Page 11

Chapter Eleven

STEVIE

“Y ou want to go for a drink tonight?” I ask Crestina, getting ready to head out. “I need to unwind after today.”

She shakes her head, slinging her bag over her shoulder. “I can’t tonight. I have dinner with Dylan’s parents, but maybe tomorrow?”

“Sure.” I hang up my smock and shut my wooden locker. “I’ll see you later.”

“Love you, babe.”

“Love you too,” I call out behind me. Pushing open the back door of the employee entrance, a wall of humidity slams into me. It’s a steamy night in Nashville. Music floats in the air as the first tendrils of darkness start to thread the sky.

The last thing I want to do right now is head back to Bode’s. Not only did I want to hang out with Crestina, but the thought of being around him is too overwhelming.

The light scent of his soap.

His hair swooping into his eyes.

Everything about him is effortlessly sexy.

Not wanting to go out by myself, I resign myself to going home.

Bode’s home.

Shoving the key into the lock, I open the car door and plop down into the seat. My entire body heaves a sigh of relief to be done with work. I love what I do, but some days are harder than others.

Today was one of those days.

Ornery clients. Some wanting upgraded services without paying. Others didn’t leave tips.

Rolling down my windows, I blast a new tune from the singer Genevieve and point my car toward the suburbs. At least I don’t have to fight mad drivers as I leave the city behind me.

I sing along to the catchy tune as I get closer and closer to Bode’s place. Genevieve exploded onto the scene, and I’m addicted to her music. I can’t carry a tune to save my life, but I sing at the top of my lungs anyway.

I turn the volume down as I punch the code into the gate in Bode’s neighborhood and wait for the heavy iron gates to open.

Parking in my spot, I grab my purse and head inside. The outside lights glimmer as a few lamps are still lit inside. Knowing what time it is, I’m guessing Caleb is already asleep.

The sight that greets me as I walk inside is too much. Bode is stretched out on the couch—shirtless—with a sleeping baby on his chest and wearing a pair of gray sweats.

This. This is the reason why I didn’t want to come home. Heat is simmering in my veins at the sexy man in front of me. I was hoping one drink at a bar might have meant that Bode would be asleep when I got back, because I know that the minute Caleb falls asleep, Bode isn’t far behind.

“Hey,” I whisper.

Bode looks back over the couch at me and holds a single finger over his mouth.

“Hi,” he mouths. Standing, Bode waves at me to sit on the couch. “Give me a minute.”

I nod and watch as he goes upstairs. I try to keep my eyes on his back, but that’s hard when his ass looks incredible in those sweats.

Bode Adams is the most perfect specimen of man I’ve ever seen. But I live with him and I absolutely don’t want to act on that.

Maybe if I keep telling myself that, I’ll eventually believe it.

“Sorry.” Bode jogs down the stairs and collapses on the couch next to me. “He’s starting to cut more teeth and is miserable.”

“Poor thing. Are you doing okay?”

“I leave in two days for my first road trip, and the thought of leaving him guts me.”

“He’ll be in good hands. I know all three of us are going to be here.”

“I wish I didn’t have to leave him,” Bode confesses. “It makes me feel like a terrible father. Like I’m letting him down in some way.”

“I’ve been around you long enough to know you aren’t letting him down at all. Caleb loves you.”

“Can I tell you something?” Bode whispers.

His bare feet are stretched out on the coffee table, hands clasped over his bare stomach and the slab of muscles there.

“Sure.” I nod.

“I never had a mom growing up. At least, not that I can remember. Gran was the only role model I have.”

“Really?”

Bode nods, turning his head to look at me. His brown eyes are heavy as his head rests along the back of the couch.

“My mom left when I was a baby and my dad when I was ten.”

“Wow.”

“The two of them leaving made me the man I am today. I never heard I love you from my dad. Haven’t seen him since he dropped me off with my gran one day and never came home.”

“I—”

“I don’t need your pity,” he cuts me off.

“I wasn’t going to say that. I was going to say you and I are more alike than you know.”

“Really?”

I tuck my feet under my butt and sit facing him. I’m close to him, my knees brushing against his thigh.

“Neither one of my parents wanted me either.”

“How could anyone not want you?” Bode asks. His large, warm hand drops onto my knee, and it causes all the feelings swirling around inside of me to become a jumbled mess.

Lust.

Anger.

Sadness.

Desire.

It’s too much, but it has me confessing even more to him.

“My mom was always working two jobs because my dad split when I was five. She blamed me for it. Said I ruined her life. Made her feel worthless. Ugly. Finally, when I was a teenager, I moved in with Nan. I couldn’t take it anymore and petitioned the state to become an emancipated minor.”

“Really?” Bode asks.

“Really. When I told my grandma that’s what I wanted to do, she stepped in and took me in. I haven’t seen my mom since.”

And it explains why I bounce from relationship to relationship. Always settling for any man that gives me a scrap of attention. It’s also why I want to make my own way and not stay here for free.

Sure, Bode might not need my rent money, but I don’t want to leech off his generosity.

“I guess you and I really are alike,” Bode tells me. “I’m sorry you went through that.”

“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Doesn’t make growing up easy.”

“Really?” Bode squeezes my knee. “It kind of turned me into a dick.”

“Yeah?”

He scrubs his free hand over his face, hiding the wince. “I slept my feelings away with anyone I could. I’m not proud to admit it, but it was easier than facing the fact that no one loved me.”

“But you have Eve,” I point out. “Surely she told you she loved you.”

“She did. But it’s different, you know? I was already abandoned at that point and it didn’t really help.”

I drop my elbow onto my knee and rest my head on my fist. “I was the same way. I mean, not falling into bed with any guy, but anyone who looked at me and said I looked pretty, I fell for. Hook, line, and sinker. Guys wanted the quiet, pretty one. The second things started to get serious, they dumped me.”

Bode’s finger traces a circle on my knee. I don’t even think he knows he’s doing it. “They’re idiots.”

“You’re just saying that.”

“No.” Bode’s hand cups my cheek. “I’m serious, Stevie. You’re so much more than just the pretty one. And I’m not just saying that.”

I’ve never bared my soul like this to anyone. Bode is the only person I’ve felt safe with. How can I confess my darkest secrets to the man I only met a few weeks ago? The secrets that make me feel less than. That hammered into my psyche just how unlovable I really am.

“I always tried to be the badass, but no one ever saw me like that.”

Sinking his fingers into the hair at the nape of my neck, Bode pulls me close. His lips press against my forehead, and I relish the warmth that spreads through me.

Something I’ve never felt before.

“You’re so much more than anyone has ever made you feel. More than just your looks. I haven’t known you for that long, Stevie, but you’re incredible.”

Emotions clog my throat. How can one man’s words slip into the cracks and help heal them? I shouldn’t need another person to tell me this, but sometimes, it’s hard.

It’s hard to make yourself believe something when all the evidence points to the contrary.

“Thank you.” I press a kiss to his temple. “Thank you, Bode.”

“If you need the reminder, you know where to find me. Last bedroom on the right.” He winks at me, and it helps the heaviness in my chest ease.

“I should get to bed.” I thumb toward the stairs behind me. “I have another early day tomorrow.”

“Right. How about I make us dinner tomorrow as a thank you for helping out? Our grans will be out at bridge, so we’ll have the house to ourselves.”

“Only if you let me help. Considering you said yourself how abysmal your cooking skills are.”

Bode holds out his hand and I take it. “Deal.”

His hand is warm and rough under my soft one. I want to feel it everywhere.

Bode has captivated me in the worst possible way.

And I’m finding I don’t mind in the least.