“Where would you want the lantana?” I asked Kess.
He held up his hands, shrugging. “Hell if I know.”
Stevie hip-checked him. “Maybe we can plant some of it around the base of the trees closest to your house?”
“Not a bad idea,” I said, pulling up another board. “See how lantana can act as either a ground covering or a bush, depending on how you cut it?”
Kessler shifted to look over my shoulder, his heat at my back and his low chuckle in my ear. “That stuff is gonna grow however the hell it’s gonna grow, and I won’t be doing anything to influence its shape. Like, at all.”
I leaned back, dizzy from the feel of him. “Good point. I’m sure Stevie and I’ll be happy to help you with occasional upkeep, but we need to remember that this is going to be a very natural-looking result.”
He put his chin on my shoulder and reached around to point at another picture on the board. “The lavender and sage will look perfect up against the house, but I think a pop of color around some of the trees would be nice. Maybe we can add in a few coneflowers against the yellow?”
“I like it.”
Stevie apparently agreed because she grabbed a bag of soil and hefted it over her shoulder, marching in that determined stride of hers toward the empty beds in front of Kess’s house.
Kess stepped in next to me, drifting his hand over my hip. “Ever since she was a little girl, she always had a serious look on her face,” he said with a nostalgic grin. “I’ll be honest, I initially thought Emery was crazy to upend his entire life to move out here, but then again, I thought he was crazy for wanting to become a dad at twenty-five.”
I bit my lip. I was twenty-five, and I would give anything to be a father.
“The second I visited, though, I got it,” he said, unaware of my inner thoughts. “I think Stevie would have done well in whatever environment—she’s definitely a grow-where-planted type of human. But this place? Is probably where she was always meant to be.”
I nodded placidly, even as every cell in my body became aware of his hand on my hip.
What was he doing?
“I’ve only known her for a couple of years, but I think you’re right. She’s one of my favorite people on the entire planet. And it’s dangerous.”
Kess chuckled. “Why dangerous?” he asked as we watched her fish a knife out of her back pocket and slit open the bag of dirt.
I thought about our conversation at the bar, and the idea of letting him get to know the real me. Full honesty was still ahell no, but...maybe I could let him in a little?
“Uh, dangerous because Emery and Woody make it look easy.”
Kess shouldered me. “What? Parenthood?”
“Exactly. They make it look like a walk in the park, and I know it’s not.” I rubbed my hand over my chest as I finally stepped away from him. “Dollars to donuts, my kid’s gonna be an absolute terror.”
Kess went quiet as I grabbed another bag of gardening soil. I looked over at him. “What?” I asked, immediately defensive.
“You just surprised me, that’s all,” he said, taking the bag from me to hoist it on his shoulder. “I’ve never heard you talk about wanting kids. Didn’t figure you for the sort.”
Something about his amused disbelief rankled.
I put a bag on my shoulder. “For the sort of what?” I asked, unable to keep the edge out of my voice.
Kess, clearly having missed the shift in my attitude, plowed forward. “For the sort of guy who could commit to the responsibility of children.”
I thinned my lips, adjusting the heavy sack. His eyes widened.
“Sorry, I?—”
Not wanting to hear it, I set down the bag of soil, grabbed my knife off my belt, and went about ripping open the bag and dumping the soil onto the prepared bed. That didn’t calm me down the way I thought it would, so I grabbed Kess’s bag, ripped it open, and dumped it out as well.
Kess followed me back to the pallets. “I think I said the wrong thing.”
Stevie had followed us over and was quiet as her luminous amber eyes ping-ponged back and forth between us.
