Page 87 of Can't Get Over You
Cody flopped onto his belly and moved his arms and legs like he was making a snow angel. His shy smile did something to Jude’s heart. “Look at that. You’re a starfish, just like me.” Jude started to get up, but fear flashed in the boy’s eyes. “You okay? Want me to stay longer?”
The boy didn’t answer, and his eyes cut away. Jude set a hand on Cody’s head. “You got something on your mind? You can tell me anything.”
“Will you stay with me till I fall asleep?”
“Yeah, absolutely.”
The boy curled up like he did before, hugging his blanket to his chest. Every few seconds, he’d crack his eyelids open to see if Jude was still there.
“Buddy? There’s something you should know about me.”
Cody watched him warily.
“I’m always going to be honest with you. If I can’t stay till you fall asleep, I’ll tell you. I’ll say, ‘No, I can’t do that.’ But if I say I’ll do something, you can count on it. I’ll do it.”
“Okay.” The boy closed his eyes. He peeked at Jude two more times before his breathing slowed, his fingers relaxed, and his shoulders sagged.
This boy needed a home. A dad. He needed a routine he could count on. Hedeservedto feel safe and secure. To feel loved. Cherished. It might’ve been a rough start for Jude and his brothers, but they’d never doubted their dad’s devotion, the certainty that they were his priority.
The impulse to hug the boy came out of nowhere, but he didn’t want to wake him. That was another thing he hadn’t considered. The boy’s need for human touch.
It was overwhelming, all that was involved in raising a child.
He brushed a finger across the back of Cody’s delicate little hand.
I’ve got you, little one.
Once Cody had fallen deeply asleep, Jude shifted his legs off the mattress and got up. He was startled to find Finlay in the doorway, watching. When he reached her, she hurled herself into his arms.
“You’re so good with him,” she said, her voice muffled by his chest. “You’re sogood.”
“I have to be.” He bent his knees and lifted her, carrying her back to the bedroom.
When he dropped her onto the bed, she had a concerned expression. “Are you going to stay with me tonight? Or are you going back to the guest room?”
He got it. She was waiting for him to run, to shut down, but he wasn’t even feeling that impulse. He needed her. All of her. Every single piece of this woman’s mind, body, heart, and soul.
He answered by peeling off her pajama bottoms, dropping his clothes on the floor, and getting under the covers with her.
He grabbed his phone off the nightstand and shot off a text.
“What was that?” she asked. “Canceling your booty call plan for tonight? Or is that a group text to your legion of women, letting them know you’re off the market?”
He grinned and rolled onto his side, hiking up on an elbow. “My booty call?”
“Yeah. Don’t tell me you haven’t sent a text at one in the morning, looking for a hookup.”
“I’ve never sent a booty call text. And do you want me off the market?”
“Thosearethe terms of this agreement.”
“Oh, we have terms? Do you want to spell them out for me?”
“Sure.” She rolled onto her side, mindlessly caressing his forearm. “Number one, you have to deliver the best orgasms of my life.”
“Not a problem. Go on.”
“Number two, we have to do errands together. No dividing them up to get them done faster.”
