Had I scared the fucker away? Or had he been long gone once he realized it was actually a house, the way Ezra suspected?
But I couldn’t take that fucking chance, and I was angling in Dakota’s direction. “You don’t have to go back to your house soon, Dakota. My place is yours for as long as you want it.”
Forever if need be.
Hell, I’d be a lucky bastard if I could have that. But I wasn’t lucky, was I?
Redness rushed her high, full cheeks, and she fought with rolling her eyes like she thought I was messing with her the way I used to when we were kids.
But I’d stopped looking at her like a little girl a long time ago. The day she’d come back from Boulder where she’d gone to college to study business. It was like every fucking thing I’d known had been demolished that day. Every moment of our pasts coming together to add up to that very second.
Every minute we’d ever spent together had gone through my mind in both a blur and in vivid color. Every time I’d taken care of her, and every time she’d taken care of me. The way we’d just…find each other when the other was in need.
Every interaction purposed. Every moment a building block.
In that one second, the instant I saw her after she returned, every single one of those things had come rushing back at me, and my soul had known.
But I’d been a fool. Made a deal with the devil, thinking I wouldn’t get played.
So now I was left doing my best to pretend like what I felt for her didn’t exist.
“You know I can’t stay here forever.” Her words had dimmed to wisps, and I reached out and brushed back a lock of soft, brown hair from her face.
“You can do anything you want, Dakota.”
She choked out a laugh, and I could feel the way she pulled back a fraction, like we were getting too close.
“Anything, huh?” She fronted the tease.
A grin climbed to my face, and I touched the edge of her mouth, right in the little divot on the left side of her chin that drove me out of my mind. Not quite a dimple but the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.
I wanted to lean in and lick it.
“That’s right, Dakota. Anything.”
She gave me a feigned scowl. “You sure have a way of trying to boss me around when you say I can do anything.”
A rough chuckle skated free. “Anything unless it’ll hurt you. How’s that?”
I was number one on that list.
“It seems to me like you’re trying to take the fun out of it.” There was her sweet sass, and a rumbly sound vibrated in my chest, and I knew I had to get out of there before I did something that I was going to regret.
“I need to run down and grab the mattress. I’ll be right back. Hold down the fort while I’m gone?” I smirked as I paused to look at her in the doorway.
She shook her head with a slight laugh. “I’ll do my best to survive without you for five minutes.”
“It’ll be rough,” I told her, loving the way she got flushed anytime we went to teasing like this.
Then she rolled those cinnamon eyes, even though they were flashing with warmth. “It’ll be a breath of fresh air, is what it’ll be. Get out of here, I’m already sick of you.”
Low laughter tumbled from me, and I sent her a cocky grin. “Whatever you say, Cookie.”
I started out, only her voice froze me, all the teasing gone as she looked at me from across the space. “Thank you, Ryder. I don’t know how I’ll ever fully repay you.”
I knew what she was referring to. That it wasn’t just her staying here while she was in need. The money I’d given her. It’d been my biggest pleasure and my greatest downfall.
But I knew, standing there looking at her right then, that I’d do it a thousand times over.
“What’s that you always say? Love is on the house.” Then I tapped the heel of my fist on the doorframe before I walked out.
FOURTEEN
DAKOTA
On Saturday morning, I was on the enormous rug that took up half of Ryder’s living room, playing dinosaurs with Kayden.
I’d finally gotten the café to the place that I didn’t work on the weekends.
I loved it.
The time to spend with my son.
The time to breathe.
The time for myself that I’d had to sacrifice to build the restaurant to what it was today.
It’d been worth it, but I was definitely relishing in the reward of it.
Roaring, Kayden clashed two dinosaurs together. “I get you,” he shouted, banging them together again.
“Don’t you think the dinosaurs should get along and be friends?”