Page 39 of Love Me Like You Do

He grew uncomfortable. He’d had a bad nanny, and his dad hadn’t known about it until he’d installed cameras throughout the house. So, he knew better than anyone that once Paisley was out of his sight, he had no control over how people treated her.

But this girl looked at him with those earnest brown eyes, and there wasn’t a chance in hell he could let her down.

“I promise.”

ChapterEight

The last timeHailey had visited, the Leesons had lived in an apartment. She hadn’t even known they’d bought a house.

As they pulled into the driveway, she was hit with a wallop of true, deep remorse.

Lindsay’s gone. There was no turning back the clock to respond to the last text, email, or voice message she’d blown off.

She’d let her career take precedence over the things in life that really mattered—relationships. Other than her mom, who did she have in her life? She worked remotely three days a week, so she didn’t have many office friends. And she spent weekends in a boutique and every second of her free time designing lingerie.

Meanwhile, Lindsay was having babies and moving into a new home… Big life changes Hailey had known nothing about.

“Come on, Evvie.”Ach. That sweet little girl voice. Paisley released her own booster seat buckle and went to free her sister’s.

Shaking off the weight of regret, Hailey let them out of the car. Instead of heading for the house, though, the girls took off toward some bushes on the edge of the snow-covered yard.

“So, what did the therapist say?” They’d been around the girls, so they hadn’t had a chance to talk since he’d made the call.

“She thinks we should give them space. If we’re too involved, we’ll distract them from the experience of being home.”

“Huh. My impulse is just the opposite. I want to stay with them. Protect them.”

“She said at this age, they’re still expecting their parents to come back. So, the best thing we can do is just let thembe home.”

“No, it makes sense.” With her heart hurting, she watched the girls. “They’re so young. I don’t know how they can understand this.”

“They can’t. That’s why we keep checking in with them. And we explain things in stages, as their intellects grow.”

But we won’t be there for that. That’ll fall into the hands of the forever family.

Why does that feel so wrong?

“You okay?” Cole asked in that deep, caring voice.

She wanted to fall against his chest and have those big arms wrap around her. Instead, she tightened her scarf and lowered her chin to warm her face. “I’m just so damn sad.”

“Yeah.”

“I moved all the time as a kid. I didn’t take a single friend with me…until I met Lindsay.”

“You met her at the music festival?”

“Yep. She sat down next to me and looked at my sketches, and from that moment on, we were best friends.” She watched the girls stand on their toes, reaching into the bushes. “What on earth are they doing?”

“Seeing if the fairies left any magic boxes for them. Apparently, Darren used to hide them. He said they were from fairies, but Paisley suspected it was him because she peeked into a bag he brought home from the store once and found the same candies in one of the boxes.”

“Smart girl. Is that what you guys were talking about while I was getting Evvie ready?” He had such an ease with them. While she was all business—bath time, dinner, schedule, schedule, schedule—he was just in the moment.

The girls had instantly taken to him. Trusted him.

That’s his charm, though, right?Cole Montgomery didn’t know a stranger. It was disarming.Makes you believe he’s totally into you.

She should probably keep that in mind before she jumped into the deep end of all these feelings.