“Absolutely,” I answer him.
“I promise to pick him up no later than ten. That okay?”
“Yep.” Connor calls from his bedroom saying he’s ready. “I guess it’s time for a bedtime story.” I tap onThe Little Engine That Couldand both Dustin and I read it to Connor, taking turns doing the voices. Within minutes, JD tells us he’s fast asleep.
“Good night, sunshine. Dream of me,” JD adds softly before hanging up.
If only he knew—JD is the only thing Idodream about.
Sometime during the night, I feel my bed dip and a hard body gather me close. Soft lips kiss me featherlight and I sigh in my sleep. Rolling over, I snuggle into the warmth, my consciousness falling back into the dream I was having.
“Please don’t ever leave me again, Jackson. I’ve missed you so much,” I mumble.
Chapter 53
“There’s our Lillie-pad!” Renee exclaims when Ben and Lillie arrive at the house. “Get in here girlfriend and help us finish making these awesome chocolate chip cookies,” she says, scooping up cookie dough with a spoon and placing it on parchment paper.
Shelby decided not to come. Like Renee said, she called me the next morning and we talked for a long time. She then told me she couldn’t help babysit tonight and made the excuse that she needed to get some work done.
While Lillie runs over to help with the cookies, Ben stands beside me. “Thank you so much again for watching her tonight.”
“Ben, you know you don’t have to thank us. We love Lillie. We would adopt her if we could.” I smile at him, and he smiles back.
His gaze flicks to Renee, lingers, and then moves over to his daughter. I don’t miss the forlorn expression on his face. There is so much chemistry between him and my stubborn friend. I wish Renee would get her head out of her ass and realize that she can have more with Ben.
Renee has told me and Shelby a lot about what happened to her. Those emotional scars run deep and are one of the reasons she won’t allow herself to find true happiness. It makes me sad for my friend, but I understand where Renee is coming from. We’re both scarred on the inside in a way that only we understand. What is the saying?“You can’t understand someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.”Between Renee and myself, we must have sprinted a marathon with all the baggage we carry around.
Trevor walks into the kitchen where we’re all gathered. “Look who I found at our front door.”
Connor comes barreling past and latches on to my legs. “Rora! Rora!”
I bend over and pick him up, planting a huge kiss to his cheek. “You ready to have fun tonight?”
“Yeah!”
JD strolls in and just like every time I see him, my stomach flips and it gets a little harder to breathe.
Ben splutters when he sees JD.
JD holds out his hand. “Nice to see you again…sorry, I forgot your name.”
Composing himself, Ben shakes JD’s hand. “Ben. Ben Reilly, hence, the name of my bar— O’Reilly’s. Sorry I keep fanboying out on you. I promise I’m not this pathetic on a normal day.”
“You two know each other?” I ask, then call over to Lillie. “Lillie-pad. Come over here and meet Connor.”
She jumps down from the stool next to Renee, licking her fingers clean of cookie dough.
“He came into the bar with Prez and Dustin,” Ben answers me.
I set Connor down when Lillie approaches. Lillie, never one to be shy, grabs Connor’s hand before I can make a proper introduction. “Hi, I’m Lillie. Come over and help us.”
She starts chattering away at Connor, who smiles and allows her to lead him over to where Renee is still dropping balls of dough onto the parchment paper.
Ben sucks in a breath when Connor points to the scar above Lillie’s lip. We all watch in wonder as Connor leans over and kisses her scar then helps scoop cookie dough out of the bowl.
“I think my ovaries just exploded,” I think without realizing I said it out loud.
“Right?” Renee agrees from her position at the counter island. “JD, you’re going to have trouble on your hands when this one becomes a teenager.”
