But in this situation, I’m a little worried about what he’s told her.
She leans over, giving me a firm hug, and her fingers tangle loosely through my hair. “I would kill for your hair.”
“It’s so nice meet you, Mrs. Peyton,” I giggle bashfully.
Ryder sneaks in between everyone and takes my hand. He is the spitting image of Hayes. They could be twins. I’d think they were if Hayes hadn’t told me Ryder was his younger brother. “Glad to see my brother with a normal-looking chick,” he says. I laugh at the thought, especially after hearing about his loony ex-fiancée. This gives me a little hope that they haven’t heard about my current situation. They wouldn’t be referring to me as “normal” if they had. Hayes gives Ryder a brotherly side hug and tousles his hand through his hair.
“We’re going to go sit outside,” Hayes says, ushering me out of the kitchen. “Sorry about them,” he says once we’re outside. “Mom wants me to be happy. She thinks I’m getting to the age of hopelessness.” He laughs.
“She has a point. You are pretty old.”
Squeezing me against him, he tickles my side. “You’re going to get it for that.” He stops at one of the tables closest to the edge of the dock and pulls a chair out. “Do you trust me with food?”
“Do I food trust you?” I ask with quiet laughter.
“Yes, do you food trust me?” He rolls his eyes in the midst of his own laughter.
“Hmm…I think so.”
“I’m going to take our order to my mom. I’ll be right back.”
Hayes is inside for a couple of minutes, leaving me with a dark horizon where the water meets the stars. The red tinge teases the sky, but only for a second. The nights have been becoming less red.
The fire is fading from my mind.
“Hayes will be right back,” a sweet voice startles me. I turn to find Hayes’s mom sitting in his chair. “He’s in the restroom.”
“This is a lovely restaurant you have. I’m a chef in Providence; Hayes was excited to bring me here to meet you.”
“He told me,” she says with a proud smile. “Honey, Hayes would kill me if he knew I was saying what I’m about to say, but I want you to know he’s had a horrible couple of years. He’s only recently started to climb out of a dark hole I was sure he’d never come out of. I’ll leave the details to him, but I just wanted to tell you, I haven’t seen him this happy in so long. Since…” She takes a tissue out of her pocket and blots under her eyes.
“Ella?” I finish her sentence.
She places her hand down over mine. “My sweet grandbaby, yes. It was hard watching my son go through something so horrible. I’ve been praying for his peace and…” she lets out a quiet sob, “…I’ve talked to him every night for the past several weeks. You’ve given him that, Felicity—peace. And hope.”
“Mom?” Hayes calls out from the back door. “What are you two talking about?” He has a huge smile on his face, a smile that tells a story of a perfect life, not of a broken one.
“How cute your butt was when you were a baby,” I joke, feeling a smile tug at my cheeks.
“Oh my word—this boy and that tushy,” she says. “You and I will need to spend some time together so I can show you all of the pictures.”
“It’s a date,” I laugh. I might have to wait twenty or so years for it, but I want it to happen. It hurts me, how right this feels.
I hate it.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
I DON’T KNOW HOW I’ll sleep tonight, lying beside this perfect, naked man with his body pressed to the side of mine. I feel like I’m caged, protected in some blissful cocoon.
I thought he might have fallen asleep by now, but his hands begin to roam again. “Your skin is like silk,” he whispers. I’m in the crook of his body, his legs tangled with mine, holding them in place as his fingers trace lines down the center of my torso. The pressure between my legs is throbbing, and even though it’s only been hours since he’s touched me like this last, the build is becoming intense. I let out a soft moan as his hand travels torturously slow up and down my thigh. “Sleeping naked is kind of a contradiction.”
“We don’t have to sleep,” I whisper.
He pulls the sheets up and over