Dakota shakes his head. “She had to name them all M names.” Watching Amber and Dakota together is fun too. He tries to be all grumpy, but it doesn’t last long with my kid, and I get it. She easily wears everyone down. No effort at all. Just being her. And I don’t miss that even after only being around her two times, my little girl has him wrapped around her tiny little finger. Just like everyone else she meets.
“She did,” I say, letting May sit on my lap as I pick up Mavis’s little twin too, or Missy, as Amber named her. We also haveMonroe, the all-black kitten, and Molly, the little orange one. “That kid.”
He grins as he picks up Molly, while Monroe tries to bully his mother into feeding him. She gives in and purrs loudly, the other kittens making their way to their mama. I lean in and kiss Dakota.
“Hey,” I say happily against his lips.
“Hi.” His sweet smile makes my heart gallop.
“I brought stuff to make for dinner.”
He takes my hand as I hop up and hold it out for him, but I can’t resist kissing him again. His body falls into mine, and he wraps his arms around my neck. I have nothing but hope when I’m with him.
It wasn’t that long ago when everything felt so dreary. I was lost and lonely, but now everything just feels right.Hefeels right. “Dinner.” He doesn’t sound so sure as he pulls back from the kiss, and I’m considering letting it all go to waste just to have my hands all over him for longer, but he tugs me toward the house. “Dinner first. Barn sex later.”
I chuckle and follow him up to the house where we prepare the meat and veggies I bought before I go out and light the grill. We sit outside on his porch, looking out over his beautiful property while the food cooks.
“I hired Langley’s Construction today.”
I put a hand over my heart, mocking pain. “You hired another crew.”
His pretty eyes roll at my dramatics. “I think I see where Amber gets her flair for drama.” I laugh as he goes on, “And it’s not like I hired another landscaping crew. I hired them to build a back deck. I think that requires a construction crew.”
I pretend to think that over, even though yeah, good call on his part, obviously, and I like Langley’s Crew. We consider a lot of the guys our friends, and we always recommend them to ourclients and vice versa. “Hire anyone else to build a porch swing for your deck and Oakley may die.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He grins, and I’m already planning to hire Oakley myself for a little gift for that finished deck before Dakota can get to it.
“So a deck, huh?”
“Yeah.” He looks out at the property. “I want a large deck so we can grill out there. Maybe a hammock and a table too, so we can eat out there this summer.”
I look over at him, his whimsical gaze looking out over the property I honestly didn’t realize he loved until right now. I mean, yes, he wanted a greenhouse and then eventually a hot tub—I think mostly just to give him an excuse to have me keep working here—but he never really talked about them this way.
Now it’s like he’s making plans with me. And I really like that.
“Maybe I could have them build a swing set out back too.”
My eyes widen, and I swear my heart fucking doubles in size in my chest. This. Man. This gorgeous, grumpy, sweet man. He’s making plans, not only for us but for my daughter too. “Hell yeah, I love to swing,” I say, and he just laughs and shoves my shoulder.
“I was thinking more for Amber.”
I chuckle and lean back a little, looking out at the trees and the pretty sky. “She loves to swing too.” I look around at the grass that’s getting longer now. I’ll need to mow tomorrow. “Shit. She’s going to really want me to save the dandelions in the backyard here for her. There are a hell of a lot.”
He grins. “I know. She picked a lot the other day and gave them to me.” The fond smile on his face tells me just how much he loved that.
“You indulged her.” He did too. He made a big show about how beautiful they are and how I’m abad manfor cutting themall down before putting them in a vase and sitting it squarely on his kitchen table.
“I did.” He smiles again with a sweet fondness. “She really does love flowers.”
“They’re a weed,” I argue.
“We disagree.” And holy fuck, I love thatwe, referring to him and my daughter. Like they’re a team.
“I love you,” I say easily, leaning over to kiss him softly, not expecting to hear it back and just soaking into the nice kiss before we finish dinner, do the dishes, and then settle on his couch for a minute.
“I thought we were going out to the barn?” I ask, though I make no move to get up off the comfortable couch. My belly is still pretty full from dinner, and I’m quite content here.
“Or we could just watch Netflix in here tonight?” he suggests, and I nod my head, grabbing the remote and kicking back. My feet go up on the coffee table, and my arm wraps around my man as I find the documentary we were watching and start it up.
