Page 43 of Billionaire Lumberjack's Bargain

His bottom lip pops out in a pout, and he tugs at my arm. “Comeon, Mom.”

Dalton chuckles, the sound carrying across the yard to me along with this positive energy. “Yeah, comeon,Mom.”

The sing-song way he mimics Davey draws a grin across my face, and I allow the tiny hand to tug me out of the protection of the edge of the greenhouse and into the rain.

Warm rain drenches me almost instantly but somehow helps temper the humidity that’s been almost suffocating the last week. It’s likely the end of the season, the last summer rain we’ll get before fall starts to work its way onto the mountain already in August.

And this is exactly what Davey should be doing: enjoying the weather, the property, and just loving life being out here surrounded by all this pristine beauty.

This is why Dave and I chose James Mountain in the first place.

For moments likethis.

I just never could have anticipated that the man having them with Davey wouldn’t behim.

Swallowing back the despair threatening to choke me, and thankful the rain will hide the tears that I can’t stop from falling, we finally reach Dalton. He flashes me that easy grin of his and takes my other hand, tugging me toward the puddle, with Davey doing the same on my opposite side.

Dalton nods toward the pooling water. “Come on, Mommy, give us one good splash.”

I try to give him an annoyed look, but I can’t fight the smile that naturally pulls at my lips as I lock gazes with him and see the amusement dancing in his green eyes.

Before I can do or say anything, Dalton jumps and comes down, spraying muddy water across both Davey and me. I gasp at the sensation, even though it isn’t cold, while Davey just squeals in delight again, drops my hand, and flails his legs up, kicking wildly and creating an inescapable spiral.

Scowling at Dalton, I swipe my face clean on my sleeve as best I can, only for it to get instantly soaked again. “You did that on purpose.”

He raises a shoulder and lets it fall, completely unapologetic and looking every bit his age with the playful smirk, even though the lean, rippling muscles on his chest and stomach certainly show the opposite. “Don’t be a party pooper.”

I bark out a laugh that echoes off the trees and gets swallowed by the sound of the rain hitting the greenhouse and pooling water all around us. “I didn’t know you were also four.”

He squeezes my hand still in his. “Just because we’re adults doesn’t mean we have to always act like it.”

“I’m thirty-six, Dalton…”

Another muscled shoulder rises and falls, as if the thirteen-year age difference between us means absolutely nothing, and without warning, he jumps up again.

This time, I manage to turn away before I get sprayed directly in the face.

When I turn back, it’s with determination. I release Dalton’s hand and jump up, stomping my boots into the puddle as hard as I can when I come down.

It sprays both of them with a violent flood of murky water thatalmostrivals the one Dalton sent my way.

Dalton tips his head back and laughs, the sound so full of warmth I almost forget for a second that there’s a gaping, icy hole in my chest, and Davey races around us in a circle, churning up the water with his little booted feet and spraying us both.

I scoop him up, and he giggles as I dangle him over the water, pressing my lips to his wet cheek. “Are you having fun?”

He nods, and I kiss him again, wishing there were a way to capture this exact second when he looks like this and hold on to it forever.

“Good. That looks like a pretty awesome puddle over there.”

He follows my gaze and sees the one directly across from us that has formed since the rain started more heavily. His eyes light up, and he tugs out of my hold and races across to it to take a giant leap.

Dalton shifts behind me, then moves to my side, glancing over at me with a half-smirk. I watch Davey rushing from puddle to puddle, trying to see how big of a splash he can make in each one, then look up at the man who has managed to make him so happy today.

“Thank you.”

He raises a wet brow, his blond hair darkened and matted to his head, curling slightly at his forehead. “For what?”

I incline my head toward Davey. “For this. It isn’t easy for him to not have his father here. He’s so young…”

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