I Love How You Love Me(The Sullivans)(38)

“I’ll have a little over a week left to finish my story after you return, so hopefully you’ll come back with some good stories for me.”

Just then, Mason threw his giraffe and she knew he was tired of being strapped into his stroller without going anywhere. “We’ll be at the playground right across the street. See you soon.”

And despite not yet knowing exactly how to get a handle on her relationship with Dylan—one that already felt so much more important than any fun fling she’d ever had—it was a thrill to know that she would.



* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Mason was happily tucked into a toddler swing and squealing with joy as she pushed him higher and higher. He was a little daredevil, much like her parents had always said she’d been as a child, and she vowed never to let her own fears hold him back. She would support him in everything, no matter how dangerous or wild. Just as she had learned that Claudia Sullivan had done with her children.

The urge to protect her son from anything that might hurt him was all-consuming. But she knew better, knew that if her parents had still been alive, they’d have urged her to remember that giving him wings to fly was just as important as keeping him safe.

Or, she thought with a little smile, maybe he’d end up choosing a boat in which to sail across the deep blue sea. Lost in her thoughts, it wasn’t until Mason started making happy little sounds that she realized Dylan was walking straight toward them. She heard a collective gasp of female appreciation from the other women in the park as he stepped onto the sandy playground in jeans and a T-shirt that fit him so well her own mouth went dry. Not in the least because she finally knew exactly how good he looked without said jeans and T-shirt.

He grabbed Mason’s swing in midair, and her son puckered up for a kiss. That kiss was always the first thing Mason wanted, and it never failed to move her how easily and sweetly affectionate Dylan was with her little boy.

When Mason looked over his shoulder at her, Dylan grinned and said, “One for him, one for you.”

Setting Mason back to flying in his swing with one hand, he used the other to pull her close, then kissed her slowly and deeply in front of everyone…sending her heart flying, too.






CHAPTER SIXTEEN



When they were finally able to take Mason away from the park without too much of a fuss, the three of them headed to the ice cream shop. Playing at the park. Getting ice cream. Sharing hot kisses. See, Grace told herself, we’re just having fun.

Leaving Mason sitting proudly like a big boy beside Dylan outside the ice cream store with his little legs sticking straight out in front of him on the brightly painted bench, she went inside and placed their orders. Five minutes later, she returned with her hands full.

“Here’s your rainbow sorbet, sweet pea.” Mason reached for the cone and immediately shoved it against his lips, bright green, orange, and pink streaks smearing his chubby cheeks. “And our banana split and two lemonades.”

She usually just got a vanilla cone because the split was way too much for one person. But when Dylan had suggested they share the split, it hit her that she wasn’t alone anymore. At least not for as long as whatever they were doing together lasted. Certainly as long as it took her to write the magazine story, she figured. And after? Well…she’d learned a year and a half ago that no matter how much you wanted to predict the future, there were some things you simply couldn’t plan for.

Fun, she reminded herself yet again. That’s all this was. All it needed to be.

Seeing that Dylan had Mason’s sticky face well in hand with the container of wet wipes he’d found at the bottom of the stroller, she sat on his other side. When he’d finished cleaning Mason up, she lifted her lemonade.

“Congratulations on your newest creation.” He clinked his cup against hers, and then she leaned over to kiss him softly, as natural a move as it had been to walk down the street from the park to the ice cream shop with her baby playing happily in his stroller in front of them.

“Speaking of creations, how’s your article going?”

“Good.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That was the least good-sounding good I’ve ever heard.”

She dug her spoon into the strawberry scoop at the end of the dish and amended her reply to, “I did so much research before I began to interview you and you’ve given me so much great stuff…it should be coming together much more quickly than it is.”

“We’ve got to get you out in one of my boats. I promise you, that will change everything.”

Her heart skittered at the suggestion, because that was exactly what she was afraid would happen if she sailed with Dylan. That everything would change. That she’d lose hold of her “just having fun” perspective. That she’d start to want more than pleasure and laughter. And that she’d only be setting up herself and Mason for a huge fall.

“I’ll be back from Australia on the Saturday after next, so why don’t we schedule our sail for the following Sunday? That way you’ll still have nearly a week to polish up your story if you need to.”

Nearly two weeks was enough time to mentally prepare herself for their sail. It had to be. “Okay, I’ll book a babysitter.”

“You do realize that my mother was serious when she offered to watch Mason anytime you needed her to, don’t you?”