“You didn’t answer your phone.”
“I left it in my jacket, I must not have heard it.” He gestures to his jacket resting across the park bench, and it makes sense. He didn’t mean to scare me. But my anger doesn’t care about what he meant to do.
“I called you three times! I got home, and my son was gone—”
“He’s right there.” He points at Ollie. “He’s been right here the whole time. Two minutes from your house. I’m not an idiot—”
I scoff at his words. “Are you sure about that? Because I asked you to doone thingand you couldn’t even do that!”
His expression changes at my words, going from angry to something else entirely. Almost hurt. Before he takes a step back, shaking his head. “I should have known you’d do this. Act like I can’t be trusted with—” He looks away, clenching his jaw. “He’s my nephew, Nolan. For god’s sake.”
“I know he is, but that doesn’t—”
“Do you?” he challenges, a crack in his voice. “Because you act like it’s a matter of time before I do something. I already can’t get a job because of who I am. Can’t walk into a room without people backing up, staring at me like I’m a freak. And now I can’t even take my nephew to the park without you showing up like—” He cuts himself off, pressing his lips together.
“Like what?” I challenge, stepping into his space, and I know I should stop, but I can’t. I can’t stop when I grab his shirt. “Don’t act like I don’t know your history, Will. I was there. And Ican’ttrust you after what you’ve done.”
“I was there too, you know,” he says, going quiet. “I would never hurt him. I would never hurt either of them. You know that.”
I do know that.
I do.
We’re close, and my anger is fading at the defeated look in his eyes, and now, I’m all too aware of the feeling of his chest against my knuckles, and his breath fanning my face. I should really let go of his shirt.
I take a step closer.
“I know,” I say, my voice coming out rough.
“Then why?”
“I was scared.” The words come out before I can stop them. “I came home, and you weren’t there, and I was scared.” I meet his eyes. “I don’t know what I’m doing most of the time.”
Will opens his mouth to say something, and I know that because my eyes dart down to his lips, chapped from the fall air. When he licks them, I get the strangest feeling of jealousy. That I’ve never wanted to taste something so bad.
And then I am.
My lips are crashing into his, pulling him closer by the fabric of his shirt still twisted in my hand—
“Daddy!” Ollie’s voice cuts into the silence.
I pull back at the sound, and I only get a split second to look at Will, who’s standing there with eyes wider than I’ve ever seen, his hands paused mid-air, before Ollie is running toward me at full speed. “You’re back!”
I catch him, hugging him back with all of my strength, but over his shoulder, I meet Will’s gaze, where he’s still watching me with an expression I’ve never seen before.
Chapter 11
I have feelings for Will Davis.
That’s what I’ve realized, between last night’sincidentand now, lying in bed, awake, way too early for a Saturday morning, when I don’t have to work until this evening.
I’ve taken a good, hard look at it. The weirdthingI feel when we touch, the way I feel when he’s ignoring me, the helpless attraction I feel toward him. I look at it the way any reasonable person would have done a long time ago, and the facts are undeniably there.
Not to mention, I kissed him.
I grabbed his shirt, and I planted a kiss on him and—
My lips are still tingling. Like there was an electric current between us, shocking me into a realization I can’t ignore.
