Page 126 of When It's Us
My forehead rests against hers. I don’t say anything. I breathe her in. The sweaty-sweet scent of her tangled hair and she makes that perfect little broken hum like she always does when she’s been thoroughly fucked.
My hand rests at the base of her throat, and I stroke my thumb along her collarbone, under the neck of her hoodie. I drop my hand and reach around her to unfasten the belt and her hands automatically go to my chest. I lift each one, rubbing life back into them then place a kiss on the pulse pint of each one.
She burrows her face into my neck and sighs contentedly. Something cracks open in my chest.
“You okay?” I ask, brushing her hair back to kiss her face. “I didn’t mean to go that hard.”
She shakes her head against me and whispers, “I wanted it. I wanted you.”
I close my eyes with a nod, and for once, I let myself believe it.
Ginger
Thekitchenstillsmellslike garlic and roasted chicken. The boys are on a sugar high from the cookies they begged me to bake earlier, and now they’ve roped Hutch into playing some game they made up on the spot calledDino Detective.
It involves plastic dinosaurs, clues scribbled on sticky notes, and a lot of crawling around on all fours. Hutch is taking it deadly seriously. He’s got a dish towel tied around his neck like a cape, a plastic compass in one hand, and a purple T-Rex tucked into the back pocket of his jeans like a sidekick.
I lean against the doorframe and watch him “sneak” around the coffee table, whispering with Tate while Jordan dramatically guards the “hidden treasure”, which I’m pretty sure is a rock from the yard and a handful of candy wrapped in gold foil.
It’s ridiculous and chaotic. And so sweet it makes something ache deep in my chest.
Hayley’s living room feels full in the best way as I watch the three of them. It helps that there’s nothing breakable in reach.
She’d tossed me a wink earlier, already halfway out the door to help Natalie at Timber’s Treats, saying something about a last-minute baby shower order that needed all hands on deck.
I’d offered to tag along, but Hayley had smirked and said, “Please. You’ve got your hands full already.”
She wasn’t wrong.
A smile tilts my lips when Tate clings to Hutch’s leg, and he drags him slowly forward, before letting out a strangled half roar.
That woman in town told me to be careful. Warned me about Hutch like I didn’t already know what kind of reputation came with that crooked smile and those hands. But she didn’t see this.
Didn’t see him take his boots off at the door when he got here because the boys were padding around in socks. She didn’t see him ask what chores they’d done this week, so he could praise the hell out of them for it. She also didn’t see the way he looked at me when I handed him a beer and thanked him for coming—like there was nowhere else he’d rather be.
He catches me watching and grins like a kid himself, eyes lighting up. “You’re missing the treasure hunt, California.”
I shake my head, laughing. “I’m good right here.”
But the truth is—I’m not good. I’m falling.
Hard.
And no warning in the world is going to stop it.
We finally wrangle the boys to the table twenty minutes later, cheeks flushed and hair wild from their game, Jordan bounces in his chair, and Tate pokes at the mashed potatoes like they’re a science experiment.
I settle into my seat next to Hutch and barely have time to unfold my napkin before Jordan pipes up.
“Mom, can you cut my chicken?”
I start to push up from my chair, but Hutch’s voice comes first, calm and steady beside me.
“I got it, Mama.”
My breath catches and his eyes meet mine, the briefest of moments. It’s not just the words, but the way he says them. Easy. Familiar. Like they mean something.
Tate’s eyes dart to Hutch, wide and curious, but he slides his plate over without a word.
