He prayed his words held truth.
Wearing her playfully deviant smile, she crawled onto his lap and wrapped her arms and legs around him like a monkey. “What would you have said if I was pregnant?”
“Nothing.” He kissed her shoulder then bit it.
“Nothing?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because the best things in life leave me speechless.”
Chapter Eleven
Knight
Jackson killed AJ. So what?
Ryn captured two hours of sleep after Jackson’s confession. Of course they were the two hours before her alarm went off. She downed three cups of coffee then cleaned two houses on autopilot. By the time she carried her supplies to the car, three inches of snow blanketed the ground. A smile grew on her face.
As she slowed to pull into her already-shoveled driveway, Drew waved from his sidewalk. Ice melt crunched beneath her feet as she walked toward her front door. Gunner flew out his dog door, tail wagging.
“Drew, I’ve told you a million times you don’t need to shovel my drive. And holy crap, what’s with the ten pounds of ice melt? I can’t even see my driveway beneath it. Is this some joke?” She laughed.
Drew stabbed his shovel into a drift of snow and rested his hands on the handle. “Yeah. Don’t be surprised if a photo of your driveway shows up in the newspaper tomorrow with the title Ice Melt Hoarder. I think your friend bought every bag from the hardware store. Don’t even get me started on the fact that he didn’t drive here. He had on shorts and a sweatshirt and he made six trips on foot carrying the ice melt and I think a new shovel too.”
Ryn laughed, shaking her head as she reached in her pocket for her phone that vibrated. “Speaking of Jackson.” She held up her lit screen. “Bye, Drew.”
She nearly slipped on the inch of ice melt, navigating the porch steps.
“Hi,” she answered.
“Have you left for home yet? It’s snowing. I don’t think you should be driving.”
Ryn laughed, shutting the door and toeing off her shoes. “Ya don’t say?”
“I cleared your driveway and sprinkled some ice melt, but it’s still snowing so you might need to reapply when you get home. I left a couple bags in your garage.”
“How did you get in my garage? The side door was locked.”
“Oh, I have … um …”
“A universal key? Like your sister?”
Jackson chuckled. “That would be correct.”
“Well I’m home already.” She plopped down in her favorite chair and threw her feet up on the ottoman. “Did Gunner growl and bark at you the whole time?”
“I brought treats.”
“I see. So you thought of everything. My neighbor, Drew, saw you. Did Woody break down? He said you made a few trips on foot with the ice melt.”
“Of course. No one should be driving in this weather.”
She giggled. “You act like you’ve never driven in snow. It’s the first snow, it’s not that cold, and all the main streets have been plowed. Don’t try to tell me it didn’t snow in New York.”
“Well, yeah, of course it snowed in New York. I just … I …”
“Let me guess. You lived and worked in the city, therefore you didn’t even own a car.”
“Bingo.”
“Pathetic. Well, I’d invite you over for dinner, but that would require you to drive.”
“Or walk. I’ll see you in thirty minutes.”
Ryn laughed some more. “Don’t slip on the side walk.”
“I’ve got that covered. The guy at the hardware store sold me some sort of yak things for my shoes.”
“Yaktrax?”
“That’s it. See ya soon.”
Gunner cocked his head sideways as she tossed her phone on the ottoman. “So all it takes is a few treats to keep you quiet, huh? I fear you’re going soft on me.”
Gunner jumped to attention from the quick rap on the door.
“There’s no way he’s here already.” Ryn grinned as she made her way to the door.
“Preston.” Her smile dissolved as her body stiffened.
Gunner sat idle next to her, a mild growl vibrated in warning.
Preston glanced down. “Easy, mutt.”
“What do you want? You can’t be—”
“Be where, sweetheart? Here? You dropped the restraining order. Remember?”
Ryn tried to swallow past the familiar fear. “Why are you here?”
“It’s snowing. Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“No.”
Preston slipped off his black leather driving gloves and shoved them into the pockets of his long wool overcoat. “I need to talk to you about Maddie.”
“Your phone stop working?”
Preston grinned the same grin that got her knocked up twenty-one years earlier. She loved it then, but not anymore. It made her want to knock out every single shiny, white tooth that peeked out from behind his lips.
“Come on. You have your guard dog to protect you. Besides, I come in peace.”
She glared at him. Nothing about Preston Iverson was peaceful.
“Five minutes and then you can let him chase me out the door. Deal?”
The asshole ex-husband needed to be gone before Jackson arrived. Preston didn’t deserve a blink of her concern, but a tiny part of her feared for his life.