CHAPTER 11 #2
“Or,” I offer, “my boss, Wyatt, and his wife, Tenley, have a 13-year-old and a baby, both boys. They’d be more than happy to have Wilde hang with them for a few hours.”
Haven studies my face for a moment before turning her wide eyes to Wendy and Laura, neither woman looks her way.
She sounds uncertain, “You already asked them?”
I shrug and admit, “He is my boss, but he’s more than that.” I look into her blue eyes and try not to get lost in them. “He’s family. I did ask already, but even if I didn’t, I know he’d be good with it. That’s the kind of family we are.”
“Wow,” Haven breathes out. “That’s good family.”
With a wide smile on my face, I nod. “They’re good family and good people.
You’ll like them both along with everyone else.
” I pause for a moment as I consider my next words.
“If you’re considering making Denver home, they’re all people who will have your back.
No questions asked. Don’t even get me started on the extended family we’re a part of,” I tease, and she shoots me a look of confusion.
“I’ll tell you all about them during our date,” my voice is hopeful.
Just as I hear little feet thundering down the stairs, Haven breathes out, “Okay. One date.”
“One is a start,” I chirp, trying not to sound too excited and failing epically. “Wednesday? I don’t have anything on my books that night or Thursday morning. If you’re cool with it, and want to use them as an option, you could come by Vibrant Ink and meet Wyatt and Tenley the day before,” I offer.
She tilts her head to the side, searching my face, before poking my arm. “Are you real?”
I bark out a laugh just as Wilde slides back into the kitchen, his face filled with eagerness. “I’m real,” I assure Haven with amusement in my voice. “We’ll get the details figured out later.” My eyes meet hers and she sucks in a breath. “But we’re having our date.”
The pink is back and coloring her cheeks as she nods. Even though I want to kiss her, desperately, I hold myself back and stand up. After dealing with my plate, I head toward one extremely excited little boy.
“You look ready,” I tease slightly while taking him in, his small arms barely able to hold everything.
“Yes,” Wilde shouts out.
Everyone laughs at his excitement. I look back at Haven to find her looking between us with a soft smile on her face. And something else, something that makes me believe in a forever I wasn’t sure I would ever find.
A forever with her. The woman who tugs at my soul and makes me feel like more than any woman has before.
I’m not mad about finding her; not even a little bit. Then to get Wilde in my life at the same time? Talk about a bonus I never could have seen coming.
Wilde grabs my arm and tugs, leading me to the room we’ve been using for class after shouting a goodbye over his shoulder which sounds a little more like an afterthought than thoughtful. The giggles are a good sign that no one was offended at least.
The moment he pushes inside the room, his attention goes to the obvious box on the front table. “Oh man,” he pouts.
I can’t exactly blame him considering I made a point to cover the box when I left it in here earlier. Did I have Wilde in mind when I thought to do it? Most definitely.
“You’ll see it with the rest of the class,” I assure him while trying to keep myself from laughing.
“I can’t have a peek?” He holds his hand up, this thumb and his index finger almost touching. “Just a little one?”
I bark out a laugh and shake my head at him. “It wouldn’t be fair to everyone else,” I point out.
When my hand lands gently on his shoulder, he doesn’t flinch or pull away from me. It eases something inside of me. “Come on,” I guide him toward where he’s been sitting the last few weeks, “how about you show me the boxes you’ve been drawing to practice perspective?”
His eyes light up and he races over to his seat. There’s reverence in the way he puts down the supplies in his hands. It’s a feeling I know well.
“You really want to see what I’ve been working on?”
The vulnerability written all over his face and filling his voice guts me. It’s clear he’s wanted and asked for attention before, only for it to be withheld from him. I can’t imagine Haven doing such a thing to him which leaves only one person.
Fuck, he better stay gone. Or else he’ll find out very quickly that I’ll do anything to keep Haven and Wolfe safe. Anything.
I’ll have to remember to call Duncan at some point.
He’s the tech guy for Higgins Security. I’m sure they already have information on Haven and whoever her ex is because they work so closely with Safe Home.
Still, I want Duncan to know that they’re mine and I want in anything happens involving her ex.
He’ll never touch her. I’ll make sure of it, and the guys of Higgins Security will too.
Those men are fucking beasts. They were all trained by Uncle Sam before leaving the military with a shit ton of skills. Blake Higgins started a security company and brought in guys he served with along with others he met or heard of along the way.
They’re also the biggest fucking softies when it comes to their women and kids. They’re the last men I’d want to come up against in a dark alley, even though I’ve seen them melt for a gummy baby smile. I figure it’s how it should be.
If you can’t be soft with the ones who are your everything, who can you be soft with?
Wilde remains hesitant as he opens up his sketch pad. I could reassure him, but at this point all I could give him are words. He needs action.
The only way for me to show him how series I am, that I’m all in when it comes to investing time, effort, and attention in him, is by not cracking when questioned. He’ll figure out that I’m not going anywhere.
I’d put money on him figuring it out before Haven. But it’s only because her soul is still bruised.
“I just grabbed some boxes I found around here,” Wilde’s soft explanation pulls me out of my thoughts.
He deserves all of my attention, which is exactly what I give him. “A box is a box,” I agree with his approach.
“They’re hard to draw,” he mumbles.
“And some angles are harder than others,” I add.
He gasps, his little head nodding so quickly I’m a little afraid it’ll launch off his slim shoulders. “Yes,” he exclaims. “I noticed that too. There were some angles where there was nothing I could do to get the lines looking right.”
I lean over his sketch pad before reaching for his pastels.
After grabbing a color that is different from the one he used, so he can see the changes I’m making, I point at his drawing.
“Can I show you? I could walk you through it, but I think if I show you a few tips and tricks then you may be able to see it better.”
“So, it’ll become our drawing?”
For a moment, my heart sinks at the idea of him not being into sharing a drawing with me, but when I look at him it becomes clear how wrong I am. The smile he’s shooting me takes up his entire face and his blue eyes are sparkling with excitement.
“It’ll definitely become our drawing,” I assure him. “We could draw together anytime, Wilde,” I promise him knowing I’ll do anything in my power to keep my promise. Always.
When Wilde points at the first box on the page that’s wonky, he goes to the side that gave him the most problems right away. “See, this right here is the part I couldn’t get right no matter what I did.”
He looks up at me expectantly. A weight that feels like importance settles in my chest. He’s trusting me to be able to back up my words. His willingness to learn from me is humbling as fuck.
I won’t let him, or his mom down. I can’t. Too much depends on me being exactly what they both need.