“Griff’s playing a series in LA not long after you leave, and I’ve never seen LA at all. Vacations haven’t been a high priority the past ten years.” And things have finally been picking up for the burger bus, so I could afford to take a week or so off.
“Why are you so very perfect?”
I shake my head. “That’s the afterglow talking.”
“No, I’ve thought it to myself more than once lately. When you showed Eddie how to throw a baseball after lunch the other day. When you bandaged my finger after my failed attempt at cutting a watermelon. When you sent me that very kind text message reminding me that every parent has hard days, harder when they’re flying solo. And then that other text message about touching your own breasts and thinking of me. That was top notch as far as perfection and text messages go.”
“Those are little things that anyone could do.”
He shifts on the table to face me, as serious as I’ve ever seen him, short of when he was mad after that dinner at Ryker’s place. “But I trust you have pure intentions when you do them. You take in family and give them a place to belong in your heart. Not just your brothers. Daphne too. Me. My boys. Their mother. The world I grew up in, the world I’ve known my entire life—this idea offamilywas quite foreign. Even the relationship I’ve had with Lana—while we’re rather good friends, were it not for the boys, I dare say she would not choose to be part of my life, and I could hardly blame her. But you have family. You make it, you have it, and you give it, you make me feel as though youwantme to be part of it, and it feels wonderful to belong to something I never thought was real.”
I blink against another wave of hot eyes and stinging nose. “You are a good man, Simon, and you deserve the very best family. It’s an honor to share mine with you.”
“Yours is the best for you being the heart of it.”
“You’re very good at making a girl feel special.”
He smiles and kisses the tip of my nose. “Youarespecial.”
I snuggle closer to him, feeling his cock harden against my thigh as I kiss his neck. “You are too.”
“Nowhere near as special as you.”
“Simon.”
“Do you know every time you chide me, I think of ten more things I would like to do with you? And not all of them involve being naked.”
“Just most?”
“Naturally. Though I am hoping that you arrive at my murder mystery dinner party in that red dress you wore on our first date.”
“I still can’t believe you’re—no, wait. Yes, I can.”
“I’ve been working on the script for it. It’s terrible.”
I laugh and press myself against his erection. “Is it?”
“The worst thing I’ve ever written.”
“Simon.”
He slides his hand over my hip, smiling. “Truly. You wearing the red dress will be necessary to distract everyone from realizing it’s rubbish.”
There’s a knock at the back door.
“Bloody hell,” Simon mutters.
“Boss? Just heard on the radio that a police cruiser is headed this way.”
I growl softly.
Probably Logan.
He’s hung out near my bus a few times this summer, scaring people away. It would fit for him to be the one to catch us out here.
Simon smiles at me. “Will you growl at me like that the next time we have an hour alone? I quite like it.”
How is it possible that I’m both irritated and the happiest I’ve felt in ages? “I quite like you.”
