Sweet on You

by Katana Collins

  “It might be,” I whispered. “But the fact that they’re willing to start trying joint custody almost immediately without heading to family court? Take the blessings when they come, Lex. Because that’s incredible.”

  He grinned. “It really is, isn’t it?”

  “So… what happens next?” I asked.

  “The blood work should come back next week. Bloody hell, I’m going to be losing my mind until then. We paid to have the lab work rushed, but it still will be at least a few days. And apparently, Olivia’s grandmother has a doctor’s appointment next Friday, so if it comes back by then, which it should, they agreed to let me take her for the afternoon and the evening and they’ll pick her up the following morning.”

  The other question running through my mind went unasked. What happens next with us? It felt like our timing was always off. He had a daughter for God’s sake. Lex’s life was about to flip on its head in ways he couldn’t even begin to expect. He might not even realize yet, but starting a new relationship while he’s on the verge of this new role of fatherhood? I was the last thing he needed to be worried about. I wasn’t where his focus needed to be. And at the risk of sounding like a bitch, I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I hadn’t had a boyfriend in years. I liked Lex. A lot. But I wasn’t sure if I was willing to take a backseat when it came to love.

  It was selfish. Because between his daughter and myself? His daughter should absolutely come first. Every time. It wasn’t fair to him. But I also wasn’t sure if this was fair to me either.

  At least on the outside, Lex seemed to not be worrying about any of this. He looked thrilled, and for the first time in months—hell, maybe in the whole two years I’d known him—he seemed to relax. He fell back in his chair, a smile on his face and his shoulders dropped from where they’d been tensed around his ears.

  “I’m so happy for you,” I said, swallowing the tears that filled my throat. And I meant that. Every word. Because I was. No matter what happened between him and me, I was thrilled he was getting his daughter back. And as his friend, I would celebrate that with him, no matter what it meant for us.

  Lex cupped my jaw, drawing my mouth to his in a slow, lingering kiss. When he pulled away, it was like he was reading my mind. “I can’t promise you that I have answers, Ronnie. But I know that I want to keep dating you. I want to figure out a way to be both a dad and a new boyfriend to you. I don’t want to screw up either… as long as you’re willing to bear with me while I get a solid footing on both.”

  I nodded and swallowed. “Of course. I want that, too.”

  I believed he wanted both. But I also knew that that little girl of his would take priority—as she should. And if something were to happen. If it came down to too much stress or that life was overwhelming, I was going to be the person he cut from his life. I was going to be left with no one. Because no matter what, he would have his little girl.

  I didn’t blame him for that. That’s how it should be.

  But I couldn’t help that hollow feeling at the pit of my gut that Lex and I were doomed from the start.

  Steve came out from within the exam room, grinning from ear to ear, Yvonne just a step behind him. “Penny is ready for you. He did great.”

  I smiled, a flood of tears falling from my eyes as I jumped to my feet and launched into the exam room, not waiting for Lex.

  Penny’s tail thumped on the table, a bandage wrapped around his paw. “Hey buddy,” I said, pausing to rub his belly, and dropped my forehead to his.

  His tongue flicked out, sliding across the tip of my nose, and I laughed, wiping the tears off my cheeks. I had no idea how this big lug had burrowed himself into my heart so fast.

  I crossed over to the cash register, pulling out my credit card, and Steve punched in a few numbers. “Fifteen dollars.”

  I gave him a look. There was no way all that cost only fifteen bucks. “C’mon—”

  “It’s a foster dog,” Yvonne said, shrugging. “Which means it’s covered by us, and Steve does our animals at cost.”

  I handed him my credit card. “Then consider this fifteen dollars a donation to the animal rescue,” I said. Then, reaching into my purse, I grabbed a twenty dollar bill and held it out to Yvonne. She arched a brow, looking from me to the cash and back again.

  “What’s that for?”

  I gulped. “I lost the bet… Penny is a foster fail and I want to adopt him.”

  Yvonne grinned, taking the twenty dollars and pocketing it. “I knew you were a pet person.”

  I rolled my eyes and bent to scratch behind Penny’s ear, a warmth slowly spreading from behind my ribs down to my belly. “Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. With him? Maybe I wouldn’t be left with no one after all, if it didn’t work out with Lex.

  21

  Lex

  Oomph. My foot slipped from the rock and I smacked my hand down to try to catch myself from falling. But as hard as I tried to grip, my fingertips were drenched with sweat—that’s right, finger sweat. Rock climbing was a serious workout.

  My stomach flew to my throat as I lost balance and fell backwards, careening toward the hard ground.

  I closed my eyes, squeezing them shut and felt the jerk of the pulley stop my fall, mid-air. I grunted and below me, found Ronnie with her foot propped up and the pulley system tied around her waist. She held the cable in her gloved hands and called up to me, “I got you!”

  I got you. Those words meant more to me than she could ever know. Because this week… she did have me. For six days, she’s been keeping me busy. Keeping me company. Keeping my mind off the fact that at any moment, I might get the call that will change everything. Not only for me… but for us.

  She slowly lowered me to the ground and tossed a towel at me. I caught it, grinning, and dabbed my forehead. “That’s fun,” I said, completely out of breath. Even just barely speaking, my lungs burned and my heart pounded.

  “I know. You should do it for real… in nature. Not just on the rock climbing wall in my gym,” she said. “It’s such a thrill looking down to see yourself that high up.”

  “I don’t think I could do that. That would be terrifying.”

  “Chicken?” she teased, arching an eyebrow.

  “Without a doubt,” I laughed. I slung the towel around my neck and bent over, pressing my mouth to Ronnie’s.

  She kissed me back and although that kiss was one of our more g-rated ones, she blushed a deep scarlet when she pulled back. “Lex,” she whispered. “Not at my gym.”

  I glanced around, and even though the gym was technically still open, there were only two other people in here working out. “Chicken?” I repeated her insult, teasing her, and her jaw dropped as she poked a finger into my arm.

  “Me? Never.”

  I was pretty sure everyone in town knew we were dating by now. Not only was Ronnie right that Steve was an utter blabbermouth, but it had been a week full of dates. She and I had gone to the movies, hiking, swimming at the lake… not to mention the countless walks we had taken Penny and Frost on. She even held my hand in public on our last walk. For us, that was quite an advancement. Never mind the fact that we’d had incredible sex every night this week… but that hand holding? That was the most intimate thing Ronnie could have done for me.

  “Tell you what,” Ronnie said, taking her towel and twirling it. “You come rock climbing with me? And I’ll kiss you anywhere you want.”

  I narrowed my gaze at her, taking a step in. “That hardly sounds like an even trade.”

  “You’re escalating from a chicken… to a pussy,” she said and then snapped the towel, hitting me in the butt with it.

  “Oh, you’re dead.” I lunged at her, digging my fingers into her ribs, where I knew she was most ticklish.

  Her laughter shrieked, ringing throughout the gym and one of the people working out looked up, catching our tickle fight, and grinned before dropping her focus back to the treadmill.

  Ronnie kicked, laughing as I hugged her from behind, kissing her
neck. “Say you’re sorry,” I whispered, wiggling my fingers a bit.

  She heaved a few breaths and I felt her stomach bouncing with suppressed giggles beneath my hands. “Never,” she said and launched herself off my body, running behind the rock climbing wall.

  I chased her back there, catching her around the waist. She burst out laughing as we both fell to the ground. I lifted my weight onto my elbows, lacing my fingers into hers and bracing my body weight so that I wasn’t crushing her.

  Our breathing was heavy and as we caught our breath, arousal curled around my spine. My cock hardening against where it was pressed between her legs.

  She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth and lifted her head, kissing me hard, her tongue diving into my mouth. Her kiss tasted slightly salty, like a bit of ocean, and I drank her in.

  “I thought there was no kissing allowed in your gym?” I whispered.

  I slid her hands above her head, pinning them there as a grin slowly spread across her face. Her dark curly hair was fanned out across the floor beneath her. “I make the rules… I can break them, too.”

  “Is that so?”

  She tilted her hips, brushing against my hard cock, and I groaned, dropping my face into the curve of her neck.

  “Yeah,” she whispered, flicking out her tongue. Its warmth touched against my earlobe and a shiver cascaded down my spine. A sudden shrill noise tore us out of the sexy haze, and it wasn’t until I felt Ronnie’s hand tapping my arms and heard her saying, “It’s your phone. Lex… your phone is ringing…” that I sprang to my feet.

  I ran out from behind the rock wall where I had placed my phone on the table beside it. Brady’s name lit up the screen. I answered it, breathless.

  “Congratulations, Daddy,” Brady said. “It’s a girl.”

  My eyes fluttered closed and I clutched the phone with one hand and braced my weight on the table beside me, not trusting my own feet.

  “Lex? Are you there?”

  I cleared my throat. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m here Brady.”

  “Did you hear me? Olivia is officially your daughter. And of course, your drug test came back squeaky clean. Isn’t that great?”

  Great didn’t even begin to describe it. “It’s… it’s amazing.” I knew she was my daughter, of course. I knew it the moment her eyes connected with mine. But having the confirmation? Having it be known in the eyes of the law and community? That was a different thing altogether.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Murphy also got in touch me, wanting your personal contact information. Is it okay if I forward them your cell phone? They have a doctor’s appointment on Friday and they were hoping you would be willing to take Olivia for the day and overnight?”

  “Yeah.” My voice was raspy in my own ears. “Yeah, pass along my cell number. Of course, I’ll be happy to babysit her.”

  Brady chuckled after a moment’s pause. “It’s not babysitting when she’s your daughter, you know.”

  I gave a heavy laugh as I felt Ronnie’s hands drift up my arms. She held me from behind, caressing my bicep with reassuring strokes. It was comforting, and I released my grip from the table, taking her hand and bringing it to my lips to kiss her knuckles. “I suppose not, huh?”

  We worked out a few other details about the mediation dates and hung up. I was in a daze and in that moment, it was impossible to focus on anything except two days from now… when Olivia would be spending the night in my tiny one-bedroom apartment.

  “Hey,” Ronnie whispered, her palm brushing against my cheek. The day-old stubble rasped against her hand and I lifted my eyes to hers. They were bright blue and regarded me with affection that I hadn’t seen from anyone, let alone a gorgeous, fun, kind, woman, in years. “You okay?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  She dropped her head to the side, leveling me with a look. “Lex,” she warned.

  “Okay, I’m a little stunned. I knew this day was coming and now that it’s here, I feel lost. And nervous. But also so, so happy. It’s like… for the first time in my life, all the pieces are coming together. I have everything I’ve ever wanted within reach.”

  Ronnie nodded and swiped her thumb across my lips. I caught the edge in a kiss just as she removed it. “I’m going to give you some space for the next few days, okay? You need some time to get acquainted—”

  As she moved to step back, I grasped her hand, tugging her back into me. “Hey,” I said, shaking my head and cupping her jaw. “I don’t need time away from you. When I said everything I’ve ever wanted is within reach… I meant having you as much as I meant having Olivia. This week has been the most joyful week of my sober life. No, scratch that. Of my entire life. And I don’t want space from you. I want you by my side… if you’re comfortable with that.”

  Her eyes misted before drifting closed and she rested her forehead to my chest, nodding. “We’re still taking it slow, though, right?”

  “Yes, of course.” Even though we both stated those words, we knew the truth. Nothing about this was slow. We were racing in a car at 100 mph, claiming we weren’t speeding. Yet, I didn’t want to slow down. I didn’t want to look back. I wanted to clutch this woman’s hand and race into our future together.

  I kissed the top of her head. “I have an NA meeting and I dreadfully need to shower first.” Curling my index finger below her chin, I tilted her gaze back up to mine. I needed to see those eyes one last time before I left. “Breakfast tomorrow?”

  She nodded, pushing onto her toes and kissing me softly. I didn’t close my eyes, but rather widened them as her lips brushed mine. “You just kissed me in public. In the middle of your gym.”

  She shrugged. “You’re wearing me down, I guess.”

  I glanced around. “And it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that your only other two customers seem to have left?”

  She winked. “Baby steps, right?”

  I grinned. “Right.”

  I backed out of her hold, grabbing my gym bag. “Oh!” she called after me. “Bring more of those granola bars tomorrow if you can. They’ve been selling like hotcakes.”

  “Hotcakes, huh? Are people flipping over them?” I snickered at my own pancake joke.

  Ronnie laughed and unplugged the rock climbing machine. “You’re my hotcake,” she said, winking. “Know why?

  “Cause I’m stacked?”

  She laughed, throwing her head back. “I like you latke.”

  I swallowed, emotion and affection for this woman consuming me. It was almost too much. I’d laughed more this week than I had in years, and it was all because of Ronnie. All humor suddenly drained from the situation and I found myself tingly and hot all over. “I think I’m falling for you, Ronnie.”

  Her laughter subsided, her face draining of its flush. “What?”

  “I said… I think I’m falling in love with you.”

  Her lips parted, but she said nothing. Not for several seconds until finally, “That’s… that’s not a pancake pun.”

  I exhaled a laugh. “No. No, it’s not.”

  She swallowed so hard that I could visibly see her throat working. “It’s also not going slow.” Finally, snapping out of her haze, she grabbed her towel and wiped at her face, smoothing her unruly curls behind her ears. “God, Lex, we’ve only been hanging out a week—”

  “I know, but we’ve known each other two years, Ronnie. This has been a long time coming—”

  “You’re going to be late for your meeting,” she said.

  “Right.” I looked up at the clock, noting that I still had plenty of time to shower and get there. “I-I’m sorry if I shouldn’t have said that—”

  “It’s okay, Lex.” Her voice was soft and she kept staring at the towel ringing in her hands. “I’ll… I’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast.”

  I nodded and left. She said it was okay, but it felt far from okay. And I couldn’t help but feel like I had screwed everything up in a single fleeting moment.

  22

  Ronnie

  T
he next night, Lex and I had made plans to meet up with James and his husband, Nate. It was the first time we were going out as a couple with other people. It was like taking an act on the road… we needed to see if this was sustainable around other people rather than just inside our little bubble. Unfortunately, I was wound so tight, I felt like my shoulders were in knots around my ears.

  We had arrived at the restaurant first, and I should have known better. James was almost incapable of being on time. Lex’s hand found the back of my neck and he wound his fingers into one of my curls. “Hey,” he whispered. “You okay?”

  I glanced to my right and did my best to give him a smile, nodding. “Yeah.”

  How could I be okay when he was already telling me he loved me? It wasn’t that I didn’t care for him or think I was also falling for Lex… but it was so soon. He had even said himself that, with his daughter in the picture, he needed to take things slowly. What if I accepted this, accepted his love, only to be left yet again?

  No. I needed to harden myself to Lex, just a little. I needed time and space and even though my heart was screaming at me to tell him how much I liked him… that maybe I was even falling in love with him, too… I couldn’t. Not until I was sure he was as invested in us as I was.

  Lex cleared his throat and leaned in, whispering, “Can we talk about what happened last night?”

  I blinked, speechless. I wasn’t usually the one running from these conversations… I was usually the one initiating them. All my life, I had been the confrontational person. Lex had turned my world upside down and I wasn’t sure I liked it yet.

  “Sorry, sorry, sorry! We had no idea we’d have such a hard time finding parking!” James said.

  “And of course, his meeting at the Inn went later than he thought.” Nate covered James’s hand with his, eyes widening playfully. “His meetings always go later than he thinks.”

  Saved.

  I exhaled a relieved breath and turned to face James and Nate as they rushed forward and kissed me on my cheek. Then, leaning across the table, they shook Lex’s hand.