Golden Trail (The 'Burg #3)(86)

He got close and put his hands to her hips.

“Baby, look at me,” he ordered gently, saw her chest expand and then, slowly, her eyes came to his. “I’m takin’ it easy, yeah? I’m okay and I’ll only get back to one hundred percent if I work on it. I’m not doin’ my normal routine, I’m takin’ it slow but steady and I’m bein’ smart. Swear.” She kept her eyes locked to his and he finished, “Now, tell me what’s really buggin’ you.”

She bit her lip then pulled from his hands and walked across the room to look out the window. Layne watched as she tucked behind her ear that fall of hair that never stayed secured in the holders, clips and pins at the back of her head and she stared into the dark night.

It took several seconds but she finally spoke to the window. “It isn’t my place to say, Layne, he’s not my son but I’m having second thoughts about this Tripp business.”

And that was when Layne knew it, seeing Rocky standing in his bedroom in her sexy getup and sexier high heels, her hair tucked behind her ear, her arms crossed on her chest, her concern for his son evident in her profile – Layne knew he was in love with her. Not only that, he’d never stopped loving her. Not once, not for a second, not for twenty-one years.

Fuck him.

It took a lot out of him but Layne stayed where he was, separated from her by ten feet in his bedroom.

“He’ll be fine, Roc,” Layne assured and her eyes went away from the window, coming to him, her neck twisting to do it.

“I don’t know. If this guy’s a predator…” She shook her head. “Tripp’s a fourteen year old boy,” she reminded him.

“He’s a smart kid,” Layne told her.

“I know, Layne.”

“He goin’ in with his eyes open, he knows this is important, he won’t jack it up and he won’t put himself in danger.”

Her brows shot up. “You sure about that?”

Finally, Layne allowed himself to walk to her. He got close but he didn’t touch her.

“I been gone awhile but me and Tripp, we’ve stayed close all that time. I know my kid and I know him better now, bein’ home. He’ll be fine, Rocky, and if I didn’t think he would, no way in hell I’d send him in there.”

She turned to him, her body giving a small jolt as she did it. “I didn’t mean to infer that you –”

“I know you didn’t.”

“I’m just worried,” she shared.

“I know you are,” he replied. “But I have faith in him and I’ll have his back, so will Jas. He’ll be fine.”

Layne watched her eyes get warm, her mouth go soft and fought the urge to touch her and, after she spoke again, he had to fight the urge to pick her up, throw her on his bed and cover her body with his.

“You’re a good Dad, Layne, those boys love you.”

He beat back the impulse and returned, “Tripp, yeah, Jas, not so sure.” She gave him the dimple after he stopped speaking, her eyes now warm and knowing so he asked, “What?”

“Jasper is a cool, badass senior now, Layne, but when he was fourteen, he was a lot like Tripp. And, trust me, everyone in that high school knew all about you before you moved back home and they did because Jasper frequently bragged about his badass, super-cool Dad.”

Layne turned his head and stared out the window, her words sliding across his skin light as a feather but the sensations they made him feel were anything but light.

“Fucked up with those kids,” Layne told the window.

“I hear a lot about what goes down at home and I see the consequences in my classroom and in those halls and you may not have made all the right choices, I know you went away, but you didn’t turn your back on them. I don’t know enough about it to know if you made mistakes but I know enough about kids to know whatever mistakes you made, they weren’t bad ones and, therefore, my professional opinion is, you didn’t f**k up.”

His eyes cut back to hers.

“At least not royally,” she finished, giving him another dimple.

Christ, she didn’t shut up, he was going to rip that soft sweater and tight skirt off her body and take her under the window.

Therefore, Layne didn’t weigh his words or pick his time to announce, “You’re spending the night.”

She blinked and asked, “What?”

“You’re spending the night,” he repeated.

She looked to the door then to him. “Why?”

“’Cause your doors and security haven’t been changed and ‘cause you’re my woman. A man and a woman together don’t sleep at separate houses, not every night, even if kids are involved,” he explained. “We want folks to think this is real, we gotta make it look real and the way you look, sweetcheeks, no man is gonna believe I got hold of somethin’ like that and she doesn’t sleep in my bed,” he paused before he finished, “regularly.”

She was staring up at him, lips parted, eyes wide, off-balance.

Then she shook it off and reminded him, “Devin is sleeping on your couch.”

“Yeah,” Layne replied.

“So, where are you going to sleep? With one of the boys?”

“I’m gonna sleep here,” he jerked his head to the bed.