I wrapped my legs around his chest, squeezing mercilessly. “You want to talk about it?”
He shook his head. “I actually don’t. If I talk about it, I’ll get angry all over again. And right now, I don’t want to be angry. Landry is sleeping peacefully and you are here in our bed. So for tonight, I want to pretend that Amelia doesn’t exist. That okay?”
It was okay. It was more than okay. Because come tomorrow morning, when Landry woke up and remembered seeing her mom, we’d have to start calming her down all over again. So I nodded, smoothing his hair back off his forehead. “Hey, are you good with all the activities I set up for Landry? You seemed a little…perplexed at dinner tonight.”
He rested his chin on my stomach. “As long as Landry is happy, and she wants to do the extras like swim and drums, then I’m good.” He kissed my stomach, making my breath hitch in my chest. It seemed like such an intimate, loving gesture, probably because Dash did it to Lexi’s pregnant belly all the time. “Did you make early mornings and late evenings the only time she could work with Luke on purpose?”
“Let’s just say that it was a very happy coincidence that I didn’t feel the need to rectify.” I ran my fingers through his hair. “Lexi is worried about him, we found a way to curb his routine. He enjoys working with Landry and she has a blast playing the drums. Win, win, win.” While Landry was working with John earlier, Lexi and I shared some milk and cookies. She was upset about what Luke was doing to himself. She never came right out and said she felt like it was her fault, but she didn’t need to. It was written all over her face.
“Hey, B?”
“Hmmmm?”
“What Landry said, the other day, about the way you look at me…”
There was no point in lying to him. “You are all my favorite things.”
He smiled. “I’m falling for you, baby doll.”
I just stared into his eyes for so long that I thought I wasn’t going to be able to answer him. I was scared of losing my best friend. I was scared that we would hurt each other and that Landry would get hurt in the process. But for once I wasn’t ready to run, I wasn’t looking for a way out. “I’ve already fallen.”
He beamed. “Have I told you lately how fucking perfect I think you are?”
I snorted. “Yeah, today in the bathroom after I let you nail me on the counter.” I smirked when I saw what my words did to him. I could feel his lean sculpted body start to coil. I grabbed the hem of my—his—shirt and slowly started to drag it up. “Ready for round two?”
He reached up and turned off the lamp beside the bed. He didn’t say a word as he stripped us of our clothes. He didn’t joke or laugh when he slid inside me. Everything he did, every move he made was so full of love. Of reverence. Nothing was rushed, nothing was raw. It was all slow, all sensual. And he stayed true to his word: he didn’t leave my body for hours.
Landry
Seeing my mom was like a nightmare. Everything here in this house was so wonderful, so easy. And now all that was gone. Now I lay awake at night, hugging Ello, just waiting for the doorbell to ring again. Jacks and Bryan kept telling me that she wasn’t coming back. Jacks explained that we would need to go to court, and I’d have to talk to a judge. But that he wouldn’t ever let me go back with my mom. I wanted to believe him…but it was hard. I’d never had so many good days in a row. It seemed only fitting that they would get taken away from me.
They tried to keep me distracted. I was so busy now, and I actually really loved it. My tutor, Mr. John, said that I was really smart. He said that the only reason I would have been behind was because I’d missed so much school. He told Bryan that he didn’t think they should try to put me back in public school until we moved to Texas. My counselor, Mr. Mark, agreed with him. Something about unnecessary stress. Mr. John was going to work with me, even after the school year started, until we moved. Which made Lexi and Dylan super happy, they really liked listening to Mr. John teach me.
Swim was fun. My instructor said I was like a fish. I wanted to be a really good swimmer so that when I was big, I could go to the beach all the time and not have to wear a life vest or anything. But my favorite thing to do? Was play the drums with Uncle Luke. I loved making him smile when I got it right. He didn’t smile enough in the house. But he was really fun when we were in the studio.