Page 33 of That First Night
“Don’t be sorry.” I shake my head. “I’m sorry for breaking the snuggle-fest.”
She blushes at my comment, and I scoop James up and take him up to his room. He must be tired because he doesn’t wake when I place him in bed. Giving him a kiss on the head, I leave his room, close the door behind me and make my way back downstairs and find Peyton in the kitchen.
“Hey.” That’s what I decide to say, because I can’t think of anything else.
“Hey, you,” she smiles at me. “I made dinner earlier. I’ll heat some up for you.”
She what? Did she just say she made me dinner?
The pain inside my chest is back and I feel my heart rate start to spike again.
“Peyton,” I say, as I let out a sigh. “You know you don’t have to cook for me.”
“I know. I didn’t.” She glances in my direction, and I think she can sense what’s happening when she says, “Relax, will ya? It’s just spaghetti. Here, come try the sauce I made. James loved it.”
I hesitantly walk over to her where she holds out a small spoon with some tomato sauce on it. Stepping into her space, I can feel the heat of her body from our close proximity. Or maybe, it’s the heat of the oven? Regardless, I feel that weird buzz like I do every time she’s close. She moves the spoon from over the saucepan and towards my mouth. My eyes stay locked with hers as she puts the spoon into my mouth so I can taste the sauce.
Just like I expect, it tastes amazing. My hand is about to move up to my face to wipe the corner of my lips when a small hand reaches for my lips first. Her eyes still haven’t left mine and as she wipes the corner of my lip, her thumb lingers for a second longer than it should. My head instinctively leans towards her touch and the hand that was moving towards my face now encircles her wrist so that she keeps her hand there just a second longer.
“Thomas,” she hoarsely whispers, as if she’s struggling to speak.
“T-that is amazing, Peyton,” I say and take a step close to her, which forces her to tilt her head up to maintain eye contact with me.
She doesn’t make a move to back away from me and her lips are right there for the taking. I’m terrified, for the first time in my life, to move, in fear that I will lose this moment.
“Thomas,” she whispers again.
“Dance with me, Peyton,” is what comes out of my mouth. It’s the most random request I have, but I want to feel her close to me for just a little longer.
“What?” She gasps, with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth.
“Dance with me.”
“There’s no music.”
“Echo, play songs byNate Smith,” I say loud enough so the speaker can hear me.
She turns from the direction the speaker is, to look me in the eyes with a small smirk forming on her lips.
“You listen to country music, Mr. Ford?”
And there it is, the way she draws out Mr. Ford with the cutest fucking smirk plastered on her face.I don’t stand a chance with her.
“I do, Ms. Peyton.” I give her a smirk back. “It’s my favorite genre.”
The music starts playing over the kitchen speakers. She hesitates, but I grab her hand in mine and drag her to the middle of the kitchen. Using my other hand to pull her flush with my body, I hear a gasp come from her as our bodies collide. I keep my hand on the small of her back and bring her other hand with mine where they rest together on my chest.
We start swaying to the music playing over the speakers and I wonder if she can feel how fast my heart is beating right now. Country music has a way of hitting your soul and the lyrics of the songs can be so relatable. This song that is playing has every lyric hitting me deep in my chest.
She’s branded my soul with a touch that's here to stay.
As the song continues, I start to feel like this is a bad idea because I can’t find it in me to pull away from her. I want to hoist her up, wrap her legs around me and walk us to my room, throw her on my bed and have my way with her like I wanted to do, all those years ago.
Things are different now though because she works for me. I can’t be dancing with my son’s nanny in the kitchen. Hell, I shouldn’t even be touching her.
“Peyton.” I lean in to whisper in her ear, and feel a shiver run through her body. “I need you to walk away before I do something I’m going to regret.”
She pulls away from me and I immediately wish I had worded that differently because her face is plastered with a look of disappointment. Fuck, I don’t do this shit, I don’t act like this. I can’t seem to function or find words when she’s around.
