Page 14 of The Best Parts of Him
“Fuck, Ry, sor?—”
The door burst open, interrupting his apology, and Ryland’s eldest niece, Callie, launched herself onto the bed.
Dabbs’ morning wood instantly deflated.
Ryland made a pained sound and shimmied away from Dabbs. “Ow. Watch the elbows.”
“It’s Frozen Fest day,” Callie yelled much too loudly for whatever godawful time of the morning it was. “Get up, Uncle Ryland.”
“Hmm, I don’t know.” The teasing in Ryland’s voice was unmistakable. “What if I want to stay in bed all day?”
“But you promised I could get my face painted.”
“Did I? Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Callie whined. “Uncle Ryland. Get up.”
Dabbs flopped onto his back, chuckling as the seven-year-old tried ineffectually to drag the six-foot, two-hundred-pound hockey player with thighs bigger than her waist off the bed by the wrist.
“Oh no. Callie. I’m glued to the bed. Go get help.”
Callie laughed even as she said, “That’s not funny. Come on. Mom says to get your butt up so we can be at the festival in time for the ice cream contest.”
Ryland narrowed his gaze. “Your mom did not tell you to say butt.”
“Boys!” came Brie’s voice from downstairs. “Get your butts in gear. You’ve got half an hour before we leave without you.”
“See?” Callie preened. “I can say butt.”
“Oh, you can, can you?”
Ryland lunged at her with a growl. She toppled onto the bed with a squeal, falling into the space between Ryland and Dabbs, high-pitched laughter ringing throughout the bedroom as Ryland tickled her.
The sight of uncle and niece playing was almost insufferably sweet. Ryland was as unguarded now as he’d been when he’d been looking at the fox den in the middle of the night, giving Dabbs a small glimpse into the man behind the flirty attention seeker.
The way he handled his niece with both care and affection hit Dabbs right in the chest, and all those parts of him that were determined to deny his attraction to Ryland began to unfurl.
Before they could wave hello, Dabbs sat up and flung the cover off.
Callie, pinned under Ryland’s much larger frame, peered at him upside down. “Are you coming to Frozen Fest?”
Dabbs couldn’t help but smile at her. She was cute with her button nose and dark hair the same shade as Ryland’s. “Depends,” Dabbs said. “Will there be ice cream?”
Her eyes lit up. “All the ice cream in the world.”
“Wow. That’s a lot of ice cream.” He tweaked her nose. “I guess I have to go then.”
“Woo-hoo!”
“All right.” Ryland rose from the bed, a giggling Callie over his shoulder. He set her down gently by the door. “Go wake up your Uncle Jason.”
“Tasha already did that.” Callie flounced out the door, yelling, “Frozen Fest!” at the top of her lungs.
Ryland watched her go with a laugh. “Christ.” He stretched his arms up and grabbed the top of the doorframe. The movement exposed a minuscule strip of skin between the bottom of his T-shirt and the top of his boxers, but it was enough bare skin to send Dabbs’ thoughts tumbling over each other.
He wanted to kiss the middle of Ryland’s back, right there.
He wanted to sweep his palms up Ryland’s ribs.
