“Give me just a second to get things organized, Sweet Pea,” Rex said, tossing a few sticks into the ring of rocks.
I walked over and knelt down beside him. “Anything I can do to help?”
A smirk pulled at the corner of his sexy mouth, voice a rough, muted whisper. “Could you do me a favor and lean in closer?”
I was confused before I followed his line of sight to where my shirt was drooped open, cleavage on full display.
I smacked his shoulder. “Rex.” I chuckled beneath my breath.
He laughed from his belly and into the air. It bounded against the cliffs.
Ricocheting back.
Boom after boom that rocked my heart.
“This way.” Frankie raced ahead of me, hauling me along, her excitement infectious. There was no stopping the permanent smile on my face.
We followed an even narrower, isolated trail than the one we’d taken to get to their picnic spot. Sunlight poured in through the super high trees that towered over us, their trunks slender and their bark gray. Dense branches covered us overhead and soft dirt padded our feet.
We hiked higher, my legs burning from the exertion as we climbed. Five minutes later, we shifted course, the trail guiding us back around to where there was a break in the forest.
My breath caught.
A thundering roar filled my ears, and a cooling spray brushed my skin. We stood on an overhang of rocks that jutted over the lake. Just to the right of us was a rushing waterfall fed from a stream running from the mountain.
It poured over the cliffs and pounded into the lake twenty feet below. Farther away, the cliffs rose in height, fifty or sixty feet high, three more rivulets cascading over the side.
“Whats you fink?” Hope framed Frankie’s features when she grinned up at me.
“I think this might be the most beautiful spot I’ve ever seen.”
“Me, too! You fink Milo likes it? I fink he does. Look at him sniffin’.”
I laughed. “I’m sure Milo loves it. How could he not?”
She tugged at his leash, taking him from my hold. She took off with him down another trail that wound down closer to the lake.
“Be careful, Frankie Leigh,” Rex warned, that voice hitting me from behind. “Stay up here away from the water.”
“’kay, Daddy. I knows all the rules. You don’t have to keep tellin’ me. Sheesh.”
I laughed again. But the sound was stolen when I shifted to look over my shoulder to where Rex stood.
He was watching me.
That gaze piercing.
Penetrating.
Hungry.
He slowly edged forward, shards of loosened rock crunching beneath his boots. Power radiated from each predatory step.
Chills flashed across my flesh when he edged up behind me, erupting like a storm, a current of electricity. His callused palms just grazed the surface of my arms from the caps of my shoulders gliding all the way down to my hands.
He laced our fingers together, wound his arms around my waist, and pulled my back against his chest. His hold possessive where he had our hands fisted at my shaking belly.
Leaning down, he planted a soft kiss at the side of my jaw, right over my pulse point that thrummed like the wild, before he released a contented breath and hooked his chin over my shoulder.
Bliss.
It was the first time he’d pulled me into a full embrace out in the open.
Where Frankie could see.
Frankie blushed through a giggle. “You two a huggin’? Grammy said Daddy gots it bad. You gots it bad, Daddy?”
He told his mom about me?
“Guess I do, Frankie Leigh.” His voice was gruff when he inclined his mouth to my ear. “Daddy gots it so bad.”
Shivers rolled.
Wave after wave.
“Come here,” he said. He guided me down to sit on the rocks and situated me between his legs so we could still keep an eye on Frankie. Then his arms were back around me, his nose in my hair. Frankie and Milo played, running around, darting from each other, tumbling on the soft earth beneath the trees.
“Thank you for asking me to come with you two. It means a lot to me.”
I chanced peeking back at him, my head rocking against the thunder beating from his chest.
“Don’t think you have the first idea what it means to me that you’re here, Rynna.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead.
Tender.
So tender it sent a tumble of emotion spiraling through my body. They crashed through me like the river that rushed just in the distance.
“I’ve never done this before,” he admitted.
“Bring someone out here with you and Frankie?”
One small nod, but it seemed a lifetime’s admission. “Yeah. Not even my mom.”
“Because it’s your secret.” It was almost a tease. All except for the affection packed in it.
Those eyes slid to Frankie, who tossed a stick for Milo, before he returned his attention to me. “Yeah, it’s our secret. Something shared just between Frankie and me. Because she’s my life.” He hesitated. “Want you to be a part of that now, Rynna.”
My life.
Everything pressed down. So much joy. “I want that, too,” I barely forced out around the emotion that clogged my lungs.
He threaded our fingers together on both hands, hugging me closer, our fists solid where my heart hammered at the confines of my chest. I could feel him gulp for air, the heavy bob of his thick, strong throat. His words were gravel. “Did you ever dream of it? Want it? Being a mother? Because it’s a lot, Rynna, what I’m asking of you. I understand that, and I don’t want to push you into something you’re not ready for.”
I slowly shifted, the hard rocks cutting into my knees, his piercing eyes spearing the rest of the way into me.
Hope and fear radiated back.
“Always, Rex. I always wanted to be a mother. To have a family. And it might have looked different in my mind. But this . . .” I glanced back at Frankie. “You and Frankie are the most wonderful things to ever come into my life. No. I didn’t expect you. Not at all. But now that I have you? I’m not letting either of you go.”
Almost frantic, Rex pulled me into his arms, his face pressed to my neck. “Fuck, Rynna. How’s it possible you make me feel this way?”
A scream jolted us out of our bubble. Our heads whipped around to see the last second of Frankie tripping, her toe caught on an exposed root. She flew forward, her little body tumbling down a rocky incline that sloped down on the far side of where she’d been playing.
Dust flew. Before it’d even settled, Rex was on his feet, sprinting that direction, and I was right on his heels.
“Frankie,” he shouted, voice panicked.
Anxious energy stirred the air.
He bolted for her, taking the fastest route, straight over a slippery ridge of wet rocks. Water splashed beneath his shoes as he jumped from one large boulder to another then down to the dirt trail, at her side faster than I could process the entire scene.
“Frankie,” he shouted.
Two seconds later, I was there. My heart pitched and churned. Terrified, I peered over his shoulder where he dropped to his knees at her side.
Frankie was sprawled face down in the dirt, head just barely missing a sharp rock where she skidded to a stop.
“Oh God,” I whimpered.
And Rex.
Rex was shaking everywhere. Shock slammed his body. These visible, palpable ripples of horror that seized his body. He kept screaming, “Frankie!”
Agony.
It blistered from him, impaling me with each harsh breath he heaved from his lungs.
Uncontrollably, he shook, his hands a mess when he cautiously set them on her back. “Frankie Leigh, Oh God. Baby girl, are you okay? Tell me you’re okay.”
Frankie moaned, and my breath caught when she flopped over to stare up at the sky. My eyes rushed over her, searching for injuries, while Rex sat up on his knees with his hands rushing over her without touching, as if he were searching her for those same wounds but scared he might make it worse.
Frankie blinked toward the heavens, her voice raspy when she spoke. “Whoa. You see that, Daddy? That was the biggest fwip I ever did.”
Relief heaved from my lungs in an audible gush, adrenaline draining fast. I dropped to my knees just as Rex was gathering her in his arms.