“Happiness does it for you, Hadley Jones?” I breathe.
“Yours does,” he rasps. “You’re so fucking beautiful when you’re happy.”
I could drown in those brown eyes of his right now. Like a pool of the sweetest cocoa, a never-ending supply of comfort. His jaw flexes as I trace his jawline with my thumb and my hand slips into his hair at the back of his neck. A rough hand hauls me closer, tightening over my hip.
The grill flares, the steak engulfed in flames.
“The meat,” I mutter.
“Don’t care.” His mouth smashes against mine.
All I can think about is where the nearest wall is. My back needs to meet it. I need to be wrapped around this man. I nee?—
A low whistle sees us part, and I dip my head, hand over my mouth.
“I take it you’re Maggie,” a young woman says from the back door. A grin as wide as the ranges that run through the Yoho lights up her pretty face as she leans on the doorframe with a beer.
“Maggie Gallagher, this is Kayley,” Hadley says.
The blonde, whose wavy hair dances around her shoulders as she pushes off the doorframe and walks toward me, holds out ahand. “It’s so good tofinallymeet you. Hadley didn’t tell us you were coming.”
“Yeah, sorry, I kind of just showed up. But to help.” I offer her a tentative smile.
“Nice. ‘Bout time Hads got some friends. Although, by what I just saw, you’re way past that.”
“Kayley,” Hadley warns.
She holds a hand up. “Secret’s safe with me. Those two”—she hikes a thumb at the window where Gemma and Nia are pretending to read and... knit?—“you’ll never hear the end of it now.”
Hadley curses under his breath.
“Maybe I should have stayed at the other house,” I utter.
“No way! Always up for some intelligent conversation. Lord knows I won’t find it with this lot.” Kayley gestures for me to follow her inside and I do.
“Need a hand, Mom?” Kayley looks around the kitchen but it appears the meal is done and waiting on the table. The only thing missing is the meat.
Hadley hobbles inside a second later, a tray of cooked meat in one hand his crutch in the other.
I close the distance and take it from him. “Sit down, please. I’m supposed to be helping.”
“Dinner’s up, girls!” Hadley hollers down the hall.
Gemma, Nia, and Julie gravitate to the table and take their seats. I hover, wondering where I’m supposed to sit. Kayley pulls out a chair beside her, and I drop into it. “Thank you.”
Hadley sits at the head and his mom at the other end. As he serves the meat, the fact that this man is the head of this house—and has been since he was twelve—thickens my throat.
“Maggie? Steak or sausages?” he asks.
“Sausage, please.” I keep a straight face, and he gives me an unreadable look as he places two on my plate.
“Thanks.”
“Salad, Maggie?” Julie passes the large bowl to Kayley, who takes some before handing it to me.
A few minutes later, every dish has made its way around the table and we are holding hands.
“For these and all his mercies, we are forever grateful,” Nia says.
