Page 36 of Forsaken Hearts
“You cheated!” Ben accused.
“I adapted.”
“That’s cheating.”
“That’s survival.”
Ben dissolved into loud laughter, and the sound punched Summer right in the chest.
Vander glanced up first.
There it was again—that aching pull she could never escape when it came to this man. Her stomach clenched—lower too—the second his deep blue gaze landed on her.
He still wore his thermal shirt, the sleeves pushed up over his thick forearms that invited lurid images of the tendons flexing as he moved over her.
Inside her.
“Morning.” His greeting snapped her back to reality.
She drank in his appearance. God help her. Those broad shoulders were relaxed for once instead of carrying all that rigid control he wore like armor. And the short strands of his hair were crushed on one side where he’d slept on it.
Ben whipped around. “Mom! Vander’s terrible at this game.”
He looked at her son. “I won two rounds.”
Her son scoffed. “I let you.”
Summer’s heart wasn’t going to survive the morning. She leaned against the doorframe because suddenly her knees didn’t feel reliable.
The room smelled like coffee and toast he must have helped Ben make for breakfast.
That got to her most, and her throat ached with a tightness she didn’t know how to explain away.
Ben scooted closer to Vander’s side, describing some detailed game strategy and Summer’s heart split right down the middle watching them together.
It was sweet.
And it scared her to death.
Because it was painfully obvious what Ben was missing. Her own father was wonderful with Ben, patient and loving. But he was a grandpa. He came for holidays and school breaks and fishing trips.
That wasn’t the same as…this.
This was a man sitting on the floor at seven-thirty in the morning listening with total seriousness as a seven-year-old explained video game rules like national security depended on it.
But the dangerous part was that Ben was already getting attached—just the thing she warned Vander against.
He wasn’t faking it—he was a natural with Ben, listening like every word he said really mattered.
Her heart kicked painfully in her chest.
No. Absolutely not. This was exactly what she’d tried to stop last night.
Ben suddenly pointed at the kitchen. “Tell her.”
Vander glanced at her again. “Go eat before it gets cold.”
She blinked. “What?”
