His little face looks up at me. “Okay,” he says then his eyes get big. He puts his controller down on the ground and runs off yelling, “Rora! Rora!”
At first, I think I’m imagining him saying that because let’s face it, she’s all I’ve been thinking about. But I watch the direction he’s running and sure enough, Aurora is walking our way. Then my gaze lands on who’s with her. Fucking Austin Matfield. I didn’t realize he still lived in Highland. Aurora is wrapped around his bicep, her face glowing with a wide smile as they walk arm in arm. What the fuck? I thought the guys said she was dating Knox?
Connor rams into her legs, almost taking her down, and I jog over to them, my heart hammering wildly against my rib cage as she watches me approach.
“Connor, you know better than to run off like that.”
Connor asks her to come see his boat and I about pass out like a pussy when she says yes. I pick Connor up to relieve Aurora from his stranglehold around her calves. He starts singing his sailboat song for the hundredth time this morning and I look forward to the day when he gets bored of it.
“JD,” Austin greets me, and I watch him curl his hand around Aurora’s, daring me to say something about it. Fucker.
“Austin,” I reply and set Connor down when he starts to squirm. He grabs Aurora’s hand and pulls her with him toward the lake where we left his boat.
Seeing the girl I love being so kind and easy with my son warms my heart and gives me hope. She and Connor are sitting on the ground cross-legged and have their heads together as he shows her how to work the controls. He gets up and places his boat on the surface of the water. Aurora’s tinkling giggle as she steers the boat out hits me hard in the gut.
I want her back in my life so damn bad. Seeing her with Connor makes me long to have my own child growing inside her womb. Connor claps and then without ceremony, plops down in her lap. Aurora wraps her arms around his shoulders to his front so they can steer the boat together with the remote. I take out my phone and snap several pictures to capture the sweet moment.
“The two of you need to sit down and have a long, overdue conversation,” Austin announces beside me. I completely forgot he was there.
“I’ve been trying to do that.”
“Apparently, not hard enough.”
I turn to look at him. “I didn’t know you and Aurora were still hanging out.” Yeah, I’m fishing for information.
“We work together.”
Okay, I have to admit, that surprises the hell out me. “You work for Fallon?”
“Yep. Going on four years now. I handle the financial side of things.”
Makes sense. His dad was a big finance guy like mine.
“I’ll be working at the new center.”
“Know that too.” He starts walking to join where Aurora and Connor are. “I hope you don’t think you can waltz right back here and sweep Rory off her feet like you did in high school.”
“It’s really none of your business what I do, Austin, but no, I don’t expect that to happen.”Yet.
“As much as I would love to say that she and I are together so I can have the pleasure of rubbing your face in it, I can’t. What I can tell you is that she has been through hell and back because of you. If you hurt her again, I won’t stop until I’ve ruined you. Rory is my best friend. I would do anything for her.”
“Duly noted.”
When we get to Connor and Aurora, he’s chatting her ear off. My son loves to recite facts, and right now Aurora is getting educated about snakes.
“Did you know your daddy saved me from a water snake?” she tells him.
She’s referring to the night we went skinny dipping on the other side of Beacon Lake and a water snake slithered past us, it’s shape along the surface of the water clearly outlined under the bright moonlight. It was a couple of nights after our hot and heavy in my Jeep on the side of the road. When the snake swam past, she shrieked and jumped into my arms, wet and naked, and we soon forgot about the slithery reptile altogether. I made her come three times that night. Of course, Aurora leaves all that naughty stuff out of her story, but I notice how she sends me darting glances as she regales the story of my bravery to my son who is eating it all up.
“Hey bud, I don’t want to break up your fun time, but we need to get some food in your stomach.” I hold up the cooler bag to make my point.
“Awww,” he whines. “I’m not hungry,” he says, hoping to get more play time, but his loud growling stomach gives him away.
I take out a few disinfectant wipes and hand them to him so he can clean his hands. There’s a picnic table across the way where we can sit and eat the peanut butter sandwiches that I packed.
Aurora touches my arm to get my attention, and her hand burns my skin in the most delicious way.
“Connor, if your dad doesn’t mind, you guys are more than welcome to join us after you eat. Austin and I were going to take his sailboat out.”
