“My Rye-Rye, I find you!” That little voice rode on it as he came running through the house, tiny feet pounding on the hardwood floors before he appeared in the entryway to the kitchen.
The grin splitting his face nearly did me in, his chubby little hand in the air and the way he was pointing at me. “I find you!”
“You did find me, didn’t you? How did you even know where I was hiding?” I set the big spoon on the counter and eased his way, hiking him up into my arms.
“I a big boy,” he told me, so proud with that dip of his head.
“That’s right, you are, and you knew exactly where to go, didn’t you?”
I wondered if he’d always know it. If he’d know when he got older that he could come to me for anything. That I’d give it all.
I was pressing a kiss to his temple when the air shifted again.
Warmth skating like rays through the late afternoon light.
I lifted my gaze to find Dakota stalled out at the entryway.
There was no stopping my hungry gaze from roving over her. Devouring her where she stood across the room.
All that light and goodness radiating around her. The force of it stabbed me right in the chest.
She wore this light pink and blue floral dress that should be modest, but she made it look like she was in a nightie, the spaghetti straps showing off the soft slope of her neck and shoulders and the fabric swishing down to caress every delectable curve of her body.
But what got me was her expression as she took me in where I held her son. Cinnamon eyes shimmering with something so right. Like maybe she’d stepped in on her meaning, too.
Fear sliced into the peace, and it bound with the resolution I kept trying to find.
Standing there, I had no question that I had to make a change. But I wasn’t going to lie—actually taking the step and doing it terrified me.
The risk I was taking.
And that risk should only land on me, but I knew from experience how low that motherfucker would stoop.
Bile thickened in my throat at the thought.
My regrets were so thick that sometimes I wondered how I got up each morning.
Dakota seemed to shake herself from whatever trance we’d been under and sent me a gentle smile. “Why does it smell so good in here?”
I walked back to the stove with Kayden in my arms. Picking up the spoon, I began to stir the sauce I had in a pot. “Not half as good as it does when I walk into your café, but I figured you’d had a long day and might want someone to cook for you for a change.”
Surprise rippled through her features before she slowly wandered deeper into the kitchen. She stopped at the end of the counter, and she leaned her hands on top. Three feet down from us, hovering there like maybe she was worried to tread any closer.
“You didn’t have to do that.” Her voice was a wisp of appreciation.
I eyed her with a smirk. “What, are you scared of my cooking? I might not be a pro, but I’ll have you know I can make a mean spaghetti sauce.”
A tiny giggle slipped from her lips, and she shook her head. “I don’t doubt you, Ryder. You spent enough time with me in the kitchen when we were growing up, I’m sure you learned a thing or two.”
It was a tease. Still, it rolled through me like seduction.
There was an easiness in it, though. That familiarity that Dakota and I had found over the years. Because if I couldn’t have her the way I wanted, I at least had to have her like this. “Awful sure of yourself over there, are you?”
I let the razzing play on my tongue.
Another giggle, and a flush was rising up from her gorgeous tits and climbing her throat. “Well, what do you expect when you and your cousins always come in singing my praises? A girl is bound to let it go to her head.”
I set the spoon down, unable to do anything but move her way. I reached out and tilted up her chin. “It’s not only me and my cousins who are singing those praises. It’s the whole damned town. And you earned that pride, Dakota Cooper. Don’t ever question it.”
“Mommy.” Kayden reached out his arms, deciding he wanted his mom to hold him instead of me.
Didn’t blame the kid a bit.
Tenderness billowed from her as we traded, and she ran a hand over his head as he snuggled into her chest, but she was still looking at me when she said, “Thank you for that.”
“Mean it,” I rumbled as I went back to the second pot that was just beginning to boil with water. I put in the noodles and stirred them, then set the timer.
“Why don’t you sit and relax?” I gestured to the stools on the other side of the counter. “Dinner will be ready in about fifteen.”