Page 47 of Not Over You

Children flocked to Heath, all of them wanting to be pushed up into the air cheerleader-style like their cousin.

“You’ve done it now,” Jordan said with a laugh. But then he got roped into it, too, and soon he, Chase, and Heath were all lifting the kids up into the air so that they could “see everything.”

Jordan had Heath’s daughter Eve balancing upright in his arms when he caught a flash of a figure-hugging navy dress and blue jeans out of the corner of his eye. He could also feel the searing heat of Rayma’s ire burning into the back of his skull. She was wearing knee-high brown boots and since he’d seen her last even just a week ago, it looked like she’d gotten a haircut and decided to try bangs. They suited her.

Since he knew she liked him in plaid—she had a lumberjack fantasy they’d indulged in on more than one occasion—he went with jeans and a flannel shirt with red, white, black and soft yellow plaid. With a color combo like that it sounded like something you might expect to find on a clown, but Rayma had actually bought him the shirt when they were still together, so he made sure to wear it.

And it was actually a really nice shirt, not clownish at all, and one he wore often. He also knew how much she liked him in a toque or aknit capas the Yanks called it. He knew a synonym for a knit cap wasbeanie, but he refused to use that word for anything other than what that word conjured which was a brimless hat with a helicopter propeller on top. It was a toque or a knit cap, END OF DISCUSSION.

So, he rocked all her favorites. A soft grayknit cap, dark jeans and a flannel shirt. He was also wearing her favorite cologne.

“What are you doing?” came her voice a moment later, right beside him, and said with an angry hiss. She sucked in a sharp breath and he knew she smelled him. He grinned, but was quick to stow it in order to not piss her off any more than she already was.

His arm wobbled slightly which made Eve—four—giggle with delight, but he was quick to bring her back down and set her on her feet before turning to Rayma. “Playing with the kids.”

“No, what are you doinghere?” she said, her eyes thin slits.

“Playing with the kids, having Thanksgiving dinner, and seeing friends?”

“You knew I’d be here, so why did you come?”

He tossed his hands into the air. “Look, Rayma, you know I want you back, and I happen to think that you’re not giving me enough of an opportunity towinyou back, so until you do and I fail miserably, I’m not going to give up. I also happen to really care about all these people and when Joy called and invited me the woman made it damn near impossible to say no.”

“Did you eventryto say no?”

No. He hadn’t. He knew Rayma would be here so he’d said yes before he even checked to see if he had the day off. He did—thank fuck—but he would have worked some magic and figured out a way to swap with another officer in order to get the day off if he was scheduled to work.

“I thought so,” she said snidely.

“Enough, Rayma,” he said shaking his head. “I get that you’re pissed, but honestly, you’retoopissed for what happened. And we both fucking know it. You’re just too damn stubborn to accept that I’m right and that we belong together. We bring out the best in each other, we always have.”

“You. Broke. My. Heart,” she said, her brown eyes fierce. “And you don’t think that’s enough of a reason to be pissed and tonotwant to get back together with you?”

“I don’t think it’s enough of a reason not to hear me out and give me a second chance. Particularly when what I thought I was doing was protecting your heart.”

She shook her head and glanced away, tossing her caramel hair over her shoulder. A wild note bubbled in her throat. “You just don’t get it.” Then she sniffed and before he could reach out to her and get her to turn and face him, she walked away toward Stacey.

Jordan just stood there, the ache in his chest growing as he watched Rayma throw a smile on her beautiful face, laugh and give the kids attention when he could see with every breath that she was struggling to keep it together. Her jaw was tight, and she kept swallowing. He knew her better than anybody, and he knew that what Rayma needed right now was the opportunity to let go of all those pent-up emotions and let them run wild.

But she rarely did that.

She rarely let loose. She had to always be in control because being in control meant staying safe. But Jordan had allowed her a safe space to abandon her need for control, to relinquish it to him and just let herself feel. After her abduction, she only drank in the presence of family or friends. And if she did it was one glass of wine or a spirit and that was it. She was paranoid about being drugged or without her faculties. He’d helped her get through a lot of those anxieties and fears, so when he saw her at the bar with her friend the other night and she was letting loose and enjoying herself, it made him proud to see how far she’d come. How much she was no longer allowing her fears and her past to rule her present. She was letting go of that tight control in order to live in the moment a little more.

Chase murmured something to Heath and Heath’s eyes went wide, then he set the kid down he had in his arms and took off toward the house. A moment later he returned chewing something happily.

Jordan hadn’t realized it until now but all of the adults, Grant included had been popping into the house periodically and coming back out a moment later licking their fingers and chewing.

What were they eating? And could he get in on the secret?

***

“You need to cut him some slack,” Pasha said to Rayma as they stood outside and watched the kids run around like crazy humans. They had so much energy that Rayma was thankful it wasn’t raining and the children could burn off their excess steam in the backyard. Last year it’d poured rain and she was stuck with small people crawling all over her for hours before dinner was finally served.

“He doesn’t deserve any slack,” Rayma said, running her hand over Eve’s head as the little girl with her sister’s coloring ran past waving a bubble wand and leaving small bubbles in her wake. “He broke my heart. My friendship heart, which in my opinion is worse than my lover heart.”

Pasha rolled her golden-brown eyes. “You can be so dramatic sometimes.”

Rayma made ahrrumphnoise and crossed her arms over her chest. “Be that as it may, just because I’m not over him, will probably never be over him, and will most likely always love him, and compare all other men to him does not mean we’re meant to be.”

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