Page 83 of Finding You

“You’re not bad company.” Dallas grabbed his hand off the wheel and kissed the inside of his wrist. It sent warm shivers through Kylen’s whole body. “I just wanted to check in on you.”

Kylen wasn’t used to that. Not really. Dani always made sure he was okay, but she relied more on her own intuition than asking how he was. It was strange to have the floor like this—to have someone wait for him to say what it was he needed.

He could get used to it, though in a way, he hoped he never did.

Glancing over at Dallas, he smiled as he took his hand back. Pretending with him would be too easy on this trip, mostly because it wasn’t pretend at all. He told himself he needed to be patient. Dallas wanted to talk about what this was when they got home, and Kylen wanted to respect that.

And it wasn’t like Dallas was being opaque about his feelings. That was never really in question. What worried Kylen was whether or not Dallas had room in his life for something complicated. They could like each other—hell, they could love each other—but it didn’t mean that would be enough.

“You good, or do you want to stop?” Kylen asked, trying to distract himself from his thoughts.

Dallas shifted, frowning, then shook his head. “I’m good. I don’t want to wake up Flora.”

Kylen appreciated that. His daughter got terribly carsick on long drives, and it was best to let her sleep until they were stopped. He smiled once more, then turned his attention back to the drive and hoped to God they could get through the weekend without any disasters nipping at their heels.

The campground was the same as it was every year. It was cloudy with the promise of afternoon rain, close enough to the coast there was a touch of brine on the breeze, which mixed oddly with the smell of lake water. The road was bumpy, and the cabins were all full with family members he only saw once a year.

His mom had given him his spot near the bathrooms, which was nice for Flora. It meant being near her, but he could tolerate it, considering how much time Flora would want to spend with her grandparents. At the very least, she’d be a good buffer between him and everyone else.

He had no idea what his mom had told them about Dallas, but he had a feeling the word “good friend” had been used with emphasis. His stomach was a little sour as they pulled up next to his mom’s SUV.

“This is it,” Kylen said as he put the car into park.

Flora was waking up, and she blinked sleepily at him in the rearview mirror. “Nonny?”

“She’s here, sweetpea,” Kylen said as he hit the button to turn the car off. Before he could tell Flora to wait, she was unbuckling herself and pulling the straps off her chest. “Wait—” But she’d already clambered over the console and onto Dallas’s lap.

“Should I?” Dallas was struggling to keep her little hands from the door handle.

Kylen glanced through the windshield and saw his mom peering through the open door of her cabin. He let out a sigh. This was not how he wanted to do welcome greetings, but he should have known Flora wouldn’t have given him a choice.

“Go for it. That’s my mom.”

Dallas let Flora go as his gaze fixed on the woman watching them. Kylen could see the disapproval in her face—the way her lips were thinned, and her mouth was tipped down in the corners. He swallowed heavily as she crossed her arms, but her expression changed the moment Flora went bolting toward her.

“It’s so hard to feel this way about her when she’s such a good grandma.”

Dallas reached for his hand and linked their fingers together. “I’m sorry you have to deal with all of this. You don’t deserve it.”

Kylen shrugged and lifted Dallas’s fingers to his lips, kissing them. “It’s okay. I have you this time.”

“Yeah. You do.”

Kylen lingered only a moment more before opening his door, and he and Dallas silently unloaded the car. He could feel eyes on him. Most of his family was distracted with unpacking their own cars, but he knew they were a spectacle. He could hear soft whispers, could feel the weight of their judgment.

Not everyone was terrible, but most of them disapproved, and it made him sick to his stomach. He was tired of being a circus attraction to them. The statistic. The outsider.

“Breathe, baby,” Dallas murmured, putting his hand on the small of Kylen’s back. “And let me help you.”

Kylen straightened from where he’d unloaded their cases and turned to Dallas. “Kiss me?”

“Is that really what you want right now?”

It was. It absolutely fucking was. Dallas seemed to read the answer off his face because without waiting for him to say it, he took Kylen in a gentle grasp, one arm around his waist, his other hand pinching his chin, and he kissed him slow and thorough.

It wasn’t pornographic, but it wasn’t chaste. And it was so fucking possessive it made Kylen’s toes curl.

“I changed my mind. Let’s leave. We can get a hotel nearby and enjoy a weekend with just us.”

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