Frankie’s eyes went wide with excitement. “Really? I gets to make dinner? Oh yes! Are we gonna make a Pepper Pie?” She threaded those tiny fists together, pressing her hands up under her chin in a plea. “Oh, please, let’s make a Pepper Pie!”
Light laughter fluttered from between Rynna’s lips. Those goddamned lust-inciting lips. I tried not to think about them wrapped around me when she tugged one of Frankie’s hands free and hooked her pinkie finger with Frankie’s tiny one. A team. “Did you think we’d make anything else? How about a shepherd’s pie and then a cherry pie?”
With that, Rynna peeked up at me. Searching for my reaction. My reaction that felt like I’d just had a fucking metal arrow speared straight in to my heart. It attached to something unseen, something buried, once thought dead, and plucked it out.
“That sounds like the best deal in the whole wide world!”
“Come on, let’s get your hands washed. We have a lot of work to do.”
Rynna sent me a wink when she picked Frankie up from under the arms, turning her attention fully on my daughter when she did. Carefully, Rynna squirted Frankie’s hands with soap and held them under warm water, rubbing and rinsing her hands together, two of them giggling at something silly Frankie said.
“Here we go . . . you sit right there.” Rynna hoisted her so she was sitting on the edge of the counter, steadying her with a hand against the belly. “Be careful, okay?”
“’kay,” Frankie promised, and Rynna went to work, pulling ingredients from the bags, talking to Frankie the whole time. “My grandma used to sit me right up on the counter when I was a little girl like you. Right up close where I could see and help.”
“Dids you like cookin’ with C’rinne?”
“I loved cooking with Corinne.” Something wistful seeped into Rynna’s tone. “I miss it so much. But it makes me happy that I get to teach you the same as she did me.”
“I likes you teachin’ me. Did you know I’m gonna be a painter? My grammy says I’m such a super good painter, like my daddy.”
Rynna glanced at me with a small smile. No doubt, my daughter was getting ready to spin into one of those conversations that jumped from topic to topic faster than a person could keep up.
“Is that so?”
“Oh yes! And I’m gonna get a puppy. I wants a puppy so bad.”
This time Rynna’s glance back at me was curious, searching, before she slowly turned back to the green beans she was running under the faucet. “You want a puppy, huh?”
“Oh yes. Oh yes, yes, yes.”
I sighed, trying not to show any frustration that was focused solely on myself. “Told you it’s not a good idea right now, Frankie Leigh.”
She started to pout, and Rynna was quick to hand her a bottle of cream and a measuring cup. “Do you think you could fill that up to that line for me?” she asked, running her finger along the one-cup indicator. She purposely redirected my kid like a pro.
“There you go,” she encouraged as Frankie carefully poured the cream into the bowl, and Rynna placed the bowl on Frankie’s lap. She took her hand and showed her how to whip up the mixture before she was back to rinsing something else. It was kind of amazing how the girl juggled three different recipes at the same time. Second nature. Right back to that graceful ease she’d shown me back at her place five nights ago.
I leaned against the far counter with my arms crossed over my chest.
Watching them.
Trying to keep that feeling reined. Trying not to get too far ahead of myself.
But I could feel it. Everything barreling that direction when I listened to the way Rynna spoke softly with my daughter. She gave her instructions, let her help, laughed as Frankie made mess after mess. The entire time, she was completely patient with a child I was well aware required a lot of patience. Rynna’s tolerance never slipped, and I swore, it wasn’t faked.
Swore she wasn’t putting on a show.
Swore this wasn’t some kind of pretense.
And fuck, it was terrifying.
As terrifying as it was perfect.
Because I wanted it.
I wanted her.
An hour later, the three of us were sitting around the table, sharing dinner, the best fucking shepherd’s pie I’d ever eaten.
I told both of them, too.
Frankie grinned, gave Rynna a high five.
“We dids it, Rynna,” she said, my kid so damned happy.
Maybe as happy as I was.
Maybe, just maybe, this was where we were meant to be.
That for once in my life, I’d been granted reprieve.
She slipped out the door with a peck and a reluctant goodbye.
I couldn’t stop myself, I bolted right after her, snatching her around the wrist, unable to let her go. My kiss a demand as I pushed her against the outside wall. She whimpered, hands on my face, mine on her hips.
“I really should go,” she whispered.
“I know . . . but I don’t know how to let you.” I hoisted her up, those legs around my waist. She rubbed against my jeans, her pussy a tease. My dick pressed at the fabric, desperate for release. “Fuck, Rynna. What are you doing to me? Making me lose my mind. Have no control when you get in the room.”
She nipped at my mouth, kissing me, rocking against my cock. “The only thing I know is how desperately I want you. How desperately I want this.”
“What is it you want?” I barely managed. Groaning deep, I strained harder against her, wondering just how horrible of a parent I’d be if I stripped her right there and fucked her against the wall.
“This. You. Us. Frankie.”
At her confession, I froze, my heart going stone in the center of my chest before it started thudding. Thudding with possibility.
I pulled back to search her eyes through the darkness. The air was bogged down with humidity, the residual of the storm a wet mist coating our heated skin.
She stared back.
No reservations.
No fear.
Just blatant, unblemished hope. A beacon calling me out of the storm.
“I . . .” All the bullshit that still haunted my life stalled my words, the promise I wanted to give her freezing on my tongue. Because the last thing I wanted was to do her wrong.
Hurt flashed through her expression before it filled with soft understanding. Because that was just the way this girl was—flush with grace. Too good to be real. She edged back a fraction to search my face. Reluctantly, I released her, helping her slide down onto her feet.
I stood there, a shadow blocking all that light.
She tilted her head, her hand on the side of my face. “Do you still love her?”
My chest grew so damned tight I was sure it was going to explode.
“Your ex-wife?” she pressed.
That was the problem. Her hunch was off base. Thrown in the wrong direction. But when it came down to it, Frankie’s mother was the problem. That stupid fucking loyalty I’d clung to for far too long.
It lashed at me, a scourge of regret.
“Fuck, Rynna,” I whispered harshly, the ground swept right out from under me. “I—” I averted my gaze to the wooden planks, struggling to find the correct answer to her question. Because she deserved to know, and still, I didn’t know how to tell her.
Warily, I shifted my attention back to her and plucked out the only honesty I could find. “When it comes to Frankie’s mom? The only emotion I can process is hate.” I blinked, swallowing hard. My insides burned. Flames. Unrelenting hell. “But then I wonder if I have the right to hate her. Not when I was the one who drove her away.”
“She left you. She left Frankie. I don’t know the circumstances. But for that alone? I hate her. I hate her for the simple fact that she could possibly walk away from you two. If I had been given a gift like that, I wouldn’t ever have let it go.”
A soft puff of air escaped my throat, and I wound an arm around her waist and pulled her against me. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Rynna.”
Rynna.
Fucking Rynna.
Little Thief.
Trying to steal my heart.
Frankie squealed, clapping her hands as she dropped to her knees on our front porch. The tiny puppy scuttled toward her, jumping up on her chest, licking her face. “Daddy! Daddy! It’s a puppy. Look. It’s a puppy. It’s the cutest puppy in the whole wide world.”