FORTY-THREE
RYDER
“I watch Wion King.” Kayden patted his chest and dipped his chin real deep, shooting me one of those dimpled smiles that completely slayed.
The one that cut to the core and guaranteed the choice I had made was the right one. One that affirmed I wasn’t just taking this action to get myself free, but because our kids deserved better. A safer place to grow up. A safer place to live and learn. One that didn’t fester with greed and prey on their innocence.
On their pain and their grief.
It wasn’t like I was going to change the world or shake up the order of things, but it was the one small footprint I could make.
Because I could see myself standing in that very spot at Kayden’s age, and there wasn’t a question in my mind that my mother had looked at me the exact same way as I was looking at him now.
With a love so fierce that she felt like she might explode with the magnitude of it. Ribs hardly strong enough to contain it. With a hope so fervent that I would grow into a good man. That I’d find joy and peace and all the things in this life that made it worth living.
But I’d followed my grief down the wrong path. It was insane that I could go back all those years and pin it on one reckless, foolish decision made in a place of desperation. A choice to walk through a door I never should have walked through.
There was no choice left now but the one I’d made to end it. Consequences be damned. Gazing down at Dakota’s son was all the proof I needed.
“You want to watch the Lion King, huh? We just watched that two nights ago.”
“Again, my Rye-Rye.” Another dip of that chin, and that love was pounding wild.
“Lion King it is.”
“Old or new?”
At the sultry voice hitting my ears, I shifted to find Dakota in the arch between the two rooms, wearing that soft affection on her gorgeous face as she watched where Kayden and I stood in front of the television flipping through the options on the screen.
Kayden pointed a chubby finger up at where the TV hung on the wall, jumping in place. “Dis one, Mommy!”
Dakota giggled. “My son is one for the classics.”
“Watch yourself, woman. I was born the year this movie was made.”
A flirty grin ticked up at the edge of that seductive mouth, but because it was Dakota, it dripped this sweetness that slipped through my veins.
A straight shot of honey.
“Don’t worry, Ryder, I always thought it would be sexy to date an older man.”
“Older man?” I let the growl of a warning glide into the words, though it was a lightness that possessed. An easiness that had taken us over.
“That’s right.” She purposefully bit at her lip because the little tease knew exactly how to get me hard.
There she was. Sweet with all that sass.
I stalked her way, real slow. Swore that the air actually trembled around us.
The glow of gravity as it pulled and lured, tugging so deep at my soul there was nowhere else I could go. I looped an arm around her waist and jerked her against me, and I let my palm splay down over her ass as I pressed my cock against her belly.
Her heart thudded, but the flirty smile only grew.
“You’re going to pay for that, Cookie.”
“I do hope that’s a promise.”
With a groan, I buried my face in her throat. “What you do to me, Dakota.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s what you do to me.”
I almost got lost there, except a little hand yanked at the leg of my jeans, vying for his own attention. “Now, my Rye-Rye.”
I pulled back and swooped my tiny tornado into my arms, making him giggle with all that life, little arms flying around my neck as I carried him toward the couch.
“For the record, it is a promise,” I tossed over my shoulder before I sat with Kayden, the kid instantly climbing all over me like he thought I was a jungle gym. I smirked back at her as she hovered across the room then patted the spot next to me. “Now get over here where you belong.”
Dakota came prancing over on her bare feet, so goddamn pretty she stole the breath right out of me. She snuggled into my side, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and flicked off the lights before I pressed play.
The movie came to life, and Kayden was immediately immersed, but I was the one who was mesmerized.
By the both of them.
The way it felt with them in my arms and the calm and peace that surrounded us.
The rest of the week had gone by without Dakota hearing anything more from Kayden’s biological father. It made me hopeful that the prick would just disappear, all while feeling a stab of guilt that I felt that way.