Heartless: A Small Town Single Dad Romance(84)

“Ready?” he asks with an outstretched hand and a lopsided smile on his face. A dimple I never even noticed has popped up. He looks boyish and beautiful. And like he might be mine after all.

“I’m going to walk out into a child’s birthday party with a big glass of wine and bright red cheeks?” I ask, just to clarify. Because it feels insane.

“Don’t forget about your freshly fucked pussy. But no one else will see that. I covered it up for you.”

“They’ll know though.” I point at him and walk in his direction.

The other side of his mouth pops up, and he hands me the wine before he leans in close and

whispers, “Good,” against my cheek.





29



Willa

Cade: Baby, why are you blushing?

Willa: Because I swear people are looking at me like I just got my brains fucked out.

Cade: You did.

Willa: I think these panties are ruined.

Cade: I’ll wash them for you. And then shove them in your mouth again the next time you say something rude.

Willa: Fuck off.

Cade: Careful. They haven’t even been washed yet.

“R ight there at the birthday party?” Summer whisper-shouts across the small table at Le Pamplemousse.

I take a sip of my mimosa and wink at her. “I saved another horse, Sum. I’m practically an animal rights activist at this point.”

She shakes her head. “Goddamn. These Eaton boys are insane.”

“Right? I’m definitely in my country-boy era. I think I just haven’t settled down because the city boys want to talk to me about oil futures and the size of their bank account like that makes up for the size of their di—”

“Willa.” Summer’s eyes widen. “We’re in public.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

The look she gives me is downright unimpressed.

“I was going to say dignity.”

“The size of their dignity?”

I shrug and cover my mouth with another sip from the champagne flute. “Same thing if you think about it.”

“Good lord.” She laughs and takes a big gulp while looking out the window. “So just an era. Or more? Cade doesn’t strike me as the casual type.”

I sigh, letting the word mine settle into my bones. I spent all night snuggled next to Cade and spent the entire party catching his eyes on me, raking over me in an impolite fashion. When I played “Happy Birthday” on my guitar, accompanied by Luke on the smaller guitar that I gifted him, everything felt so

damn right.

And when I looked back up from the song, Talia was gone. I wanted to be relieved, but I felt sad that she left her own child’s birthday party without even saying goodbye to him.

“It’s not just an era,” I reply. “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet—because do I ever? But I know you’ll be seeing more of me. It’s not a far commute, and I don’t know, maybe I can find something to do in Chestnut Springs. Rhett asked me to give him guitar lessons yesterday. Did you know that? And I’ll have to give Ford my notice at the bar. I do like watching him get all pissy when things don’t go his way.”

Summer snickers because she knows my brother and how notoriously exacting he is. “This is big for you, Wils. I can’t say I saw this coming when I pushed you into this gig. Kinda thought you and Cade would hate each other, to be honest.”

I lean back in my chair. “Wow. Thank you for signing me up to spend my summer living with a man you thought would hate me.”

She waves a hand at me dismissively. “I knew you could handle it. Plus, Luke is fun.”

I sigh happily. “Yeah. Luke is the best. I didn’t know I’d enjoy life with a kid like I am. It really doesn’t even feel like work.”

“Uh oh. Have you got baby rabies, Willa?”

I groan and lean back in my chair. “Will you take back my feminist card if I tell you I really just want to live in that little house on the ranch, teach guitar lessons, get titty-fucked in the hot tub, and have a bunch of adorable babies?”

Summer’s eyes bug out. “Remember the part about being in public? People here listen to everything. And also, no. No one is taking back your feminist card if that’s what you want, Willa. I can’t even tell if you’re being serious or joking right now. But raising good humans is important work.

If you can raise nice people and put them out into the world less messed up than me or my sister, I’d say you’re winning.”

“Yeah.” I bite down on my thumbnail considering what she’s just said, considering if I’m joking or not. Wondering if there’s anything wrong with wanting that. “Luke is just so awesome, you know?

Cade’s done such an amazing job with him. He’s just so devoted.”

“Good lord.” Summer takes another swig.

“What?”

“The two of you. All mushy and in love. It’s so weird.”

I give her a flat look. “Thanks.”

“Weird and wonderful. Just like you.”

I consider her words before nodding. “I’ll cheers to that.”

I cleared out this morning because Cade had Luke helping him dig a walkway to the house that he plans to pave. When Harvey tripped on the edge of an uneven paving stone after a few too many drinks at the after-party, Cade instantly announced that he was putting in a “proper sidewalk.”