“Hi, my Rye-Rye!” he shouted as he blazed through the opening, his arms thrown over his head. “I here!”
“Hey, there, K-Bear.” Ryder’s voice echoed through the house, all rumbly and low, sending tremors through my body. I let Kayden’s bag fall to the floor near the door, and I slowly eased across the room, stopping at the threshold.
The sight of him hit me like a shockwave.
A sonic boom that reverberated through my senses. Shaking me all the way to the bone.
He was tossing Kayden into the air without letting him go, holding onto him to keep him safe while my son assuredly thought he was being launched to the moon.
Ryder wore dark jeans and a gray tee stretched tight across his solid chest, that shock of black hair flying back as he looked up.
His profile severe, carved in masculine beauty and edged in darkness.
It was his expression that weakened my limbs.
The sheer devotion that lined his features. The love that seeped from the razor-sharp angles.
And I was nearly dropping to my knees when he pulled Kayden to him and turned his attention on me.
Gunmetal eyes blazed, dragging over me in a slow slide of appreciation where I stood shaking like I was standing beside a freight train barreling through.
Chest rattling and legs quivering.
That intense gaze darkened, and a hazy fog of lust curled through the air.
Disorienting.
Both anticipated and unexpected.
I finally got myself together enough to offer him a smile. “Are you making dinner again? You really are trying to spoil me, Ryder. Keep it up, and you won’t be able to get rid of me.”
“That’s the plan.” He sent me the softest smirk, the man letting some of that easy cockiness into his tone. A slight razzing that touched his words.
My heart wouldn’t make it through if I dug too deeply into it.
I forced myself to raise a brow and casually stroll deeper into the kitchen like he wasn’t systematically plucking out every chink in my armor.
Not that there was a whole lot of that to begin with when it came to him.
“The plan, huh? It sounds like you’ve been giving it a lot of thought,” I teased.
“A whole lot of thought.” It was rough. Scraping the air.
I exhaled a shallow breath, and he seemed to shake himself from the direction we were going.
“I hope you’re hungry.”
“I hungee!” Kayden offered.
Ryder chuckled. “Good thing, little man. I made enough to feed a small army.”
He set Kayden in his playpen before he turned back to me.
“What are we having?” I chanced, edging closer and coming to a stop at the end of the counter. It was usually a safe spot. Where I could stand to put some distance between us.
But my mind was slammed with the memories of what had happened in that very spot last night.
The way my breasts had been pressed to the cold surface as he had knelt behind me.
The way his big hands had felt touching me for the first time.
I was pretty sure all those same thoughts hit Ryder because he groaned before he raked a hand over his face, winding around me as he went to the stove. “Chicken fajitas.”
“It smells delicious.”
He quirked me a playful grin as he added sliced red bell peppers into the onions. “Are you trying to flatter me, Dakota?”
A soft giggle skated out. “No. I mean it. It smells really good.”
“Can’t compare to what hits me when I walk into your restaurant.”
“I think you might be biased.”
He hummed. “Maybe. Have to admit, every time I go through the café’s door, I feel like you’re making something special, just for me. That you’re thinking about me.”
He peeked my way, like he was looking for a hidden truth. And I wondered if he knew. If he’d known all this time that whenever I wrote a special on the board, it was a memory of him. That I kept them like a secret diary.
But he was owed that gratitude either way, wasn’t he?
Before I could respond, he gestured to the stool across from him. “Why don’t you sit and get off your feet? I picked up another bottle of wine if you want a glass.”
My spirit buzzed, and I fought the giddy smile that wanted to take hold of my face. “I think you’re the one who’s been thinking about me, Ryder Nash.”
He set aside the spoon he’d been stirring the vegetables with.
He came my way, that energy crackling, and he pressed his hand to the side of my face.
Heat flamed at the connection, and he stared at me with those eyes as he murmured, “The entire day, Dakota. The entire fucking day I was thinking about you. Couldn’t get you off my mind. Not for a second.”