It’s a kiss of surrender .?.?. and one heck of a risk.
A faint buzzing sound tries to pull me back, but I’m not ready to let go.
Willow draws back with a breath, eyes blazing with heat. “Dallas,” she murmurs. “There’s a .?.?. vibration in your pants.”
My lips are still parted. I’m ready to curse the damn thing but the amusement in her eyes has me huffing out a laugh. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”
She drops her head with a smile, and I tuck loose strands behind her ear. Then I dip my hand into my pocket, and answer my phone.
24
Dallas and I arrived at the house minutes after Ginger called letting us know Cole was getting ready to leave and had one request.
“No,” Dallas barks as soon as he walks in.
On instinct, I grasp his arm to tame him. It’s one thing to come in attacking an innocent, broken, elderly man. It’s another to do it in front of a little girl.
Cole stands up off the couch, giving me a polite nod then turning his eyes on Dallas.
Ellie jumps from the carpet, pulling on a piece of paper from the coffee table. “Look what I drew today.”
I scan it as she holds it up for us. The crayon is faint in the light, but it appears to be a yard with a house in the background and several stick figures in front of it.
Dallas dips his eyes. “That’s beautiful, baby. That’s a lot of people.”
“We have a big family.”
I notice another figure on the far right of the page. “Who’s this?”
“That’s Grandpa.”
Dallas and I exchange a look and I glance at Cole, knowing she means him, since Dallas’s dad is “Grandpa Connor.”
Ginger stretches out a hand. “Ellie, let’s go pack up some of those pumpkin cookies for Grandpa before he goes.”
Dallas glares at Cole. “Let’s talk about this outside.”
“That’s a good idea.” His eyes flick to mine briefly. “Alone.”
“She comes too. Willow’s going to be Ellie’s stepmother.”
“Dallas,” I warn softly.
Cole runs his eyes over me like he’s got no argument and my heart goes out to him.
“Dallas,” I whisper another warning. “Let’s step outside before we upset someone.”
The three of us step out on the porch, Cole shaking his head the entire time, eyes scanning the fields before turning to us. “I don’t buy it. This whole thing is a lie. And you’re doing it to keep me from my granddaughter. I know it. Glenda knows it and she says all we need to do is give the courts a reason to doubt your integrity.”
Dallas steps forward. “This is aboutEllie. Not Willow and me. And I’m not keeping you from her,you’retrying to take her away from me. As if six years wasn’t goddamn long enough.”
Cole drops his gaze, jaw tight. My heart breaks for him, and as right as Dallas might be here, I wish he’d stop.
As if reading my mind, my fiancé exhales with a step back. Voice low. “This is bullshit, Cole. Call it off and we can work it out like grown-ups. Like the two people she’s got left in this world who only want the best for her.”
“Grown-ups.” Cole laughs and pulls his phone from the inside of his jacket. “I’m not the one getting lap dances from an ex a week before my wedding.” He holds the phone out to us with a picture of Dallas on a chair and Laurie on his lap. He’s leaning so far back he looks like he’s about to fall backward.
Dallas doesn’t say a word. But the tension radiates off him.
