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He nods, chewing on another jelly bean. “You gonna miss me?”
“I am,” I admit before I can stop myself. “You’re not the only one with a crush.”
“I knew you liked me.” He licks his lips slowly. “And you look like you could use a good fucking to take your mind off things,” he whispers, his voice low and gravelly.
A tingle, a reminder of this morning on the island hits me right between my legs. “Again?”
With Tatum distracted, he kisses the spot below my ear. “You’re fucking an athlete now, babe. We have excellent stamina.”
There’s certainly truth to his words. “We have to wait for Tatum to go to bed. She can’t know that we’re… you know.”
Pulling away, he smiles and winks. “I’m really good with kids.” Crawling on the floor on all fours, he approaches Tatum from behind and grabs her into a hug, growling at her.
Her laughter cackles through the house, and so begins them chasing one another. I adore his gentleness with her and the way she begs him, “Chase me, boy!” and takes off running the other direction.
As I sit there, I think to myself, where’d he come from? How’d he find his way into our lives and became the distraction we both needed?
SHORTLY AFTER EIGHT, Tatum has fallen asleep on Cason. I take her upstairs and to bed, where she wakes up, wants a story, and then another.
Laying on her bed with her, I run my fingers over her braids, impressed Cason knew how to braid a girl’s hair. “You like Cason, don’t you?”
Rolling over toward me, she touches my cheek, and I’m reminded that the best part of Collin and me exists in her. “Hims pretty.”
Oh, honey, don’t you fall for him too. Then we’re both fucked.
I don’t want to admit it, but there’s a part of me deep inside that’s falling for him. It’s more than a crush. It’s soon, I know. I haven’t known him long, and I fear it’s because he was there when my life was falling apart, and I’m clinging to a reality that doesn’t exist. But it might not be, right? This might be real. Isn’t that how soul mates work? You meet and nothing else matters?
It could happen,riiiiiiiight?
Taking another look at Tatum, I realize that might not be what she needs. No, I can’t fall for him. I shouldn’t. Doesn’t mean I won’t, because remember what Cason said? Bad is so much better.
AN HOUR LATER, I make my way back downstairs to find Cason outside under the pergola with a lawnmower.
He mowed my lawn. At sunset. Look at him out there with the blue and purple sky behind him. He’s beautiful and doesn’t have a shirt on.
Collin never mowed the lawn. He claimed he was allergic. My dad, he was a hardworking man and did everything around the house while working full time. So when I got married, I thought I’d be marrying someone like Noah from theNotebook,and he’d build me a house and make all our furniture out of old barn boards.
Turns out, I married that dude fromThe Other Womanto a fuckingT.
I step outside, blinking in disbelief. “Wow.”
“I hope I didn’t overstep here.” He motions toward the lawn that looks like a baseball field.
Perfect lines on the fresh, bright green grass. One, it’s amazing to have green grass in Arizona. Two. He did a damn good job. “Wow, the lines are amazing.”
Chuckling, he glances over his shoulder at the grass and then sweeps his hand over his forehead. “First job I ever had was taking care of a baseball field.”
“You haven’t lost your touch, I see.”
He smiles, stepping closer to me, his scent intoxicating. A mixture of man, that amazing deodorant he wears, and gasoline. I want to lick his sweat. It’sthatbad, friends.
I blink out of my daydreams. “I can take some off your rent for this.”
“Or…” He pauses, and all I see is sweat and muscles bathed in golden sunlight. He’s absolutely stunning in this light. Dark, mysterious, yet so fucking flirty. And then he hits me with his next pitch. “You could let me take you out to dinner sometime.”
Say what?
“What?” I snap. “You said you just wanted sex.”