Kale clapped him on the back. “Hey, don’t go knocking that whole doctor bit. Your ass would still be sitting out here waiting to have your daughter seen if it weren’t for me.”
“I’m not knocking anything. You know I owe you.”
Maybe I was surprised to hear the sincerity behind his admission. I guessed I shouldn’t have been. Not with the way he clutched Frankie to him.
Guarding her.
Protecting her.
“We should get her home,” I offered. Again, I glanced at his precious child. Her chubby cheek was pressed so perfectly to his chest and her fist was wound in the fabric of his shirt, as if the steady beat of his heart had lulled her into peace.
Rex lifted his chin to Kale. “Thanks, man. Honestly...don’t think you know how much I appreciate you being there for her like this.”
Waving him off, Kale let his gaze slide to the sweet child. “Anything for Sweet Pea Frankie Leigh. That’s my godbaby, you know.”
He looked at me when he said the last, and a smile was pulling through the exhaustion that threatened to drag me under. “No way.”
Kale was all dimples as he raised his arms to the sides. “Don’t let all these awesome good looks fool you. I’m totally capable of raising a kid.” He threw a playful punch into Rex’s shoulder. “Almost as good as this guy.”
My smile grew as my eyes volleyed between the two of them, totally taken aback by the closeness Rex shared with Kale. But in a pleasant way. Maybe he didn’t need any more friends, after all.
I looked back at him, and my stomach twisted.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t need something.
Someone to fill that glaring void that was so obviously radiating within him.
And with every layer that was exposed, more and more I wanted to be that person.
* * *
“I’ve got her,” he grumbled barely above his breath when I attempted to help him get her out of the backseat of my car.
A calm stillness held fast to the cool air, daybreak just a hint of a blaze that lifted from the horizon. Glittering rays chased away the night and lit the sky in pinks and oranges and a welcoming blue.
The day brand new.
Bursting with possibilities.
“At least let me get the door open for you.” I said it with zero frustration when I wrenched free the keys he had clutched in his hand and quietly climbed the porch steps.
Somehow, I’d come to understand this man felt he needed to do things on his own.
Or maybe he’d just been forced into that role, and he knew nothing else.
Behind me, I could feel them, this buzz of energy that emanated from their skin. It made me feel as if I stood at the very edge of something magnificent, a stranger peering in to witness something pure and absolute. Alive and profound. A thriving force that threatened to suck me into its depths.
Sliding the key into the lock, I turned the lever and opened the door, standing aside as he headed straight through, his long legs eating up the floor as he disappeared down the hallway.
I wavered there, my mind flashing back to two nights ago when he’d had me pinned just inside. The memory spun around me, that fury that had been so blatantly evident.
Almost as acute as the brokenness that had seeped from his flesh and poured into mine.
Nearly as intense as the desire that had lashed between us.
I didn’t even know him, and the man was so mesmerizingly conflicted that he had me overwhelmed with the need to step closer. To dip my fingers in to explore and discover.
But it was more than that. There was something about him that made me ache. Something that made my chest and my spirit and my stomach revolt at the thought of walking away.
