Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
“Anything, huh?” She fronted the tease.
A grin climbed to my face, and I touched the edge of her mouth, right in the little divot on the left side of her chin that drove me out of my mind. Not quite a dimple but the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.
I wanted to lean in and lick it.
“That’s right, Dakota. Anything.”
She gave me a feigned scowl. “You sure have a way of trying to boss me around when you say I can do anything.”
A rough chuckle skated free. “Anything unless it’ll hurt you. How’s that?”
I was number one on that list.
“It seems to me like you’re trying to take the fun out of it.” There was her sweet sass, and a rumbly sound vibrated in my chest, and I knew I had to get out of there before I did something that I was going to regret.
“I need to run down and grab the mattress. I’ll be right back. Hold down the fort while I’m gone?” I smirked as I paused to look at her in the doorway.
She shook her head with a slight laugh. “I’ll do my best to survive without you for five minutes.”
“It’ll be rough,” I told her, loving the way she got flushed anytime we went to teasing like this.
Then she rolled those cinnamon eyes, even though they were flashing with warmth. “It’ll be a breath of fresh air, is what it’ll be. Get out of here, I’m already sick of you.”
Low laughter tumbled from me, and I sent her a cocky grin. “Whatever you say, Cookie.”
I started out, only her voice froze me, all the teasing gone as she looked at me from across the space. “Thank you, Ryder. I don’t know how I’ll ever fully repay you.”
I knew what she was referring to. That it wasn’t just her staying here while she was in need. The money I’d given her. It’d been my biggest pleasure and my greatest downfall.
But I knew, standing there looking at her right then, that I’d do it a thousand times over.
“What’s that you always say? Love is on the house.” Then I tapped the heel of my fist on the doorframe before I walked out.
FOURTEEN
DAKOTA
On Saturday morning, I was on the enormous rug that took up half of Ryder’s living room, playing dinosaurs with Kayden.
I’d finally gotten the café to the place that I didn’t work on the weekends.
I loved it.
The time to spend with my son.
The time to breathe.
The time for myself that I’d had to sacrifice to build the restaurant to what it was today.
It’d been worth it, but I was definitely relishing in the reward of it.
Roaring, Kayden clashed two dinosaurs together. “I get you,” he shouted, banging them together again.
“Don’t you think the dinosaurs should get along and be friends?”
“No! Fight!”
Soft laughter rolled. Apparently, Kayden couldn’t be bothered with my lesson about cooperation and unity.
Yesterday, I’d ended up taking off the rest of the day, and Ryder had gone with me to pack more of our things before he’d insisted we go to Wal-Mart to purchase a bunch of stuff for Kayden’s temporary room.
Whether it went against my better judgment or not, I’d decided to stay here for a while.
The thing was, when I’d gotten to my house and had seen the old door that had been removed and sat propped on the wall as the carpenter installed a new one, I’d had zero regrets about agreeing to spend a little more time here.
All it’d taken to get me firmly on Ryder’s team was seeing the way the wood had been torn up at the edges, deep grooves gouged into it where a metal object had been shoved in and the actual lock had been pried out.
I’d realized that person could have come the rest of the way in, that my son was there, that we were vulnerable, and I’d known I was making the right choice.
Ezra would find whoever was responsible and everything would go back to normal.
Plus, last night after I’d put Kayden down to sleep, Ryder had sat at the table in his kitchen with me and had designed a metal security door that he was going to fabricate and install.
Once we had that extra security in place, we’d go home.
Taking extra precautions to protect my son didn’t make me weak.
It made me smart.
I grinned when the raucous rapping suddenly sounded at the front door. There was only one person I knew who could create a stir as wild as that one.
Paisley had texted me yesterday demanding to know what had happened Thursday night before we decided she was going to come by to start planning Caleb’s party this morning.
She was only ten minutes late.
She deserved a medal.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Kayden, pushing to stand before I walked to Ryder’s front door.
I peeked out the window and onto the front porch.