“You saidmore.” He held the door open for her and leaned against it, a cocky glint in hiseye.
Mortified, she ducked into the car. “No, I didn’t.” In that moment, though, she’d wanted so muchmoreof Teo. She’d wanted him to kiss her. Kiss her long and good and in so many different places she couldn’t make up her mind. He could kiss her right here, he could kiss her in the laundry room with her back up against the wall, he could sit her on the kitchen counter, and she could wrap her arms around his neckand—.
Akoni screamed and arched his back, making it impossible to click the chest buckle. Cedar released the breath she’d been holding along with the thoughts she shouldn’t have had in the first place. She tickled Akoni’s tummy until he collapsed in giggles and she could do up the straps. He grunted and strained, turning his facered.
“Yes, you did,” Teo replied. Cedar didn’t have to look at him to know his brown eyes danced with amusement—she could feel it radiate fromhim.
“No.” She moved out of the back seat and squared her shoulders and thought quickly. “I saids’more. As in, we should make s’mores over your fire pit.” That as the dorkiest cover-up in the history of cover-ups. “Akoni will love them. Graham crackers are hisfavorite.”
Teo lifted one eyebrow. “S’mores?”
She’d committed to it and now she had to sell it—even if she sounded like a complete dunderhead. “It will be fun. We used to make them every night atcamp.”
He opened her door. “Whynot?”
Cedar smiled as she climbed into the passenger seat. Inside she scrambled to pull herself together. Wantingmoreof Teo was one thing—acting on that want was something else altogether. A fun night around the fire would be low-key and camp-ish. Just what she needed to keep her mind off the way Teo’s touch made her heart race and her thoughts slow down. There were other things to think about than his firm and gentle touch and wondering what his lips would feel like againsthers.
So many other things to think about … she was just having a hard time coming up withone.
Chapter 14
Teo turnedoff the floodlights in the back yard, dropping the space into muted darkness and creating a removed-from-reality experience. Firelight did that on the beach. How many times had his family gathered around burning driftwood just to talk? The temperature was down to a comfortable eighty-six degrees. He chuckled. Eighty-six was like paradise compared to the ninety-six that slammed into him during theday.
The scene he found in his back yard warmed his heart. Akoni wandered from one ball or toy to the next. There was a toddler-sized playground that he mostly used to hold on to as he wandered around. His legs were getting stronger, and he could walk farther than just a couple weeks ago. Probably because Cedar didn’t carry him all over like Teo did. She held his hand and let him set the pace—an act that testified to her high level ofpatience.
The playground was surrounded by AstroTurf. There were a few raised flower beds here and there, and then there was the beach. Half the yard was covered in beach sand. There were large poles with UV blocking material stretched between them that kept direct sunlight off the sand so it didn’t get too hot. There was room for a kiddie pool, but he had yet to set one up. To one side of the beach was a brick firepit.
In the middle of all the beautiful landscaping and under the starlit sky was the most captivating woman he’d ever met. Cedar’s hair was long and loose, the two tones in sharp contrast in the firelight. Her profile was stunning with her elegant neck and pert nose. She was watching the fire, her hands on her hips. Teo could still feel the curve of her against his palm. She fit perfectly there. His head was still trying to wrap around the moment, the connection that had drawn them close and the way his blood pounded in hisears.
She turned as he approached and offered a sincere smile. That might be what he liked about her best—her sincerity. She didn’t say things she didn’t mean, and she didn’t hide. She wasreal.
“This place is a kids’ paradise.” She glanced at the Akoni-sized trike, the horse on springs, the swing, and theslide.
“Amy kid-proofed everything.” Teo set the grocery bags on the sand by her chair. They’d stopped at the store on their way home from lunch to pick up the necessary items. Once home, Akoni had napped, and he and Cedar had taken to their laptops to get work done. He liked the easy rhythm of their time together. There was no pressure to entertain one another, and yet just being in the same room made the moment better. “She would have put Akoni in a bubble if she could have.” Teo was surprised that the words didn’t come out sounding bitter. For a few months, he’d been unable to speak of Amy without sounding like an ogre and therefore he’d chosen not to say anything at all. “I’m glad she worked so hard to make the house safe. It made taking over for hereasier.”
“I’m sure.” Cedar began removing items from the bag and lining them up on the stone lip of the raised fire pit. Marshmallows—square ones. Teo had no idea they even made square marshmallows, but Cedar looked until she found them. Graham crackers were next, followed by all types of candy bars from traditional milk chocolate to peanut butter cups and mintpatties.
Teo took off his sandals and sank his feet into the sand. Something about feeling sand under his feet centered him—like part of his soul was made up of the tinyparticles.
“Why’d you stay with her?” Cedar spoke evenly—not at all like she was digging for gossip, but like she really wanted to know what he’d been through. She ripped opened the marshmallows and sniffed the package with asmile.
Teo had asked himself the same thing many times. In the end, he was glad he hadn’t left, because if he had, Akoni would have been alone for who knew how long after his mother had died. At least he’d been there for his son when Amy collapsed. “I look back and wonder the same thing. I guess I had hope. Time can work miracles.” The truth of his words rushed through his body like a warm oceanwind.
Cedar smiled softly. “You and yourmiracles.”
“Hey, miracles are real. My mama said so, and she shouldknow.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. She had five boys. It’s a miracle she survived raisingus.”
Cedar laughed. “There’s no way I can argue that one.” She handed him a roasting stick. “Do you missher?”
“Mymom?”
“No, Amy.” Cedar stared into the fire like she was afraid to look him in theeye.
Teo shook his head. He had nothing to hide, not from her. “I don’t want to say it was a relief when she died—that sounds cold and heartless. I didn’t want her to die. But it was a relief not to have her constant resentment and anger in the house. It was tangible andugly.”
