LITMIR.BIZ

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      The park was about a twenty-minute drive, but it had a fabulous play area and a nice walking path where she could take him for a stroll once he tired of playing. That way he got a nap and she got a little workout.

      Granted the best workout she’d had in ages was the sledgehammer to the cabinets.

      And once again her thoughts circled back to Hayes. Why couldn’t that man just leave her head? In such a short time, he’d embedded himself so deeply into her life she worried what would’ve happened had she stayed longer.

      Alexa shifted Mason and came to her feet, holding him against her hip. “Want to go swing and slide?”

      He nodded, despite the tears in his eyes. “Swing.”

      “Let’s go get some shoes and a shirt for you,” she told him. “Then—”

      The words died as a big, black truck pulled into her short drive and stopped right against her garage door. She’d seen that truck. And the man inside it had haunted her dreams for the past week.

      What was he doing here?

      “Truck, truck, truck,” Mason chanted.

      Adjusting her hold on her son, Alexa hated that her first thought was how frightening she must look. She was wearing her go-to outfit: old cutoff shorts, neon yellow to really accentuate how wide her backside was, and an old white tank with paint stains.

      Oh, well. He’d come to her so he was going to have to see her in all her tacky glory. No doubt he had on another pair of those hip-hugging jeans, a T-shirt that stretched across glorious muscle tone and that familiar black hat with a brim, shielding a most impressive set of black eyes from the sun.

      The man just sat there staring at her. Well, she assumed he was. That hat shadowed half his face. Was he going to get out? Had he changed his mind about visiting her? Were they in some warped staring contest?

      Mason patted her cheek, pulling Alexa from her trance. She smiled at her son, though her stomach was in knots. She’d needed to break from Hayes. As amazing as their time together had been, she had to keep her distance.

      He had been her husband’s best friend. Hayes valued honesty and commitment and after all he’d been through, she wasn’t sure he’d be too happy with sleeping with his best friend’s widow.

      The second his door swung open, Alexa pulled in a deep breath and stepped down onto the narrow walkway leading to her portion of the drive.

      As he rounded the hood, her heart clenched and she couldn’t stop herself from raking her gaze over him. Indeed, he wore exactly what she’d feared and he was absolute perfection. These seven days apart had done nothing to settle that attraction rooted deeply inside her.

      “What are you doing here?” she asked as he came closer. Not the friendliest greeting, but they’d agreed to be done.

      “Seeing you.”

      He said the words so simply as if leaving his ranch wasn’t a big deal.

      “You never leave home,” she reminded him. “Or that’s what the rumor has been.”

      He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. “Some things are worth leaving for.”

      Now, why did he have to go and say things like that? Why did he have to make this about more than physical? Because showing up unannounced at her home was definitely taking things to another level.

      “Wait. How did you know where I lived?” she asked, shifting Mason to her other hip. “Never mind. I’m sure you just asked your sister-in-law.”

      Mason reached out toward Hayes’s hat, but Alexa eased back. “No, baby.”

      “He’s fine.”

      Alexa held on to her son’s hand. “He’d pull your hat off and chew on it or throw it down.”

      Hayes took his hat off. “And that would be just fine.”

      He held the hat out to Mason. Alexa did not want this little bonding moment, no matter how harmless. Nothing about Hayes Elliott was harmless.

      Not only had she gotten way too attached during those few days, she now carried a secret that would no doubt anger him and make him look at her with disdain and resentment. She’d rather not have that hanging over her. Hayes had been hurt enough.

      Mason grabbed the hat and sure enough, the brim went straight to his mouth.

      “Oh, Mason,” she cried. “Don’t do that.”

      Hayes’s mouth quirked into a grin. “He’s really fine.”

      Yeah, but she wasn’t. Watching another man interact with her son...well, that was something she hadn’t prepared herself for. Mason wasn’t used to being around men. Alexa never dated, certainly never brought a guy to her house, and the babysitter was a woman. Mason didn’t really have an adult male in his life.

      And she sure as hell couldn’t let Hayes into her son’s life. The fragility of her heart where this man was concerned was simply too much. And he was in such a delicate state himself. No matter how amazing they’d been together, him showing up here was a bad idea.

      “Why are you here?” she murmured.

      “You already asked that.”

      Alexa lifted her eyes to meet his. “You never answered.”

      “I told you I wanted to see you.”

      She quirked a brow.

      “Fine. What do you want me to say?” He put the hat on Mason’s head and lifted her son from her arms. Shocked, Alexa watched as Hayes smiled down at Mason as if this were the most normal thing in the world. “Do you want me to tell you my sleep has gone back to hell since you left? That when I walk in my kitchen I wonder if you’d like what I’ve done? That I put up a damn tire swing because you mentioned it?”

      Oh, no. This was even worse than she’d thought.

      “We agreed—”

      He held up his free hand. “Yes. We agreed to be physical. I miss the hell out of you, Alexa. I’m not here to ask for a relationship or even marriage. I want you and when I want something, I make sure I have it.”

      Mason ran his hands over Hayes’s stubbled jaw. Back and forth, his little fingers raked over the dark hair along his chin. Alexa couldn’t tear her eyes away. They were literally bonding right before her eyes and she couldn’t do a thing to stop it.

      “You can’t just come here and expect me to... What? What do you think will happen now?”

      Hayes strong hands held her son so tightly. “Come back to the house with me.”

      “No.”

      Those lips twitched again as if he were trying not to smile or laugh. It was great to see that emotion from him, but at the same time, she couldn’t fall into that rabbit hole.

      “Bring Mason. Play in the yard. That’s what you wanted, right? A yard for your son?”

      Alexa narrowed her gaze. “You’re not playing fair.”

      He eased closer, his eyes dropping to her lips. “We’ve already established I’m not playing and I never said I was fair.”

      Mason turned his head, causing the hat to bump against Hayes’s face and topple to the ground. Alexa quickly scooped it up and handed it back to Hayes before reaching for her son.

      “We’re headed to the park,” she informed him. “So, if you’ll excuse us.”

      He remained right where he was, unmoving, barely blinking. The way he stared at her with those dark eyes made her wonder if he could see into her soul. Could one broken person actually connect so deeply with another?

      Alexa shook off the haunting thought.

      “You

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