Chapter Forty-Seven

Bryn

Taking Cullen to camp was difficult. I wanted to keep him with me and hold him. I couldn’t sleep at night from the fears running through my head.

Decker’s lawyer had contacted mine, and the DNA test was set to take place tomorrow. If Decker was Cullen’s father, I would still have a fighting chance at winning custody. Decker was not a man who wanted to be saddled with a kid. I knew this, and he knew it, yet he was still going through with everything.

The what-ifs were haunting me though. That, and the fact that I had barely spoken to Rio in two days. Cullen had asked where he was the past two nights, and I’d just told him Rio was busy. At work, I didn’t have to stay in the office all day. I went in the mornings and went over the things I needed to handle, then came home to do the paperwork, ordering, and pay the bills. Rio had tried several times to talk to me, and I only spoke to him if it was work-related.

I wasn’t still mad at him, I’d realized as I lay awake in my bed, looking at the ceiling most of the night.

My anger over the fight had faded, and today, when he tried to talk to me, I would be ready. I missed him. While I’d cried in my pillow last night, I had wished he were there to hold me and reassure me. Left to my own thoughts, I was tormented with the different outcomes.

Heading into the back door of the farmers market, I almost didn’t see Rio and wouldn’t have if the female he was with hadn’t laughed. I turned my head and saw his back. He was facing a woman I didn’t know. She wasn’t an employee. Rio must have said something funny. Her sheer cover-up did nothing to hide her bikini. There wasn’t much of it. I watched them for a moment, trying to decide if she was a customer, but then she put her hand on his arm and tilted her head as she leaned in to whisper something to him. There was a familiarity there. She wasn’t a stranger.

I walked away then, toward the office, not wanting to see any more. Rio was obviously not suffering from our being apart. There was already another female vying for his attention. It wasn’t surprising. I was sure there would always be someone waiting for him to be single.

Maybe he thought he was now. I set my bag down on the desk and stood there, staring at the table and piled-up files that I needed to handle. I would get through this day. I wouldn’t let Rio flirting with some sexy, tall, thin redhead bother me. If that was what he wanted, then fine.

Even as I told myself that, I looked back at the open door and glared as if it were offensive. It had been two days. He couldn’t give me two freaking days?

After everything we had been through, he was going to enjoy some other female laughing at his jokes and touching his arm and whispering in his ear?

No. The hell he was. My life was in a current state of turmoil, and I wasn’t going to just let him mess us up. I was allowed to need space to deal with things.

Stalking out of the office, I went to find Rio alone now, walking in my direction.

I went up to him and shoved my finger into his chest. “You don’t get to do that. It’s not okay. I needed a little time, Rio. I’m facing what could become a nightmare. I was angry with you for putting fuel in Decker’s fire, but I just needed to get my head wrapped around all of this,” I said, glaring up at him now.

“Two days, and you think it’s okay to flirt with a half-naked female and let her touch you and whisper in your ear? That’s not you. At least, I didn’t think it was. I don’t play games, and if you want us to work, you won’t either.” I was talking a little too loudly, but the more I talked, the angrier I got.

I stopped stabbing him with my nail and spun around to leave him there. His hand wrapped around my arm, and I was pulled back against him. I turned to look up at him and ask him what he was doing, but his mouth was on mine before I could say anything.

Rio grabbed my waist and held me against him as he licked at my bottom lip slightly before his tongue tangled with mine. My hands went to his face, and I felt tears sting my eyes as I kissed him back. For the first time in two days, the world didn’t look as dark, and my heart didn’t hurt as badly.

“I missed you,” he said against my lips.

I only managed to nod. I was afraid my voice would crack from the emotion clogging my throat. He kissed me again and then pressed kisses on my cheeks and nose. Then, he pulled me against his chest and held me there.

We said nothing as we stood there. No one came by, but I wouldn’t care if they did. Part of my heart was beating right again. The other part was still clenched tightly as the unknown lay before me with Cullen’s DNA test. But this part was going to be okay.

“Thank God for that,” Hazel said from behind me. “I was about ready to lock ya both in a room together and get this figured out.”

I lifted my head from Rio’s chest and turned enough to see her. “I’m sorry,” I told her.

“Yer sorry?” she asked and pointed at Rio. “He’s the one who was meaner than a hornet. If he snarled at one more employee, they were all gonna stop showing up.”

Rio shrugged, and I gazed up at him. He gave me a crooked grin.

“I might have been a little moody,” he admitted.

Hazel let out a loud laugh. “Little moody? Heck, you were growling and barking at anything that moved.”

“Maybe the employees needed to be tall redheads with bikinis on for him to be charming,” I said.

His eyes narrowed, and his hands tightened on my waist. “Be careful, baby,” he warned. “You know what seeing you get jealous does to me.”

“Oh, fer heaven’s sake,” Hazel said loudly. “I’m going back to the front.”

“You let her touch your arm and whisper in your ear.” I pouted.

Rio took my arm and spun me around, then walked me back through the stacks of potatoes toward the office. I went willingly. I wanted him alone.

When he closed the door and locked it behind me, I backed up while he stalked toward me until my bottom hit the edge of the desk. “Vanessa came here, looking for me. She asked when I got off work. I told her I wasn’t available. She asked if we were exclusive. I told her”—he paused and cupped my face with his hand—“that I was in love. She laughed, and I told her I had work to get done. Then, she touched my arm, leaned in, and whispered that when I found out love was shit, I should give her a call.”

His thumb brushed my bottom lip.

“You told her you were in love?” I repeated.

“Mmhmm,” he replied as he leaned down to kiss me. “But your little display out there, pointing at my chest, was hot. I’m glad she stopped by.”

I laughed as he nibbled on my lip.