“Good. Dad and I made burgers with bacon and steak fries.”
“Sounds amazing.”
Arthur lets go of my hand, jumps off the deck into the grass, and runs towards the big hole. The next moment, I feel Ethan’s arms wrap around my middle and his chin rest on my shoulder.
“He seems super excited about the pond,” I say to him as I lay my hands across his arms and sway back and forth slightly.
“Well, he is my son after all.”
“Very true,” I say with a giggle then I turn in his arms.
“Should you be wrapped around me? What if he sees?” I ask him.
“He’s not paying us any attention.” He kisses me with a quick peck. “I can’t go all evening without kissing you.”
My cheeks heat and I bite my lip. His hand scrubs across his mouth and chin while he shakes his head. “Yeah, this is going to be harder than I thought it would be.”
He stands up straight and calls Arthur in while slowly letting me go. I follow in behind him as Arthur runs up and takes my hand in his again.
Be still my heart.
The rest of the night was easy. The more Arthur talked to me and the more I could see him comfortable in his home, even with me there, the more my anxiety about it drifted away.
Before he went to bed, he showed me all around the outside of the property. Where he wants to build a playhouse, complete with a garage and driveway. Then he showed me his bedroom, decorated with every kind of superhero I could imagine. I wasn’t a fan, but I knew Hulk and Captain America when I saw them.
“He’s asleep,” Ethan says as he walks back into the kitchen.
I nod my head, unsure of what will happen next. With his son here, should I just go?
Ethan tapped on his phone a few times before music started playing from it. Music that I’ve never heard before. He turns on his heels and grabs a wooden spoon from the utensil holder then spins back around, holding it like a microphone. Then he starts singing while slowly swaying and walking towards me.
“All my life I pray for someone like you. And I thank god that I, that I finally found you.”
I can feel the heat rising up my neck into my face the closer he gets to me. When he’s only a few inches away, he cups my cheek with his hand, ducks his head down and finishes.
“I pray that you do, love me too.”
My eyes grow wide. Is he insinuating that he loves me? My stomach twists and I’m not sure how to feel. I’ve never had a guy say that to me. I look down because eye contact is too much right now.
But he doesn’t agree apparently, because he puts the wooden spoon under my chin and lifts my head.
“You don’t have to say a word,” he says.
He drops the spoon on the floor and pulls me into him. His lips meet mine and the next thing I know, he has me lifted, my legs wrapped around him, and we are walking.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lily
“Whatdidyousayback?” my sister asks me.
“Nothing. I was in shock. Layla, no man has ever said that to me.”
“Do you love him?”
“I don’t know and I’m really not sure about his son. Am I really ready to take on that kind of responsibility? I wasn’t even ready to be an Aunt.”
“True, but as soon as you saw Felicity, you changed your mind.”