Page 25 of Anything for You
And then I panicked and stuck out my hand and said, “Put ’er there, partner.”
His gaze didn’t waver. He closed his hand around mine, our second-ever handshake, and I waggled our hands together like a maniac until he cracked a smile, and in an effort to pretend I didn’t feel all kinds of things winging through me, I did, too.
He didn’t snatch his hand away. Instead, he held tight, shaking right back, until one of those blazing smiles brokefree, and my breath caught in my throat while we just kept pumping our hands up and down like absolute fools.
Finally, I started cackling and laughed, backing away as a trill of wild butterflies exploded in my chest.
“Okay. Well…” I bowed low, continuing my mind-blowing awkwardness. “Thank you for the berries. And. The, uh, handshake.”
We both grinned.
My heart did something real dramatic.
And then, I turned and beelined to my cabin door.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dove
Baby Jude William Rawlins was born ten days ago, and I had never felt love at first sight was real until I set my eyes on his scrunched-up face and chubby cheeks.
It didn’t help that I wanted kids. I wanted several. Growing up, it’d been me and my brother against the world. At least until the influence of the elders in our small community took root.
Baby Will—as he was being called because apparently Southerners had some weird thing where they went by their middle name—was precious, and Jess was a superhero. She delivered the nine-pound-eight-ounce giant of a baby naturally with her former nemesis-turned-husband by her side.
Heroic. Truly. He was eating and sleeping and voiding as he should, and I couldn’t have been a prouder adoptive auntie. I’d gone on a grocery run to get more diapers and more food in general because Jess’s appetite was endless asshe breastfed the little monster, and Beast was dead set on supplying her with every possible option at all meals. He was doting and obsessed with his baby and his wife and it was pure magic.
It gave me this sweet ache in my chest that was pain and pleasure at once. I’d been working to let myself enjoy both sensations. Or, if not enjoy them, then at least acknowledge and accept them.
I was deliriously happy for my dear friend who had both a devoted and wonderful husband and a precious, healthy child. I already loved her baby boy so much.
And I longed, with a ravenous kind of wanting, for the same for myself.
And that was okay.
I could want love and children for myself, want it with borderline desperation, and feel utter joy for my friends. It hurt sometimes, but I could.
When I pulled up to the Rawlins residence, a familiar truck sat in the driveway, and my pulse notched up.Speaking of the man himself.I wouldn’t say devil because thus far, I wasn’t sure I’d ever met a less devilish person than Dorian who insisted on being straightforward and kind. Yes, he was quiet and kept things close, but he was just so… him.
I knocked gently, then let myself in the front door since Jude had instructed me to do so. He could still be bossy, for which Jess apologized, but I saw it for what it was. He wanted to make sure Jess wasn’t bothered and baby Will wasn’t disturbed, so no doorbell and no incessant knocking.
Slipping off my shoes, I padded quietly into the house and set the bags on the counter. After washing my hands, I put away the groceries, then washed them again beforeentering the living room about to greet my friend, but the sight I beheld stopped me short.
Dorian sat on the ottoman of the chair where Jess had set up camp and in his arms was a snoozing baby Will. Jude sat on the coffee table nearby and spoke quietly—so much so, I couldn’t quite hear it. Dorian nodded, then glanced at his friend and smiled softly before returning his gaze to the infant.
I’d seen burly men hold babies before. Around here, it was nearly impossible to avoid, especially when Wilder Saint and his brothers kept cranking out babies like they were paid bounties to do so and then all the Saint Security staff liked to parade around as if they had no clue they should be slapped on a monthly calendar as they did.
But this? This giant, rough and tumble on the outside man holding that sweet little bundle and just… looking at him?
Oh, my heart.
Jess’s attention snagged on me, and she smiled.
“Hey. Thank you so much,” she said, and gratefully accepted the items I passed to her, including a fresh glass of ice water and a croissant from Rise and Shine. “Stone got to see him milk-drunk,” she added, grinning.
She was such a proud mama, and I couldn’t help but delight in it.
“Never understood the expression until today,” Dorian said, glancing up at me with the most peaceful expression I’d ever seen on his face. Almost like holding that tiny person in his arms set him at ease.
