This sweet ache was brand new, and it was all for Folk.
It was the time of day when I usually reached for a beer. But I had Folk to give me a buzz instead, and the fridge didn’t call to me except to fill a plate with fruit for him and Ivy.
I took it to them.
Ivy accepted it like it was as normal as the new presence in our living room. Sheateit. And so did he.
So didIwhen Folk beckoned me closer and slipped a raspberry between my lips. “You’ve got strawberries ready to go outside.”
“Breakfast?”
“Sounds good.”
To me too. Breakfast meant he’d still be here. That he’d have spent his second whole night in my bed. But I couldn’t help glancing at the couch and picturing how we’d spent our morning.
Folk smirked, saying nothing. But the heat in his gaze was enough to drive me out of the room and back to the kitchen.
It was late by the time Ivy went to bed. With her nosy gaze done for the day, the need to pretend was gone. But Folk came to me anyway, and we sat outside in the fading light, on the steps, him between my legs with his head in my lap.
I played with his soft hair. My body was alive with all the things I wanted to do to him. And him to do to me. But Ivy was here, and the slow burn in my veins was easier to ignore than the inferno that had exploded between us this morning.
Also, I got the sense that Folk was tired. He didn’t look it, but he was flexing his hands a lot, his eyes heavy as I moved my thumbs lower to massage his neck.
I bent to kiss his temple. “Wanna go to bed?”
Folk stretched out his legs. “In a minute. This is nice.”
It was. But I still had Lauren’s messages to deal with, and I couldn’t shake the tension that brought.
Folk felt it and sat up. “What’s the matter?”
Denial played on my tongue, but I wasn’t a liar. Just shit at talking. “I never read Lauren’s response to the message I sent her this morning.”
“Maybe she didn’t respond.”
I made a sound of disbelief. “She responded a lot. I just didn’t look.”
As I spoke, my phone vibrated with her shrill ringtone, and I cringed, hating the sound and how it made me feel.
Folk eyed me a second, then fished my phone from my pocket. “What’s your passcode?”
I told him and his gaze flitted back to me. Warmth heated my cheeks, making me glad it was dark. “What? It’s easy to remember.”
He let it go and typed his own name into my phone, humour fading as he scanned whatever horrendous word salad Lauren had sent. “I’m moving anything that isn’t about childcare into a locked folder. This is your chance to stop me.”
I didn’t stop him. I watched him scroll, then rise and move away from me to listen to the voicemails, and I didn’t stop him doing whatever with those either. I just sat there missing him until he came back to me.
Folk tucked my phone into my pocket and slid a lazy hand along my jaw. “Her car broke down. It’s in the garage, so you need to drop Ivy off on Sunday.”
I was going to anyway. Lauren rarely came to my house unless it was to berate me for something. It was too nice for her to deal with. Too respectable. “She’ll have to walk the school run then. It’s not far, but she won’t like it.”
“You ever find yourself watching from a distance?”
“Sometimes,” I admitted. “But I can’t on Monday. I’m opening the yard.”
Which begged the question, where would Folk be? If Ivy was with Lauren on Sunday night, there was no need for him to be here. Or me if I kept my promise to Nash and slept at the compound.
A pissed-off sigh escaped me. Folk cut it off with his lips, but it was a tame kiss. A short one. “If I’m around, I can watch them.”
