So different.
I could feel his smile against my skin, and I could feel my own as I clutched my hands in his shirt.
I wanted to hang on to it forever.
“I it!” Penny called, because forever couldn’t last, and I forced myself to crawl from Lyrik’s lap. I straightened out my shirt and tried to straighten out my emotions that were all tangled and tied.
I turned to catch Mia’s knowing smile, the bite of her lip as she looked between us, before she turned back to her daughter. “All ready.”
Penny started to skip around the small circle. She touched each of our heads as she passed.
“Duck… Duck… Duck…” She went around three times before she touched my head. “Goose!” she called. She fumbled into a run as I climbed to my feet. Her smile was so carefree as I chased her around the circle.
She jumped into my spot.
“Safe!”
Of course she was.
“Dang it,” I drew out, and Lyrik gave me a grin when he gave Penny a high-five. “You’re way too fast for our Blue here.”
I circled twice before I called “Goose” when I touched Mia’s head.
Okay.
So call me a chicken.
But I was taking the safe road.
Because the ones I’d been traveling today had suddenly become perilous. Full of dips and holes and unexpected curves that felt so good. I was sure there had to be an out-of-control truck barreling down on the other side.
I raced around the circle, moving quicker than I anticipated, because damn, Mia was fast. I twisted around, dodging her hand that barely missed my back, before I slid back into her spot.
Penny howled with laughter. “You beat my momma!”
I poked her stomach. “Sure did…you don’t have to have those long, gorgeous legs to run fast. Us short girls can do it too.”
“Ha,” Mia said, starting slow as she began to circle. “I’d give up my height for those curves, any day.”
Dark, dark eyes flashed, all mischief and sex as Lyrik glanced my way. “Kinda like those curves myself.”
I shot him a warning glare.
Little ears. Little ears.
Mia finally tapped Penny’s head and called, “Goose.” Penny took off after her, and Mia ran slowly, but never let Penny catch her before she hopped into her spot.
“Made it!”
Penny was all too eager to go again, rounding and rounding and rounding until she touched Lyrik’s Head. “Goose!”
Lyrik flew to standing and began to chase after his niece.
Penny squealed and moved her little legs as fast as she could.
“Go, Penny, go! Don’t let him get you,” I urged as I held out my arms for her to run into to keep her safe.
She flew into them and knocked us back against the grass.
Both of us were laughing, and she was hugging me and I was suddenly hugging her.
It felt so nice.
So natural.
And I missed and I missed and I missed.
A tremble rolled. Working its way from the inside out.
Home.
I wanted to find it.
I wanted to find the pieces I’d lost and shunned and left behind and the ones still waiting to be discovered in the future.
“I fink I love you,” the tiny voice said as Penny burrowed deeper into my hold.
So innocent and without any doubt. How easily she offered her heart.
I squeezed her tighter, just as tight as I squeezed my eyes shut. “I think I love you, too,” I whispered.
Was that okay? To love freely? Without the fear of it being ripped away?
Intensity blistered the air. A heat so great it was palpable, a tangible weight. My chest squeezed. Shivers covered me whole, magnified by the rays of the sun brushing at my arms and face.
I forced my eyes open and met with the fathomless stare glinting down at me.
The man so gorgeous and hard and terrifying. A storm so wholly beautiful. Dangerous and raw.
More dangerous than he’d ever been.
Because this wasn’t the malicious, spiteful man who’d come into my bar a year ago, scarred in bitterness. It wasn’t the one I’d run from because he’d reminded me of all the things I should fear.
This was the same boy in the picture I’d found shoved in the back corner of his drawer.
Face shining with pure love and joy and affection.
And he was looking at me.
The last brittle band of my heart broke.
I could feel the snap.
A million pounds gone.
The flood of emotion that swelled in my chest and spun in my spirit.
The shout of my soul.
Love. Love. Love.
Searching for a breath, I peeled Penny from me, gently kissed her on the cheek as I set her aside. “I need to get a glass of water,” I said.
Lie.
Lie.
Lie.
I was simply staggered.
Reeling.
I climbed onto shaky feet.
“Are you okay?’ Lyrik asked, head cocked in sudden concern.
“I’m fine.” I smiled. “Just going to get something to drink. Can I get you anything?”
“Nah…I’m good.” He looked to where Penny had climbed onto her mother’s lap. “Going to play with my girls for a few more minutes then we’d better get going.”
“Okay.”