“Eastern, he cheated on me in the worst possible way. And even if he hadn’t, it doesn’t matter, because I’d already realized that I didn’t want a life with him.”
He watched her closely but remained silent.
She leaned forward. “I am so grateful for that—because now I have you and Avery. And you two areallI want.”
One side of his mouth lifted. “Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“That’s a relief. Because we want you too.”
The words hit her in the chest, but not in a bad way. “You do, do you?”
“Yeah. I’m actually not sure what we’d do without you now.”
“I kind of like that.” Honestly, there was no kind of about it. She dropped her feet to the floor and leaned forward. Their kiss was soft and warm and comforting.
She was just slipping her hands into his hair when his phone rang.
He tugged it out and frowned. “It’s Jarrad. I need to take this. I’ll be back in a second.”
She nodded and leaned back, nerves skittering as Eastern stepped into the hallway. Maybe she was nervous because she wanted Denny’s cause of death to be something that hadn’t been preventable. She needed confirmation that finding him sooner wouldn’t have helped.
A couple minutes later, Eastern returned, a frown between his brows.
She straightened. “What is it?”
“Jarrad let me know that it’s looking like it was a brain aneurysm. I guess that makes sense. My deputies messaged earlier and said they interviewed some people who saw him this afternoon, and he was complaining of nausea and vomiting and a stiff neck. They put it down to his drinking.”
She nodded, nibbling her bottom lip. “So no crime scene.”
“No crime scene.”
Then why did Eastern look like he didn’t quite believe it?
CHAPTER 23
Eastern climbed out of the car and circled around to Sadie’s side to help her out. They were at Cody and Harper’s place for a family dinner. It was Sadie’s first, and there was something about having her here, with him and Avery, that made him feel… Damn, he couldn’t even describe it.
She stepped onto the sidewalk. “Should I be nervous?”
“Nervous about a dinner with my two knucklehead brothers and their partners? Absolutely not.”
She laughed as she took a step toward Avery’s door and helped her out. The kid was just about beaming. If anyone loved family dinners, it was her. Maybe that had something to do with her being doted on by everyone. Or maybe because there were always sweets at the end.
“Can I hold the cupcakes?” Avery asked, almost jumping in excitement. “I promise I won’t eat any.”
Eastern lifted the box from the back seat. “How do I know I can trust you? I’m pretty sure there were bite marks taken out of the cake at the last family dinner.”
A grin curved her lips. “That was Uncle Kay’s fault. He was a bad influence.”
Yeah, Kayden could be a terrible influence.
“But I promise, I won’t take a bite this time and I won’t lethimtake a bite. You can trust me, Daddy. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
He frowned. “Yesterday you told me you hadn’t had any sweets all day, then I found out Sadie gave you a cookie.”
She laughed, the sound so sweet and airy he couldn’t help but smile. “Daddy, it was a green cookie, so Sadie and I both agreed it was healthy.”
