and gorgeous and stealing my breath.
The floor rocked beneath my feet as he ambled my way.
He plastered himself to my backside and buried his face in the side of my neck. “Oh, Dakota, we’ll be making up for it. I promise you. I’m making up for everything.”
Then he sauntered out the bedroom door, leaving me gaping behind him.
Forty minutes later, I pulled into the driveway at my mother’s house. Kayla’s car was already there, and I quickly went to the back and unbuckled Kayden. I set him on the ground, taking his hand as we headed up the walkway. He trotted along at my side, pointing at the house. “We go Gammy’s house? I get Auntie Kaywa? I get bwekfast?”
His sweet little slur traveled on the morning air, his adorable face tipped up toward me as we went, and I thought I might feel lighter than I ever had before. This hope that had come seeping out from the walls where I’d shored it away, filling me up, a faith as bright as the sun that had begun to climb the sky.
All while there was a brand-new pressure gliding through my bloodstream. It felt as if I were carrying a new burden. One that was faceless and obscure. One that Ryder had entrusted me with without giving it a name.
It left me unsettled and unsure, a sour dread that festered in my stomach, but the one thing I was sure about was Ryder, so I pushed it down and promised myself that I wasn’t going to allow my imagination to get carried away.
Resolved to let Ryder handle it the way he’d asked me, I gave a quick knock to the door before I turned the knob, finding it unlocked.
“Hello!” I called as we stepped into my childhood home that I loved so much.
I could almost feel the memories hovering like ghosts in the room. Vestiges of voices that still whispered and embraced.
My mother’s support and belief. The way she’d encouraged and whispered her faith into her children, gave us the confidence to pursue anything we wanted. The way she’d so patiently taught me everything I knew.
The love and hard work that she’d instilled.
A giggle that I recognized as my sister’s rolled from the kitchen. At the sound of us entering, she showed in the entryway, sipping from a mug of coffee. Her brown hair that was a shade lighter than mine was done in a long braid, and she smiled softly as we entered.
Kayden bounced on his toes. “Auntie Kaywa, I see you!”
Kayla let go of the softest laugh, so much affection in it that I could feel it travel through the air. “I see you, too, my sweet boy. I’ve been missing you.”
“I miss you!” He grinned that dimpled grin and pointed at her with his chubby finger. He started hopping her way, making froggy sounds as he went.
A giggle slipped from her, and she sent me a knowing smile just as our mother came to stand at her side, using a hand towel to dry her hands.
“Well, what do we have here?” Mom asked, forever playing along.
“I a fwoggy!”
“The cutest froggy I ever did see.”
Welcome covered her expression, her love for us so fervent it might as well have hung on the wall with the rest of the pictures.
Mom’s attention landed on me.
“Good morning. How are you today?”
Yeah, there was worry there, too. No question, my mother had picked up on the fact that I was distraught yesterday evening. I’d barely been able to eat, and I’d been fighting tears through the entire meal.
The difference one night could make.
“I’m feeling much better this morning. I guess I just needed a good night’s sleep.”
Okay, I’d slept all of two hours.
But I felt alive.
Awake.
Running on the remnants of Ryder’s touch.
“That’s good,” she said, though I could tell she was still appraising.
“We get bwekfast?” Kayden’s question distracted from whatever she’d been about to ask, and he patted his belly before he lifted his arms for Kayla to pick him up, bouncing on his knees like he was contemplating jumping into her arms. “Auntie hungee?”
She set her mug aside and picked him up. “Starving.”
“That’s good because it’s just about ready,” Mom said, still eyeing me.
I gave her a bright smile, praying I could keep my nerves settled and I wouldn’t slip and say something I couldn’t.
The scent of bacon wafted through the air, mixed with the aroma of dough and sugar and frosting—a smell that could only mean cinnamon rolls.
“Well, I’m definitely hungry,” I said.
“Since you ate three bites of your dinner last night, I can only imagine why.”
I waved her off as I treaded deeper into her house. “It’s been a long week and I was tired last night. I’m fine. Really.”
The door suddenly burst open behind me, and Cody came striding through.
Anxiety blistered across my flesh, reddening my neck and cheeks. There was no way to stop it.
God, could he see Ryder written all over me? Was it obvious I’d been taken time and time again last night? Loved up so right my knees were still knocking with the aftershocks?
Keep it cool, Dakota.
You’d think I’d never been kissed before.
But the truth was, I’d never been kissed like that.
“Mornin’, everyone.” He pulled the cap from his head and tossed it to the table next to the door.
“Little sister.” He pecked a kiss to my temple as he passed.
“Good morning.” Wow, I managed it without it shaking.