He chuckled but it died on his lips when she rose up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. His eyes drifted shut as the sensation of holding Cerise in his arms settled into his soul.Adjusting the angle of his head, he deepened the kiss. He tasted strawberry—he got his answer, her gloss was flavored.
Her hands clutched at his back, the sharp point of her key digging in, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was that Cerise was in his arms as if she was made for him.
The sound of a car revving had them breaking apart, but he didn’t relinquish his hold on her. “Do you have plans for the weekend?”
“I haven’t given it much thought. I’ll see what Finn wants to do. Why?”
“Umm, I thought we could spend Saturday together.”
“You’re not working? Don’t you always have guests at the ranch on the weekend?” She plucked at one of the buttons on his shirt and he willed his body to settle down when his dick jumped in response. Hell, she hadn’t even touched his chest, and his body was ready for action. He needed to get these impulses under control if he was going to spend the day with her.
“Yes, we have guests, but I’ve got Saturday off. I have to work Sunday though. We’re on a rotating schedule. Our days off change, as well as when we work weekends.”
“In that case I’ll say yes, but I’ll check with Finn to see what he wants to do. Although a choice between spending the day with you or not, I’m pretty sure he’s going to say yes to being with you every time.”
Finn liked spending time with him? His chest swelled with happiness at the thought, because he liked the little boy as well. “Great. He’s a good kid. I had fun with him.”
She patted his chest and stepped away from him. He immediately wanted to haul her close again. Instead, he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ll wait for your confirmation then. Drive carefully, Sparkles.”
“You too. Bye, Dice,” she said quietly before slipping into the shadows and into her car. He waited until her taillightsdisappeared before he got into his truck and pointed it in the direction of the ranch.
The weekend couldn’t come soon enough.
“Come on,Cerise. Brodie said we had to be there at ten and it’s eight thirty. We have to get on the road.”
Cerise bit the inside of her cheek so she didn’t burst out laughing. From the second she uttered Brodie’s name and invitation, Finn had shouted yes and had been counting down, first the hours, and now the minutes until he got to see Brodie again. “It’s okay, buddy. It’s not going to take us an hour and half to get to the ranch.” She looked over his head and spied that he hadn’t finished eating his cereal. His excitement to get going rated over his need for food. “Now how about you finish your breakfast? You’re going to need all your energy for whatever Brodie’s got planned.”
“Oh, yeah. Okay.” He darted back to the table while she continued on her way down the hall toward her bedroom to finish getting ready.
Like Finn, the excitement at seeing Brodie again bubbled up inside of her. Ever since the kiss they’d shared in Buck’s parking lot, she’d been unable to stop picturing the two of them doing more than just kissing. Before Finn it wouldn’t have been a problem for her to suggest that they move things to the next level, but she didn’t want to freak Finn out and have him scared again like he had been the day the two of them first met and he thought she and Brodie were dating.
That thought brought her up short. Dating shouldn’t even be on her radar at the moment. She’d been able to arrange a meeting with the lawyer the day before. She’d lucked out that, when she’d called, they’d just had a cancellation, so she changed into more sedate clothes than the ones she had on and headed to the office.
Thinking about it extinguished the fire in her belly. While Gordon had been very nice and professional, he’d cautioned her that, like Daphne had suggested, her chances of adopting Finn were slim. She’d almost burst into tears, thinking that any day Poppy could decide she wanted Finn back, but she’d held them at bay. He may have said her chances weren’t great, but there was still a smidgeon of hope and that’s what kept her going.
On the drive from the attorneys to pick up Finn at his friend’s place, her mind had gone over everything Gordon and Daphne had said. What it boiled down to was the fact that Finn had a blood relative and Cerise was a single woman. And she wasn’t related to him. It didn’t matter that she had a steady income as well as a nice home. Her single status was a hindrance.
As she pulled out her clothes to wear for the day, she thought about doing what Daphne cautioned her against—faking a relationship. Although it would be easy to fall into one with Brodie. The guy kissed like a dream and Finn loved him. For the first time since his father died, Finn had a male role model who liked him. She may not have known Brodie for long, but she knew he wasn’t faking his affection for the boy.
“Cerise, are you almost ready?”
Finn’s voice hurled her into action, and she quickly changed out of the robe she’d put on after her shower. Today she didn’t worry too much about the glitter on her cheeks, but she made sure to put her favorite purple-glitter eyeliner on. It matched the purple, diamante-encrusted T-shirt she planned on wearing with her jeans.
Fifteen minutes later she walked into the living room where Finn was pacing like an expectant father, his body practically vibrating with excitement.
Was she doing the right thing by having Finn spend time with Brodie? What if Brodie got offered a job somewhere else? It would be disappointing, but she could handle the hurt. At least she hoped she could, but Finn would be crushed. Perhaps she should try to limit their time with Brodie in the future.
CHAPTER NINE
“Okay,so I thought what we could do is go to the Hill Country State Natural Area. Mitch told me about it,” Brodie said as they pulled out of the ranch. “Apparently he’s friends with a game warden by the name of Jaidon Patience and once a month he does a talk about a particular animal that can be found in Texas Hill Country. Today happens to be that day, and he’s talking about the red-tailed hawk.”
Cerise had had to pick her jaw up off the ground when Brodie greeted them after they had arrived at the ranch. He’d walked up to the car in jeans and, instead of a button-down shirt, he wore a T-shirt that looked like it had been painted on. She hadn’t realized how muscular he was. The material stretched tight across his shoulders and hugged his biceps. He looked strong and virile, and she’d had to cross her legs in an attempt to soothe the ache between them.
“Yes, that sounds awesome. Do you think Mr. Jaidon will let me hold it?” Finn asked excitedly.
“I don’t know, buddy. Hawks have sharp claws and are wild. But we can ask. Mitch said he was going to call and let Jaidon know that we were coming.”
“That’s really nice of Mitch,” Cerise commented.
