stairs. I’d caught him sleeping on the couch a dozen times because he couldn’t face climbing up to his room.
These days, he did laps of the pool every morning. His medication had been cut down.
I still caught him sleeping on the couch—or at his desk—but because he’d fallen asleep working.
I wasn’t going to lose him. I wasn’t.
I’d just been reminded today that it was a possibility. Hayden’s reaction had reminded me of what losing someone felt like, and I was still a little off-balance.
“I walked into that,” he said, holding a hand up in surrender. “Guilty as charged, although I think I’ve been doing okay recently.”
“I’ll let your doctor give you hell for working too much,” I said. “That’s above my pay grade.”
Mr. Lewis chuckled. “Speaking of things that’re outside of your job description, I know you normally take Saturday afternoons off, but Hayden’s too shy to invite you to dinner and I was hoping you’d accept an invitation from me in his place.”
Too shy?
He sure as hell wasn’t shy when he had my cock in his mouth last night.
Although, no, that wasn’t exactly true—he’d been shy right up until he’d believed I wanted to have sex with him.
“He likes you,” Mr. Lewis added. “I know how he talks about people he likes. You should consider it an honor, he’s not the kind of man who makes friends easily.”
“I like him, too,” I admitted. I wasn’t stupid, I knew Hayden wasn’t about to tell his dad he was sleeping with the hired help—even if it wasn’t Hayden who’d hired me.
But I wasn’t going to let Mr. Lewis think I didn’t like his son. That would’ve broken his heart, and I knew it.
Just as well Hayden was secretly adorable under that icy outer layer.
“And I’ll come to dinner,” I said. “If you’re sure you wouldn’t rather have the family time.”
“You are family,” Mr. Lewis said without missing a beat. “Besides, he’s still mad at me. I’d appreciate having his attention split. And I think he’d appreciate it, too.”
“You love him,” I said, looking down at the handful of dried flowers in my hands again. I hoped Hayden knew that, how much his dad loved him.
“Have done from the moment the nurse handed him to me and told me to support his butt.” Mr. Lewis shrugged. “Been trying to support his butt ever since.”
I chuckled, tossing the flower heads in the garden bag I’d brought with me. That was a nice way of putting that.
“So I can tell Hayden to cook for three?” Mr. Lewis asked.
“After all the awards and glowing reviews you’ve had me track down in newspapers and magazines? I’m not missing the chance to try his cooking.”
“You won’t be disappointed,” Mr. Lewis said. “I’ll text you later when I know what time he’s aiming for.”
14
Hayden
“Oh, no, that one’s the cutest,” Wes said, pointing at one of the pictures spread out over the table.
Baby photos.
I was too busy cooking to do anything but watch in horror as he and my dad went through old family albums, looking at pictures of me.
If this was some kind of cosmic punishment for wrongdoing, I was incredibly sorry for whatever I’d done and I wouldn’t do it again.
“Look at his chubby little cheeks, oh my god,” Wes enthused, reaching out to trace the photo.
Judging by how hot they felt, the tips of my ears were literally on fire. I was almost tempted to check and make sure I hadn’t somehow set them alight.
“You were so short,” Wes added, glancing over at me but barely taking his attention away from the baby pictures.
“I was six,” I defended. “Or maybe seven in that one. I bet you were short when you were six or seven.”
“I was always tall for my age, actually,” Wes said.
“Hayden shot up when he was fifteen. Went from coming up to my shoulder to towering over me practically overnight,” Dad interrupted.
“I don’t tower,” I said, tossing bacon in the frying pan I was watching.
Dad had clued me in that bacon was a weakness of Wes’s and promised me that he knew what he was doing when it came to his own diet, thank you.
I didn’t think it was unreasonable for me to worry. From his perspective, he’d had a heart attack three years ago and was practically recovered. From mine, he’d had one this morning, because that was the first I’d heard of it.
I couldn’t believe I’d missed it. Now that I looked back, there might have been clues—but I’d been so