Page 110 of Reclaim Me

“We’ve have to make sure Riley remembers to close the door behind her when she comes in the house.”

“She said you were coming in behind her.”

“I was; I had to pause to talk to Aaron for a second,” I tell her, crouching down to grab the instructions she’s squinting at.

Rae looks up, searching my face to see if I’m upset. I’m not, but I appreciate her concern. “He just came by to drop off some mail that came to his place by mistake.”

I shrug. “I don’t need an explanation, Sunshine.”

And I really don’t. Even though we’re not together yet, I know Rae isn’t going back to Aaron. She’s too focused on moving forward.

“Okay,” She says, reaching for the instructions in my hand. I hold them out of her reach, which makes her narrow her eyes at me. “I need those, Hunter.”

“Why? We both know you’re not going to follow them.”

Rae is one of the smartest women I know, but she sucks at reading instructions and is even worse at building things. Something about the words, letters, and tools just don’t click for her. I’ve built every piece of furniture in her place, so I’m not sure why she’s chosen today to act like Mrs. Independent.

The corners of her lips quirk. “I can follow instructions.”

A month.

It’s been a month since I’ve kissed her, since I’ve tasted her, since we’ve done a single thing to act on the heat that is always coursing between us. I know she can follow instructions. Just like she knows I’m good at giving them to her. That shared knowledge passes between us in an invisible wave of passion we can’t act on because we decided that taking sex out of the equation was the best way to ensure we kept our heads on straight during this year of waiting and working our way back to each other.

I end our staring contest first, dropping my gaze to the instructions for the TV stand and holding out my hand for the drill Rae has clutched in her fingers. “Give me that. I’ll finish this up while you get started on Riley’s hair.”

“Aww, man,” Riley whines from the kitchen, having heard me sick her mother on her. “I don’t want my hair done.”

Rae rolls her eyes at me, handing me the drill before she rises from her spot on the floor. She rubs her hands down her thighs, which are bared by the short-ass shorts she’s wearing, and starts to make her way to the kitchen.

“Fine, Ri, let’s just cut it all off,” she jokes, which makes Riley giggle. They have this conversation every Sunday afternoon when I bring Riley home, but it never gets old for them, and it never gets old for me.

While Rae takes down Riley’s previous style, I undo the little progress she made on the TV stand, because it’s wrong, and then put it together the right way. It takes me fifteen minutes to complete the job, which I’m a little sad about because it means I don’t have a reason to hang around the house any longer. After I put the finished piece on the wall Rae told me she wanted the TV on and set the seventy-inch behemoth on top, I put all the trash in the box and set it by the door so I can take it with me when I go.

“Alright,” I say, walking into the kitchen to see Riley hopping up on the counter to get her hair washed. “I’m out of here.”

Rae glances over her shoulder at me. “Did you finish with the TV stand?”

“Of course.” I give her a look that asks her if she’s forgotten who she’s talking to, and she turns away from me to hide her smile. I still see it, though, because I’m walking up to her to give Riley a kiss on the cheek before her head goes under the running water. “Have a great week, Nugget.”

She giggles and squirms as I tickle her armpits, splashing water everywhere. Rae swats me away. “Alright, alright, that’s enough of that.”

Not wanting to get myself or Riley in further trouble, I back away with my hands up and a smile on my face. “Goodbye, Ms. Prince.”

“Goodbye, Mr. Drake,” Rae says, her voice all sass and humor that makes my chest fill with warmth.

“Goodbye, Daughter. I love you.”

Even though her mom is currently drenching her head, and a little bit of her face, in water, Riley waves. “Bye, Daddy. I love you too.”

Her little voice, and those three words, stop me dead in my tracks. I look to Rae for confirmation that I heard right, and she’s already looking at me, tears in her eyes as she nods.

We agreed that when Riley finally said I love you to me, we wouldn’t make a big deal out of it, but now I want to make a big deal. Now, I want to scoop her up off the counter and spin her around in circles to make her squeal with joy while I beg her to say it again and again.

I don’t do any of those things, though. I remain calm. I back out of the kitchen with tears in my eyes, a hand over my heart, and a look on my face that thanks Rae for the precious gift that is our daughter and the chance to have both of them in my life.

43

RAE

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