Nerves scattered.
Anticipation and joy and that secret shame I didn’t want to feel any longer.
I’d held it for such a long time. Now, it’d taken on new form. Had become something real. Something beautiful.
I wanted to shout it. Wanted him to shout it.
But it was Ryder who was keeping the secrets that he wouldn’t give me insight into, only his vague warnings that had left a snarl of dread and worry in the pit of my stomach.
But that snarl was completely distorted and skewed by the amount of elation gliding through my veins. Like the worry didn’t have anything on the bliss. Everything else was clouded by the relief that Ryder had finally, finally come to me.
That we finally were, however awkward it remained to be.
“So, tell us about that date,” Cody said as he bit into a piece of toast.
I wondered if anyone else felt the way Ryder flinched.
I took a sip of piping hot coffee before I cleared my throat and gave a half shrug. “It was fine. Brad is a really nice guy.”
I could feel my mom’s attention. The way she angled her head as she studied me, waiting on me to let on more than I had the other afternoon.
“Nice guy? He’s crazy hot.” Kayla moaned toward the ceiling. “Those dress pants and button-downs he’s always wearing.”
I would have told her to go for him if Cody’s grumble hadn’t beaten me to the punch. “Dude’s a fuckin’ wet noodle, is what he is.”
“I wike noodles,” Kayden shouted as he crammed a fistful of egg into his mouth.
My eyes narrowed at my brother. “Again, Cody? You seriously need to watch what you say around him.”
“Yeah, man, language,” Ryder added, like it was his job to do it.
“Sorry…keep forgetting that kid is nothing but a sponge. Smart as a whip, just like his uncle.” Cody’s smirk grew at that.
“Please don’t compare my son’s intelligence to yours since you’re nothing but a giant oaf.”
Cody set his hand over his heart. “You wound me.”
“I will wound you if Kayden starts muttering unmentionables.” I waved my butter knife at him.
“Deadly.” He whistled. “And this coming from the woman whose best friend swears like a freaking sailor.”
A light laugh got free. Paisley definitely had a mouth on her. “At least she has the foresight to cover the kids’ ears before she goes spilling it.”
“Well, you sure aren’t spilling any details.” Kayla nudged her elbow into mine.
“There’s not a lot to spill. He picked me up, we went to dinner, and he dropped me back at Ryder’s place. That was it.”
“Boring,” she drawled. “When is my big sister going to have herself a little fun? If I’d been out with that delicious hunk of a man, I would have climbed him like—”
Cody making a retching noise cut her off.
Glee filled her giggle. No question, she was fully egging him on.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess I should have climbed him, too. Just for the pleasure of making Cody squirm.”
Under the table, a hand clamped down on my upper thigh, fingers digging into my flesh, possession dripping from the tips.
A haggard breath left me, and I was shaking when I looked at him from over Kayden’s head, the air growing so thin that the only thing I was breathing was him.
It didn’t seem to matter to Ryder that everyone was staring at us when he growled under his breath, “Not gonna happen, Cookie. Not unless poor Brad wants to lose his hands.”
“That was delicious.” Ryder wiped his mouth with a napkin after he’d just demolished three cinnamon rolls once he’d finished his main meal.
The man liked his sweets.
“Second that,” Cody agreed.
“I need to watch out…Mom opens her own restaurant and she’s going to run me out of business,” I said as I stood to unbuckle Kayden from his highchair.
“Pssh.” She waved her hand in the air. “Charmers. The lot of you.”
I carried Kayden to the kitchen sink so I could wash his face and hands. He howled and fought me the whole time like I was putting him through the worst kind of torture, then he took off running out the sliding back door the second I set him on his feet.
“I’ll go out with him so he can play a bit,” Cody offered, pushing up from his chair and tossing his napkin to his plate.
“I just brewed some fresh iced tea. Why don’t we all go out for a while and enjoy the fresh air? It’s a gorgeous day,” Mom offered.