Page 55 of Almost Always

She shook her head and closed the gap between them, her hands on his face. “We’re not going to let that happen, okay? I wasn’t being fair to you either, it’s not like you knew what had happened.”

He nodded slowly, eyes dipping to her mouth. Since their reunion, he’d dreamed about what her lips would feel like against his, the sounds she’d make when they kissed, if she’d melt into him like that first time. If her fingers would dig into his hair and tug hard enough to make him moan. He was already inhaling so deeply, letting her lavender and sunshine scent settle into his bones. But he wanted more.

Her thumbs brushed over his cheeks and even with the dim lighting, he could see the caramel swirling in her brown irises. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips and he leaned in further.

God, she’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever laid eyes on.

“You and me, Hero. We’re going to try this on for size.” The words came out before he could even process them and started to apologize when Daisy’s mouth curved into a playful smile.

“I would most definitely like to tryyouon for size.”

He chuckled, glad that she was on the same page as him. Rafferty hadn’t expected her to flirt back, but he had to admit that it felt so fucking good.

The evening might have started out emotional, but it felt like they’d gotten over a big hump together. There would be so much more for them to navigate and wade through, but they were moving in the right direction.Slow and steady. She moved closer, her warm breath brushing over his mouth as he angled his head, until his ringtone erupted into the quiet night.

“Fuck,” he grunted and reluctantly pulled back to check his phone.Mack calling. “It might be Cal.” He stood up and answered the call, making sounds of affirmation when Mack said that he was heading home with the kids.

When he returned to the bench with a frown, she shook her head and got to her feet. “Your son is your priority, Raff. We’ve got time.”

“Do we?”

She flashed him the prettiest smile and nodded. “All of my time in the world is yours.”

Can you be mine too?

“What are you doing tomorrow after work?”

“What would youlikeme to be doing?” He gave her his best unimpressed look and she laughed. “I’ll swing by.”

“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait.”

As much as he wanted them to finish what they started, he didn’t want their second first kiss to be rushed. He wanted to savor her and enjoy the feeling of her being his, whenever that happened. He started walking backwards, lips tugging to the side when he saw her smile.All in good time, he told himself as he turned to his car.

He wasn’t the kind of person that didn’t smile; he wasn’t the kind to smile without reason. However, in the last few hours, he’d been smiling more than he probably ever had in his entire life. The memory of the previous evening was on loop in his head. Everything from the way she told him about her history to the pain she suffered at the hands of someone she loved. He hated that she had felt like she wasn’t worthy of all the goodthings in life, that her ex had changed their tune and made her feel like she’d been living a lie of some kind.

He wasn’t a violent person and he wouldn’t actually hurt anybody for the fun of it. Butfor Daisy, he would do anything. Including showing her ex that they had lost someone so precious and wonderful and didn’t even know it.

Then his dark thoughts would turn to the flirtier moments, the touching and the almost kissing. The way her laugh felt against his skin or how her chocolate and caramel eyes danced with amusement. He had wanted to keep her close to him so he could inhale every bit of her lavender and sunshine scent. She was right, though. Cal was his priority. It didn’t matter what they were doing together, the minute his son needed him, Rafferty would have to leave. The fact that she understood that comforted him, because he never wanted her to think that he didn’t want her.

He’d wanted her when he was nineteen. He still fucking wanted her at forty.

Despite his every urge to go see her at the shop that day, he kept his head screwed on straight. He dropped Cal off at school and went to Allenwood for mandatory training hours. He’d already spoken to Gladys about needing the second half of the day to get Ames Landscaping work done.

Thankfully, his meeting in New York with the client went off so well that she had given them the go-ahead to start on the work. He assigned duties to his team and put someone in charge on the ground. As much as he wanted to be hands-on, there were limitations with him sitting in a different place. The drive wasn’t too bad, but there was no way he would do that every day. Besides, the most important thing he’d learned from his father was delegation and these days, Rafferty did that with abandon.

“Are you okay, Dad?”

Blinking out of his thoughts, he looked at his frowning son, then to where they were standing.Right, shopping for dinner tonight.Get it together, man.

“Yes. Why?”

Cal tilted his head. “You’re smiling all crazy like.”

“Don’t say crazy.”

“Okay, but you’re smiling like that. Like the Joker fromBatman.”

---