Today was different. Layla knew she looked at him a lot, but today she really couldn't stop memorizing details. She wanted to touch him a million times when they walked down to the stables. The children loved being out here on his ranch. She liked it, too, with the exception of his family. She knew they weren't fond of her. She didn't blame them, but it still made for awkward moments. They tried to be polite, kind, and inclusive, yet she never quite fit. Like today, they were having a picnic, and a picnic for a dude ranch means at least sixty people. How the man got all his work done and still made time for the children was beyond her. She struggled to work full time at the shelter, and she had been working overtime since they lost funding. She didn't want to tell Rafe her job was in jeopardy. Instead, she kept her hopes up that the grant proposal would go through.
He walked toward her with a soda can in each hand. His jeans fit him so well, hugging his hips, showcasing his groin. Stop looking at him like that.
"Hey," he said as he tipped his cowboy hat with an uncurled finger and winked at her. She could feel the muscles in her throat tighten as she looked away feeling more than the sun heating her cheeks. "I brought you a drink."
"Thanks." She took the offered can of cola and drank in the cool liquid.
Rafe sat next to her under the tree and leaned back against the trunk as he crossed two long legs. "So."
"So the kids look like they are enjoying themselves." She tried for small talk.
"They do. What about you?" He was looking at her; she could feel it.
"It's always nice to be out here. It has a real sense of family, of freedom." She nodded. "It smells clean. The flowers over there travel on the air well."
"Why did you kick me out the other night?" He wouldn't let her evade him for long.
"It's complicated," she said honestly. "I don't want you to pity me. I don't want you to offer me a mercy proposal because you like the kids. You don't know me. You think you do, but you don't. You can't."
"I think I know you better than you know yourself. I know you didn't hate me the night before last, but you put me out anyways." He stroked a finger down her spine and every muscle in her body tensed. She wanted him. She wanted to turn around and lean right in to kiss his full lips, to taste his tongue, and to feel him all over.
"I had to." She gulped. "I can't let my body rule my brain."
"So you still want me?" He sat up. His breath stroked her ear like a caress. "Because I want you."
She didn't have time to answer. He pushed up off the ground and called for Brice who was chasing Savannah with a bug. She watched him approach the children and she wanted. She wanted him to be their father, she wanted them to be their children, and she wanted everything he would offer her and more. She couldn't have it all, but she could have another night with Rafe.
She wanted him all right. Rafe addressed the problem at hand with the two children, but he knew Layla had changed today. Normally she could hide her perusal of him, yet today she looked at him as if he were a slab of meat. He was anxious to be with her forever, but he might have to take it one night at a time. He started to wonder what she could be hiding that caused her so much pain.
"Yes sir." Brice held his head down, and Savannah finally forgave him. Once she did, he explained himself, "I just wanted her to see it."
Rafe knew what it was like to tag after an older sibling and want their attention desperately. Heath was his older brother, and until Jack came along, Heath was the best thing since sliced bread in Rafe's mind. Then Jack made him the big brother, and Heath was only partly special. As an older brother, he could also understand Savannah's role. She liked her little brother, only sometimes she wanted to do her own thing. He imagined bugs were not a favorite of regular little girls. Jan, his little sister, was so much younger than him, Heath, and Jack that she would have eaten the bug if she thought her brothers would give her attention. "Well, buddy, most girls don't like bugs. So let's see if you can find something else."
"I like butterflies," Savannah offered.
"Okay, let's look for those." Brice was happy. Savannah smiled, and the space where her two front teeth used to be stood out.
The children were adorable, loving, and a handful. He could be a better influence if they were his. If their mother would stop being stubborn and just let him have all of them as his own family, he could make all of their lives better, including his.
)
Rafe decides that it is time to make his move on Layla. Layla adores the man, but she has secrets too dark and too risky to let herself fall for him. For a man who knows everything about women, he doesn't know anything about Layla and to earn her trust he has to do more than win over her children.
