21. Callie
Callie
“They’re dead to the world.” Ben grinned after buckling Beth in and closing his truck door. “That’s one of the nicest benefits of boat days. After a day on the water the kids are always out for the night.”
I was worried that I looked just as wiped as the kids. I surely felt like it. I was so tired that I wasn’t even sure how I was standing upright. “How are you guys not dead on your feet?”
Cole gripped my shoulders from behind and lightly squeezed. “We weren’t cooking in the sun all day. Come on; I’ll give you and Ollie a ride home.”
“I can…” I thought about arguing for the right to drive my precious baby home while I could barely keep my eyes open and stopped myself. “Um, yeah, actually. That would be so nice of you.”
“I could take you.” Luke frowned at Cole and crossed his arms. “It’s on the way.”
“Same for me. It’s not an issue for me.” Ben stood elbow to elbow with Luke and the way they were looking at me with so much intensity made me blush.
“Too late. I asked first.” Cole leaned down and spoke next to my ear. “I’ll get Ollie buckled in with Noah.”
Even though it was still muggy and hot outside I had chills erupting all over my body at the tone and volume he spoke to me with, like we were lovers sharing a secret.
I cursed the image for even dancing across my mind when there was nothing I could do about it.
I just had to keep repeating off-limits in my head.
“Lucky bastard.” Ben slapped Cole on the shoulder and stepped into my space to wrap his arms around me. His hug was warm and made my already heavy eyes slide closed. “I’ll be sure to ask first next time. Thanks for coming out with us today. Same time next weekend?”
I couldn’t form words, especially when he softly pressed his lips to my forehead before slipping away.
Luke gripped the back of my neck and pressed a kiss to the other side of my forehead.
I blinked up at him, confused and overwhelmed by their softness.
Going from not having any male attention to what felt like a little too much male attention was a hard thing to adjust to.
“Sweet dreams, Cupcake. Be good.”
I was still standing there after the two of them got in their trucks, wondering if it was possible that I was still on the boat dreaming.
I’d agreed to a playdate for the sake of Oliver but I wasn’t leaving it feeling like we’d just had a playdate.
I mean, I didn’t go on many playdates, or any playdates, so maybe it was completely normal to be kissed on the forehead and left floating afterwards. I had my doubts, though.
“Ollie and Noah are passed out in my backseat. Time to get you buckled in, Cupcake.” Cole wrapped his hand around my forearm and gently guided me to the passenger side.
His hand slid down until he was holding my wrist with his index finger resting against my palm.
The movement was so small but that slight bit of warmth from his finger made me tingle all over. “You okay?”
I gasped when he suddenly gripped my waist and lifted me into the cab of his truck. I grabbed his shoulders and held on tight even after I was firmly planted in the bucket seat. “Sorry! W-wasn’t expecting to fly tonight.”
He leaned against the open door and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Am I overstepping?”
It was a loaded question. No, I didn’t feel like he was overstepping.
Matter of fact, I wanted him to run several feet forward.
But if I said no would I be leading him on?
I couldn’t have anything with any of them.
Even after the kids were no longer my students it wouldn’t be allowed by Darren.
Yet…I couldn’t lie to him and let him think he was making me uncomfortable.
“No.” I chewed on my lower lip and took a deep breath. “But what I feel and what the school would feel is very different.”
He nodded once and then stepped back. “Gotcha. Put your seatbelt on, Cupcake.”
I watched him walk around the truck and climb in, a serene expression on his face. I felt like apologizing but I wasn’t even sure what I was apologizing for. I didn’t even know for sure if he was serious about wanting me. In my exhaustion, I barely knew my own name.
“Close your mouth, baby.” He winked. “What’s your address?”
I grumbled the address out and turned to face forward. “Thanks again for the ride.”
He grunted back at me but then he let the silence sit in the truck.
It was oddly peaceful and it lulled me into a pleasant stupor.
I rested my head against the window and smiled.
How was it possible that the three of them could make me feel so at peace one moment and like a raging wildfire the next?
Before I even realized it we were pulling up at my house. I sat up and turned to face Cole, planning on thanking him again but he was already out of the truck and coming around to my side. I watched in surprise as he opened my door and reached in to unbuckle my seatbelt. “What are you doing?”
He picked me up and carried me to the front door. “Unlock the door and I’ll bring Ollie in.”
I swayed slightly and froze with my hands on his chest. I could feel his heart beating faster and harder and breathed in his unique scent. “Thank you.”
He cupped my cheek and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. His eyes searched my face, settling on my eyes with a heat in his that I couldn’t deny. “You are-”
“Dad!” Noah was already halfway out of the truck, his hair mussed and his face sleepy. “Ollie and I want to sleep over.”
Oliver climbed out after, rubbing his eyes. “Mom? Please?”
I looked up at Cole and brought my hand to my mouth to pick at my cuticle. “What do you think?”
“I’m fine with it if you are. I’ll carry them both to bed.
It doesn’t look like either of them are going to be on their feet for very long.
” He waited for me to nod and then walked over and scooped up both boys.
Noah immediately rested his head on his dad’s shoulder and Oliver watched the movement and mimicked him a few moments later.
Cole saw the way I clutched my chest and watched them with tears filling my eyes and smiled at me. I unlocked the door with shaking hands and swung it open to reveal the mess that was my life. To his credit, Cole said nothing about the mess. He glanced back at me and raised his brows.
“Where’s his room?”
I pointed down the hallway and immediately started trying to pick up.
The trash was easy enough to get rid of, which made me question myself and why I hadn’t already gotten rid of it.
The clothes I shoved to one corner of the couch and I gathered a bunch of sewing supplies in my arms and shoved it all in the basket in the corner that was already overflowing with yarn and six different types of glue.
I perched on the edge of the couch to grab as much stuff as I could off the coffee table but as soon as my eyes landed on the photo album I hadn’t been able to find lately, all my motivation poofed right out of me.
I slid off the couch to the floor and flipped open the cover page.
A newborn Oliver stared back at me and I forgot everything else around me.
Those photos were all I had from the time Oliver was first born and it gutted me that I didn’t have more.
From day one it’d been obvious that he was going to be smart.
The way his eyes tracked seemingly everyone in the room had been intense.
Everyone had said he was an old soul. Funny how by the time he was four and still so intense the comments changed from how he was an old soul into concern over why he didn’t act like the rest of the kids.
“Cupcake?”