She hugged her knees tighter and whispered, “I think everyone just wants me to disappear. Go away. Forget all about me.”
“Well, that’s not going to happen, Dakota. I could never forget about you.”
Her heart did that throbbing thing where it felt like it might blow up from the pressure.
“You have to say that because you’re like my family.”
“No way. I’m saying it because you’re probably my favorite person in the whole world.”
She peeked out at him, trying to catch his lie. “Not better than you like Cody,” she challenged.
“Ha. I like you ten times better than I like Cody.” He smiled at her with his big red lips.
That was always when the butterflies fluttered the hardest. Well, that and when he was eating something she’d made.
“Why do you think I came looking for you and left him inside playing Xbox?” He knocked his shoulder into hers. “Forget that idiot Mason. You’re way too awesome to be out here crying by yourself.”
She sniffed and ran her sleeve over her face again.
Without climbing down, he hopped off the branch and landed right on his feet. He stretched out a hand for her, and his black, black hair blew in the breeze. “Come on, I’ve got you, Cookie.”
And she knew she didn’t want to be out there alone. She wanted to be with him.
So she reached out and took it.
TWELVE
DAKOTA
Sunlight brightened the window, nudging me from a deep, restful sleep.
With a groan, I rolled onto my back, and I blinked to pull myself out of the grogginess. I was honestly surprised I’d fallen asleep at all, let alone that I’d sank like a boulder to the bottom of the sea.
Both heavy and weightless.
But I guessed I felt safe here, as if whatever was going on back at my house couldn’t touch me, though with the clarity of the morning, I was pretty sure the entire thing had been an overreaction.
I sat up, ran my fingers through the knots that had taken to my long hair, then slipped off the bed.
Kayden was still out, which brought a soft smile to my face, a tug at my heart that he was so comfortable he’d yet to even notice anything amiss.
The rest of the house was silent and still as I crept out and headed for the bathroom. I was thankful I managed to avoid Ryder when I found it empty.
It was one thing for him to see me in the middle of the night like this. It was a whole different story for him to see me in the light of day.
I used the restroom then washed my hands and splashed water on my face, deciding I would head home to take a shower and get ready for work. Still, I rummaged into the toiletry bag Ryder had left sitting on the counter so I could brush my teeth.
I tiptoed back out, though this time the house wasn’t still.
That energy hummed.
Alive.
I followed it to the doorway of the bedroom where I’d slept.
Ryder was in the room, wearing the same pair of gray sweatpants he’d had on last night, though he’d pulled on a tee-shirt. I couldn’t tell if I was mourning the travesty or breathing a sigh of relief.
My stomach fisted at the sight of him, so rough and menacingly beautiful.
The angles of his face sharp and hewn in severity.
His lips so red.
A cool, dark king.
But it was the sight of him lifting my son from the playpen that contracted my chest in a need so intense that I felt like I was being crushed.
Midnight eyes flashed to me where I stood just outside the room.
I swore, he dragged them over my body, riding from my face, all the way down to my feet, and back up again.
Searing and singeing every spot they passed.
My skin buzzed, and I shifted on my feet, unable to stop the old insecurities that flared when he looked at me that way.
I had on sleep shorts and a long-sleeved matching tee. The black fabric was loose and draping at the shoulder, but it didn’t do a lot to conceal anything.
Long ago, I’d accepted my body.
No longer saw it as an imperfection or a blight.
Had come to love it.
But the one person in this world I’d ever wished I looked different for was Ryder.
He had a type, and I definitely wasn’t it.
He might have stuck up for me when I was growing up, but it’d been because he truly cared about me. Loved all the things that were on the inside…but the outside?
Unease rippled.
I’d once thought that he maybe could get over that. See me for me, the way his words had always expressed.
But there’d always been a wall.
An obstacle.
I’d tried to knock it down, and I’d taken the chance, placed myself at his feet.