Page 77 of Almost Always

Mostly, she didn’t want to talk about her divorce and how the heartbreak was so painful it started giving her migraines that she had to live with them for the rest of her life.

They did talk about Callahan, everything from how his friendship with Indigo was growing to how he was now obsessed with flowers. She hadn’t expected to grow so attached to him, but he was the cutest kid ever. Sure, he was nine years oldand would eventually grow up, but she wanted to keep him at that age for as long as possible. He reminded her so much of Rafferty, with sparkly nails and colorful clothes, of course. It was the Ames genetics—he was kind and gentle and oblivious of the effect he had on people. No wonder Indigo liked him; it was easy to see him as the best person in the world.

“Hey, what happened to that community garden project?” she asked when he talked about Ames Landscaping work.

“Which one?” He chuckled at her frown and said, “The new one is going according to plan. The city seems to have something against the older one, because they’re stalling on all approvals.”

She frowned. “You’d think they’d be excited about something like that, right?”

“I’m considering another trip to push things ahead.” She nodded, watching as the wrinkles on his forehead smoothed out. “Would you wanna go with me?”

“Uh…I don’t know?”

Truth was, the city was only special if he was in it. Now that she had him with her in Wildes, New York was just acity.

“Oh?”

She sighed as she thought of the best way to explain it. “The city meant something because of thepeople. You and your family, my dad. But everyone’s left and you’rehere. I don’t need New York anymore, Raff. I just need you.”

“You’ve got me, Daze,” he whispered, one hand sliding up to cup her jaw.

She dragged her nails through his beard and dropped her eyes to his mouth. She kissed him and he melted against her, the hand on her thigh also coming up to hold her face. Moaning, she slipped her tongue into his mouth and tangled it with his. He groaned, the sound echoing between them. A quiver ran through her and she leaned into him some more. Only when someonecleared their throat did she pull away, the realization they were in public hitting her too late.

“Sorry about that,” Rafferty told the waitstaff, his voice scratchy as she buried her face in his chest. “Thank you,” he added and she snorted out a laugh.

“You’ve turnedmeinto an animal too.”

He grinned, lipstick clinging to the corners of his mouth. “Good. I didn’t like being this feral on my own.”

Shaking her head, she turned to the food and her eyes widened at the sight of a stacked burger in front of her.

“Why did you pick a burger?”

“You said carbs and I’ve always enjoyed watching you eat burgers.”

He said it so simply, focused on his steak that he didn’t notice the way she blushed everywhere. That last summer together, they’d gone to a diner. She ordered the burger and inhaled it in record time and spent the rest of the meal licking sauce off her fingers. She’d gotten better at eating, but there were bad days every now and then. That had been one of her favorite days. And she didn’t realize what she was doing until she looked up to find him staring at her with this dumbstruck look on his face.

Now that she thought about it, maybe he was also turned on that day.

Pulling her hair back in a messy bun, she started on her burger. She didn’t even bother hiding the moan of pleasure as the food hit her tastebuds or care that others might have heard her. She was too busy enjoying her food. When she set the burger down, she leaned back with a happy sigh and ate some of the fries. She could feel his eyes on her and smirked.

“Is this turning you on? I haven’t even gotten to the dripping sauce yet.”

“Fuck’s sake,” he rumbled.

“I’m not even looking at you and I can tell that you want to eat me whole.”

“That’s how I always look at you. You’ve never paid attention.”

Turning to him, she arched an eyebrow and he nodded. His eyes were dark and hot, lips curved into a naughty smirk that she wanted to feel against her skin. For the millionth time that day, she cursed her body for subjecting her to this damn bleeding when she hadbetterthings to do.

“Put that away,” she whispered, gesturing to his face before switching their plates.

“What if I didn’t want to share?”

“I love that you think you had a choice.”

He laughed as she cut into the meat. Making sure to get broccoli and potatoes, she ate the food and groaned again, which made him grunt.

---