I turn slowly. The hallway is dim and quiet around us. We’re close now. So close.
>>
“I don’t know what I should feel,” I admit. “I want to hate you, to be angry, but when you look at me like that… I want to…” I trail off.
He lifts his hand slowly, giving me every chance to stop him. When I don’t, his fingers brush my jaw, his thumb skimming over my cheek, making my breath hitch.
“I want to kiss you,” he whispers. “I won’t ask for anything more. I just… I’ve missed you. So much.”
And god help me, I lean in first.
Our lips meet, and I feel like fireworks go off inside me. His lips are warm, his kiss tentative and far too familiar. Like this, it’s as if no time has passed at all.
He pulls back a little and rests his forehead against mine as my heart threatens to burst from my chest. ” Paige,” he breathes.
“Ryder,” I whisper, my throat clogging with emotion as all the old feelings for him wash over me.
It’s not the same intensity it once was, but it’s the start of something I’m still not sure that I’m ready tor.
“Sleep well,” he says, stepping back to leave.
“Wait,” I stop him. “I want you to see something.”
“What is it?”
“My favourite thing to look at.” I smile and turn to gently push the door open.
Soft light spills into the room, casting a glow over the angelic little face of our sleeping son. I step aside, letting Ryder into the room and I hear his breath hitch.
“He’s perfect,” he breathes.
“He is,” I agree.
“I want to know everything about him, everything I missed. Your pregnancy, his birth, all of it. Will you tell me? Not now, but soon,” he asks.
A small, bitter part of me wants to say no, that he should have been there, but I can’t do that. Jaxon needs him, he wants him in his life, and if that means I have to give him every detail to make this easier for them both, then I will. And if I am being honest with myself, I want to tell him. I want to share all those precious memories with him.
“Yes. I’ll tell you everything.”
N.O Darling Author
Sorry there was no update yesterday, it was my son’s birthday and my new iPad broke so it’s been a nightmare trying to get all my files back and loaded back onto my old device… which has a battery life of about an hour and takes about six hours to charge….
**Callen’s POV **
I try not to listen in on Ryder and Paige upstairs. I really do.
They’re whispering, probably so as not to wake Jaxon, but my hearing is too damn good to ignore them completely. I tell myself to focus on the dishes, on the clattering of the cutlery in the sink. But clearly, I have zero self-control, because I’m focusing so hard on their conversation that I’m going to give myself a headache.
When Ryder says he wants to kiss her, I wince, bracing for her rejection. i***t. He’s going too fast, pushing her too soon. He’s going to ruin all the progress we’d made with her in the last few hours. It goes quiet, too. quiet.
Are they kissing?
I freeze midway through washing a fork, the soap bubbles running down my arm. I strain to hear any sign of what is happening. When they breathlessly whisper each other’s names, it sounds like something out of a chick flick.
A stupid grin spreads over my face. That smooth son of a gun pulled it off! I almost whoop and fist pump the air like an i***t, but then a bitterness twists in my chest.
Is this jealousy?
I frown, staring down at the soapy water like it’s personally offended me. Why the hell am I jealous?
I wanted this. I knew Rye had to be the one to win her over first. She can’t even entertain starting something with me until she has forgiven my brother. She is our mate, but he is her first love, her childhood sweetheart and the father of her child. Until those two unpack all that baggage, I need to be patient.
I can’t compete with the history between them. My plan is to be the funny one, the one that makes her laugh while she figures out the heavy stuff with Rye. I want to be her happy place, her safe distraction. No pressure or expectations. I want to earn my place with her.
I need to find a way to make things right with her and Remy, too. I’d been terrified earlier that she had worked out there was more to me and Remy than pack brothers. I thought she was about to out us in front of Parker too, which would have been awkward as hell. I’m not sure that we could ever admit to our brothers what we’ve been doing.
As if summoned by my thoughts of him, Remy mind links with me. “Your human is calling you,” he says bitterly.
I frown, straining harder to listen for her. Surely I’d have heard if she had called me.
“I don’t hear her, she is with Rye,” I respond.
Is this some kind of game for him? Just a way to tease me somehow?
“I mean your phone. Paige is calling your phone, unless you know any other Paige’s,” he says dryly.
I pat my pockets with my wet hands. I know I don’t have my phone, so I’m not sure why I even checked, but I’m already moving up the stairs.
“Why do you have my phone?”
“I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you are insinuating. You must have dropped it here when you shifted earlier, you know… right after you punched me,” he huffs and a pang of guilt hits me.
I shouldn’t have hit him, not like that, but he was trying to get rid of my mate and I snapped.
“I’m sorry, Rem. I didn’t mean to lash out, I just…”
“You were protecting your mate. I got the message loud and clear,” he says as he opens his bedroom door and holds out my phone.
The screen flashes with Paige’s name and I frown, looking towards the door I know she is behind. She doesn’t have her phone. We checked her for it while she was unconscious.
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