Page 27 of Run the Play (Nashville Rampage #2)

“Well, I think he loves me more. Who would you choose? Someone who pawns you off when you shit your diaper, or someone who’s going to step up and change it?” Corie asks, raising her brow.

“Fine,” Reid mutters, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I should get going anyway,” Baker says. “He’ll need to eat again in about an hour, and I want to get him into bed after and hit the hay myself.”

“I’m going too,” Foster says, standing and stretching his arms over his head. Reid, Sloane, Corie, and Knox all stand as well and start picking up their trash to head home.

“Thanks for coming over,” Landry tells them. “Just put the dishes in the sink. I can run the dishwasher later.”

I’m sitting next to Landry and move to stand from my seat as well. I don’t want to leave, but I also don’t want to overstay my welcome. But Landry places his hand on my arm and shakes his head to stop me. “Stay,” he whispers.

Butterflies take flight in my belly. “Okay,” I whisper back. I stand and go to where Baker has Camden in his carrier. “See you later, little buddy. Take it easy on Daddy, okay?” I ask the baby. Not that he can understand me.

“Love you, Cam,” Corie says, kissing her index finger and placing it on his foot.

“Did you just kiss his feet?” Foster asks.

“I did. He’s still little, and he doesn’t need my germs.”

“Beckett, man, your wife just admitted she has cooties.” Foster laughs.

“Fuck off,” Knox says, barely containing his laughter.

“Language!” Corie, Sloane, and I all say at the same time.

“He’s little,” Knox argues.

“Fine, when his first word is fuck, Baker can deal with you.” Corie challenges her husband.

“I’ll do better,” Knox says, pulling her into his arms.

“Cooties,” Reid says, and we all laugh.

“We’re out.” Corie waves and she, Sloane, and Knox walk out of the room.

“Us too,” Foster and Reid tell us. “See ya.” They wave and leave the room as well.

“You need help getting out to the truck?” Landry asks Baker.

“Nah, I’ve already got this figured out.

” He tosses the diaper bag over his shoulder and lifts the baby carrier effortlessly.

“You two kids have fun.” He nods to his son.

“Make good choices.” He smirks, and then he also walks out of the room.

I stare after him until I hear the door close before turning back to Landry.

“Thanks for having me,” I tell him.

“Do you have somewhere to be?”

“Well, no, not really. Tomorrow is an off day, so I don’t have to be up early.”

“Good. Let’s watch a movie or something.”

I don’t hesitate. “Sure.”

Landry offers me his hand, and I take it, allowing him to lead us to his media room. He plops down in a recliner, and just as I’m about to do the same, he pulls me into his lap. I screech as I fall. His laughter fills the room around us as he hugs me to his chest.

“I’ve got you,” he assures me. “Get comfortable,” he says as he reaches for a tablet and turns off the lights. A few more taps on the screen, and the entire wall in front of us lights up. “What do you want to watch?”

“I don’t care. I’m up for anything. Nothing scary, though.”

“Nothing scary,” he repeats as he pushes around on the screen. “This should do.” He hits play.

“ 50 First Dates .” I’m surprised at his selection.

“It has Adam Sandler in it. Have you seen it?”

“I have. Have you seen it?” I ask. I assumed he’d pick some kind of action movie.

“Yeah. I grew up with my mom and Corie. Once I was the only guy in the house, I lost the vote most of the time. It’s good. Do you want to watch something else?”

“No. This is fine.” I doubt I’ll be paying too much attention to it anyway with him sitting this close to me.

He places the tablet on the chair next to us. “Come here.” He pulls me closer and pushes the button on the side of the chair to recline us. I wiggle around and end up lying on my side, against his chest and with his arm around me.

The movie plays, but I can’t pay much attention because his fingers are in my hair. It’s a simple touch, but it’s lighting my body on fire. I’ve never felt this kind of attraction before.

“I like you here,” he tells me, his voice gravelly.

“I’m sure you get lonely living in this big ole house all on your own.”

“I do, but I meant here. In my arms. The house too. Just next to me, anywhere, really,” he says.

I lift my head to look at him. I study his face from the light of the screen. “You mean that, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” he replies.

“This was supposed to be pretend.”

“Plans change, Roe.”

“Have yours?” I adjust the way I’m lying so that I can peer up at him more easily.

“I spent far too long with a man who didn’t care about me.

Sure, he might have in his own way, but not in the way that I deserved.

I was too scared to leave him, fearing being on my own.

It took him sending me to the hospital to get out. ”

“I’m not him,” Landry says, his voice stern.

“I know that. I’m not saying that you are.”

“What are you saying, Rowan?”

“I’m saying that I spent a long time scared.

I was afraid to fight for what I wanted, for what I deserved.

I was with a man who didn’t care, and I let myself be sucked into his world as an afterthought.

I found the courage to walk away. With that courage, I’ve discovered what I don’t want for my future. ”

“Tell me.”

“I don’t want to be second. I don’t want to have to guess what the other person is thinking or feeling.

I want to be able to talk about my feelings and express my concerns.

I want to have friends and do things outside of my relationship.

I want a man who will look at me like I’m his entire world.

I want to know that I’m the only one for him. Just me. I want to be enough.”

Landry takes my hand in his. “You’ll never be second.

You’re too special to be anything but first. I’m an open book, always have been, and I’ll always tell you how or what I’m feeling.

I want you to talk to me. About the weather, your period, makeup, work, clothes, us, sex, bills…

I don’t care what it is. If you’re talking, I’m listening.

You have friends. You have a life that you’ve built here, and I’d never take that away from you.

I just want the chance to be a small part of it.

I don’t know how I look at you, but I do know that you’re all I’ve been able to think about.

I no longer see other women because it’s only you.

I’m not a cheater, never have been, and I never will be.

No one in this world could ever entice me to betray you.

” He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses my knuckles.

“Rowan Mills, you are enough. You are everything, and no, I’m not pretending.

This isn’t fake for me. And since you want honesty, I’m not sure it ever was.

” My heart feels full, almost as if it’s too big for my chest. I never expected him, yet here he is, and he wants me.

Tears form in the back of my eyes, but I blink them away.

“This is all happening so fast. I never thought I’d be here, and definitely not this soon.”

“You’ve been here for over a year, and have been single for a while now. There is no timeline, Rowan. You have to do what feels right for you.”

“I’m scared.”

“Tell me why?”

“Because he hurt me. He took away my voice, my courage, my self-esteem. I allowed him to control my life.”

“I would never, baby.”

I nod. “I know, but—” I stop myself from confessing more.

“I’m right here. Nothing you say is going to change what I’m feeling. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you. I don’t bring women to my house. I don’t bring them into my inner circle. Just you, Rowan. Only you.”

He’s being open with me, and if I preach that’s what I want in a relationship, I have to be willing to do the same. Taking a deep breath, I give him my truth. “I never felt this way about him,” I whisper. “I’m scared that this time, it’s my heart that won’t recover.”

“You think I’ll break your heart?”

I nod. “You make me feel seen, Landry. You make me feel wanted and special, and for someone who grew up never feeling those things. I never had a support system, and now I do. I have friends who are mine, but they were yours first. If I lose you, I lose them. I lose my safety and my security. I’ll no longer be seen or be wanted, and I’m pretty sure that only you have the ability to make me feel special. ”

“Fuck.” He wraps both arms around me and pulls me to his chest. “You are special. You’re my Rowan, my girl, and, baby, you have the power to end me. I’m laying all that I am in the palm of your hands.”

I swallow hard at his confession. “What do you want, Landry?”

“You. I want to hold you no matter who’s looking. When I call you my girl, I need to know in my heart that you understand what that means.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means that I’m yours too. There isn’t a single second of the day that I don’t think about you.

It means that we’re in this together. You and me.

We’re not fake, Rowan. The way you make me feel, the way I crave being around you, to touch you and kiss your soft lips.

It means that we’re exclusive in this. I’m falling for you so damn hard,” he confesses.

I’ve lost my battle with my tears and wipe them from my cheeks.

“I’m going to be insecure. At least for a while.

I know that’s something that I need to work through.

” I need to make sure he knows that I’m a work in progress.

He’s healing me with each passing day, but I still want to give him a warning.

Not that I think it’s going to change anything.

I believe him when he tells me that it’s only me for him. My gut tells me I can trust him.

“We, Roe, something we need to work through. Me and you. Together.”

I bite my cheek to keep more tears at bay. I don’t know how he does it, but his words, they heal me from deep inside in a place where I thought I’d never recover. “I really like the sound of that.”

“Me too, beautiful, me too.”