Page 10 of Where You Belong

“I grew up not too far from there. My parents live just down the road, heading out of Arbor Creek. They built a big house on my grandparents’ land before I was born, and they’ve lived there my whole life. It’s right on the edge of town, along the highway, if you’re heading in from Everton.”

“Is that right?” I can sense her pulling away from me, her guard going up.

It’s been so long since I’ve been in the dating scene. When you live in a small town, everyone knows everyone, meaning even casual dating can be hard.

I’ve been known to spend time with several women in town, but it was never serious. Now, here I am sitting with Haelynn, and although we don’t know much about each other yet, I find myself wanting to change that.

“We’re getting together for Friends Night on Wednesday. We do it often; grill out, hit up Brodie’s in town, and shoot the shit. We’re heading to Brodie’s this week for wings and beer. If you’re free, you should come out with us.”

She hesitates for a moment, circling a ring on her finger as she mulls it over.

“My son will be with his dad, so I can make it work. I’ll just have to be back by eight when he gets home.”

I smile. “Sounds like a date.”

She nods, studying my smile. I have a sneaky suspicion she’s searching for a sign as to how I feel about her being a mother, and if she thought it would steer me away, she’s dead wrong.

“How old is your boy?”

“His name is Huxton, and he just turned five not too long ago. He’ll be starting kindergarten soon.”

“You’ll have to bring him around to one of our Friends Nights. My sister, Layla, and cousin, Brit, both have kids and they often bring them along. It would give them someone to play with and keep the kids occupied while we all hang out.”

Her eyes brighten up, and she grins, talking about her son and the mention of him making new friends.

“Oh, Huxton would love that.” Her voice is lighter than it was a moment ago. She peers down at her hand, running her finger over the dark maroon nail polish.

I don’t want her to be nervous around me, and I can sense something in our interaction from when we first were introduced to each other to now makes her hesitant.

I reached my hand out, wrapping my fingers around hers, hoping to calm whatever she felt in the moment.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you on Wednesday and having you both around more at our Friends Nights.”

This time, she doesn’t hold back. Her grin stretches across her face. I trail my eyes over the light dusting of freckles dotting her nose along the apples of her cheeks. It’s hard to resist the urge to kiss her again.

I don’t know her story, and I don’t want to come on too strong, but I can’t help wishing I could have another taste of those lips.

Now that I know how soft they are and how good they taste, it would be hard to be near her and think about anything else.

I check the time on my watch. I knew I needed to take off if I had any chance of making it on time for my shift.

“I need to leave for work, but I don’t want to go,” I whisper.

She didn’t say anything, but I could sense something was on the tip of her tongue. I felt her thumb brush over the back of my hand. It was subtle, but it felt like a live wire jolting through my body.

“Two days.”

“I’ll be counting down until it’s here.” I wink.

She giggles and shakes her head. “Like I said, you sure know all the right things to say to a woman.”

I remove my hand from hers, brushing back the strand of hair that fell forward, hiding her face. I trace my thumb along her jaw, below her lower lip.

God, it would kill me to walk away from her without kissing her again.

“It may be the right things, but more importantly, it’s the truth.”

Chapter Four

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