Can't Fight It (Fair Lakes Book 3)

by Kaylee Ryan

  “He’ll get better at eating,” I reassure him.

  “But will I get better at feeding him, so he’s not wearing half of his dinner?”

  I smile over at him. “Yes, you’ll get better too.”

  Colton sighs. “Well, I better grab a bite to eat quickly and then throw him in the bath. Sorry I’m not very good company,” he says as he fills a plate with food.

  “You’re fine,” I state, finishing up my mashed potatoes and gravy. “Oh, I have a few pictures of dinner. Would you like me to send them to you?” I ask, retrieving my phone and pulling up my photo app. Leaning over, I hold up the phone, so Colton can see the pictures I snapped of him and Milo. He leans in as well, smiling at the phone display. I catch another whiff of his woodsy, earthy scent mixed with green beans and pull back a little so I don’t do something silly like lick his neck.

  “Yeah, I’d love for you to send me those. I’ll forward them to my mom and Gabby,” he says with a smile.

  We chat a little while he eats, mostly about Milo’s doctor’s appointment. Apparently, he’s notorious for peeing the moment his diaper is removed, and today was no different. The moment the doctor pulled it open to check him out, Milo let a steady stream of pee fly, barely missing the good doctor’s chest.

  Milo starts to fuss. “It’s getting close to his bedtime. I should get him cleaned up,” Colton says as he stands up and takes his plate to the trash.

  “Go ahead. I’ll put the food away and head back to my side of the wall,” I tell him, already standing up and moving.

  “Oh. Okay.”

  There’s something in the way he says those words. It’s as if he’s slightly… dejected that I’m leaving.

  Or maybe it’s just me and my wishful thinking.

  “Come on, buddy. Let’s get you cleaned up and ready for bed,” he says, taking Milo out of the high chair.

  When I turn, I spy a glob of green goo on Milo’s pants that smears all over Colton’s shirt and have to fight my grin. I’m sure Colton wouldn’t appreciate me laughing again at his mess. “Thank you for dinner,” I tell him, reaching over and shaking Milo’s little fist. “Goodnight, Mr. Milo. Sweet dreams.”

  Colton is standing directly in front of me, his gaze burning into me. I feel it so strongly, and when I glance up and my hand brushes against his arm, an electric current charges through my blood. I pull back quickly and move to finish cleaning up the food mess.

  “You’re welcome,” Colton says behind me. “Goodnight, Hollis.”

  “Night,” I reply brightly, barely glancing over my shoulder as I close the mashed potato container.

  The moment he heads down the hall, I exhale the breath I was holding. Jeez, Hollis, get yourself together. You can’t act like a crazy, lovesick teenager every time he’s near.

  I finish closing the containers and seal the chicken in a baggie. After a quick rinse of the washcloth, I wipe down the messy high chair, grinning at the smears of pureed green beans on the top of the tray, and the bottom. I find the dirty bib and toss it in the washer. Once I clean off the table, I take the soiled washcloth and throw it in the washing machine.

  I remember the green food all over both Milo and Colton’s shirts and know it won’t be long before it stains the material. Before I can even give it a second thought, I head through the kitchen and down the short hall.

  “Hey, Colton, if you want, I can throw the dirty clothes in the—” I stop dead in my tracks, the words evaporate from my lips.

  Colton steps out of Milo’s room, standing directly in front of me, wearing nothing but a pair of basketball shorts. The baby is naked too, wearing only a diaper, but my eyes… oh, my eyes are glued to his chest. His wonderfully magnificent, perfect chest. It’s hard and muscular, with definition that only comes from hard work and labor.

  My God, this man is… wow.

  “Hollis?”

  I blink. And blink again.

  Is he speaking?

  “What?”

  I can’t stop staring at his chest.

  “Did you need something?” he asks, the humor very evident in his voice.

  When I glance up, I find his eyes dancing with laughter. Suddenly, it hits me. I’m standing in the middle of my landlord’s hallway, ogling his bare chest as if it were my job. Milo slaps me out of it with a hand to his dad’s face.

  “Oh, God,” I gasp, my eyes wide with shock. “I’m so sorry!”

  “It’s okay.” He takes a step forward, invading my personal space. I can’t think when he stands this close to me. “Hollis, did you need me?”

  Yes, yes, I do. So many things I could use you for….

  “I’m so sorry just to barge in,” I reply, averting my eyes. “I’ll just…go,” I add, pointing behind me as I backtrack down the hallway. “Bye!” I holler as I turn and practically run back to my place.

  The moment I’m on my side of the door, I slam it closed and engage the lock. I’m panting, my mind reeling with embarrassment and disbelief. I can’t believe I just walked into his house like I owned the place and stumbled on him in his… nearly nakedness. Sure, glorious, but inappropriate. I had no business wandering around, even if it was under the guise of helping him.

  I close my eyes and try to not picture Colton’s chest, but it doesn’t work. There’s no doubt I’ll be thinking about that marvelous display of man long after I should have fallen asleep.

  Chapter 5

  Colton

  It’s been a week. Seven days. One hundred and sixty-eight hours since Hollis moved in. It’s been… that exact amount of time that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. It’s wrong, and I know that, but that doesn’t stop my cock from rising to the occasion anytime she’s near. I can still see her eyes and the way they raked over me the night she caught me without a shirt on. I’ve been shirtless in front of women countless amounts of times. Never in my life have I ever felt more naked yet alive, than I did when her eyes were on me. It’s as if I could feel the heat from her gaze.

  Not only do I think about her, but I also find myself thinking about ways to invite her over. Reasons to knock on her door and ask her a question. Anything that gets me access to her. What’s worse is that I can’t pinpoint any one thing that makes me feel this way. Sure, she’s beautiful, but I’ve met many beautiful women in my lifetime. Is it her kind yet shy demeanor? She’s not out to seduce me, although her eyes tell a different story. Is it because she’s so good with my son? The way she holds him and talks to him as if he’s precious to her… is that it? I wish I knew. I wish I could say it’s X, Y, or Z that makes me think about her all the damn time.

  I’ve got nothing.

  Zero.

  Zilch.

  Nada.

  No explanation. Just the want and the need to be around her. That’s why I’m standing outside her door, hand raised to knock. Mom called and invited Milo and me over for dinner. She insisted I pass the invitation on to Hollis as well. I half-heartedly put up a fight before giving in and promising I would invite her.

  Taking a deep breath, I rap my knuckles lightly on her door. One, two, three, four heartbeats pass before she pulls the door open to greet me.

  “Hey, Colton.”

  “Hey, uh, do you have any plans tonight?” I manage to get the words out without swallowing my tongue. She’s wearing a pair of those tight leggings things that all the women are into, and that all men appreciate. And a sweater that hangs off her shoulder, with some kind of other shirt, looks like a tank top with really thin straps underneath. Her face is void of makeup, and her hair is pulled back in a ponytail. To sum her up in a word, fucking beautiful. Okay, that was two words, but you get the idea.

  “No. I was just going to do some laundry.”

  “Well, my parents are having dinner. Chase and Gabby will be there. They've invited you to come.” I want you to come. In more ways than one.

  “I don’t want to impose.”

  “You won’t be. In fact, my mother insisted I not show up unless you�
�re with me. They want to meet you.”

  Her brow furrows. “I don’t know.”

  “Milo wants you to come.” I’m aware of how desperate I sound right now.

  She smiles, and it sets my world on fire. “Oh, Milo wants me to come?” She crosses her arms over her chest and leans against the doorframe.

  “That’s what he said. Told me not to come back to the living room unless you had agreed to go.”

  She shakes her head in amusement. “What time?”

  “We’re leaving here at five.” She turns her head. I’m assuming to look at the clock. It’s four now, so that gives her an hour to get ready.

  “What should I wear?” The crack in her voice tells me she’s nervous.

  “You look perfect. What you have on is fine,” I rush to add.

  “Are you sure? This is just for lounging.”

  Lounging is sexy on you. “Yes. It’s informal. In fact, I’m almost positive Gabby will be wearing something similar.” I don’t know that, but I’ve seen her in similar items in the past. I want Hollis to feel comfortable.

  “Are you sure they won’t mind?”

  “Positive. Besides, my parents would never tell Milo no.” I wink, and she chuckles.

  “Okay. Do you want to give me the address?”

  “Why?”

  “I thought I could meet you there.”

  No. That won’t do. “We leave at five. I’m driving.” I take a step back from her door. “I’m going to get Milo’s bag packed.”

  “You sure about this, Colton?”

  I don’t know why she’s so worried, but I give her my most charming smile to try and ease her fears. “Trust me, you’re doing me a favor. My mom would complain all night that I didn’t do enough to make you feel welcome. She wants to meet you. I’m guessing because you’re a stranger living with her son and grandson.”

  “Technically, I’m renting.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  She nods. “I’ll be ready.”

  “Just come on over when you are. Don’t bother knocking or whatever.”

  Another nod. “Okay.”

  “Okay,” I repeat, because I’m not ready to leave her yet. I realize I’m standing here looking like a creeper, so I give her an awkward wave and flee to the kitchen. Has my time in the service really hurt my game that much? Is it because I’m a father now? I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me. Never in my life has a woman made me tongue-tied or nervous. I have an hour to get my head in the game. Otherwise, there will be no hiding this attraction I have for my new tenant.

  An hour later, I have the diaper bag packed to the gills, with everything extra that Milo might need. He’s strapped into his car seat and smiling up at me as I rock it back and forth on the kitchen table.

  “Hey.” The sweet sound of Hollis’s voice greets me.

  “Hi.” I smile, looking over my shoulder at her. “You ready?”

  She looks down at herself then back up at me. “Yes.” She’s still wearing the leggings, but instead of the off-the-shoulder sweater showing her soft creamy skin, she’s wearing another sweater that covers her. It’s probably for the best. I would have spent the entire night in a trance. Thinking about tracing that bare shoulder with my tongue. Then again, I still might.

  “All right, I think we’re good. You ready, buddy?” I ask my son. He smiles up at me and kicks his legs. “Let’s get you covered up.” I grab the soft baby blue blanket and place it over him, making sure his face and head are covered. His little hands and legs squirm as he tries to pull it off. This is a game I play with him, hiding behind the blanket, peekaboo of sorts. I might want to rethink that now the weather is getting colder.

  I pull the blanket off and say boo in my non-scary, silly dad’s voice, and he laughs. His little laugh warms my heart. “You have to keep this on, you little stinker. It’s getting cold outside, and Daddy doesn’t want you to get sick.” I place the blanket back on him, tucking it in around him, and lift his seat into my arms. I throw the diaper bag over my shoulder and check to make sure I have my phone. Good to go, I look up to find Hollis watching me intently.

  “You have this single-dad thing down.”

  “It’s all an act,” I tell her as we make our way out to my truck. “It’s more of a ‘fake it until you make it’ kind of situation.”

  “I don’t see that at all.”

  “No? I’m a better actor than I thought.”

  “Stop.”

  I load Milo into the truck and pull the blanket back from over his head, his eyes are already getting droopy. My boy can’t resist a ride, puts him to sleep every time. “Really,” I say once I’m behind the wheel of my truck. “I’m constantly worrying if I’m doing enough, taking good enough care of him. I don’t want to mess him up, you know?”

  “First of all, that’s absurd. Do you love him?”

  “Of course I do. What kind of question is that?”

  “Sorry, it wasn’t meant to sound bad. What I mean is that you love him. It shows through with everything that you do. The way you hold him, the way you talk to him, the way you take care of him. No one is perfect, Colton. But at the end of the day, if you’ve done your best and you can say without a shadow of a doubt that he knows you love him, I’d say, you, sir, will have passed with flying colors as a father.” My chest inflates from her praise. I’m learning as I go, going at this mostly on my own, and it’s nice to know that someone outside my family can see that I’m trying and that I love my son with everything in me.

  “I hope you’re right. It’s not just being a single father, but it’s molding back into civilian life. I graduated and enlisted. That’s been my life. Short visits home, then back into the barracks, or the field. I feel so… out of place. That’s really the best way that I can explain it.”

  “I can imagine that would be hard for you.”

  I nod. “Yeah, my brothers, those not by blood, but by duty, they were my closest allies. They’re all still enlisted, fighting and standing tall without me. Sorry, I don’t mean to drop all of this on you.”

  “You have to talk to someone. It might as well be a stranger.”

  “I’d hardly call us strangers.” She’s consumed my life for the last week that she feels like anything but a stranger to me at this point.

  “We’re more strangers than friends, maybe acquaintances.”

  Glancing over, I see she’s staring out the passenger-side window. She looks sad, lost in her own thoughts. I reach over and place my hand on her arm, returning my eyes back to the road. “We should fix that.” Sure, it’s selfish of me to offer an olive branch of friendship, but something tells me she needs it just as much, if not more than I do.

  She glances over and offers me a shy smile. “Yeah. I think I’d like that,” she agrees as we pull into my parents’ driveway. “I’ll help,” she says once the truck is parked. She climbs out and opens the back door, reaching in to grab the diaper bag.

  I make sure the blanket is tucked in close around Milo as he slumbers in his seat, and we head inside. I don’t bother knocking. I grew up here, and Mom would give me all kinds of hell for knocking. She and Dad have always made sure we know that this is our home, no matter how old we are. I want Milo to have that same reassurance.

  “There’s my nephew,” Chase greets, reaching for the car seat and taking off toward the living room.

  “He seems really attached to him. That’s great that he’s so involved.”

  “Yeah, but there’s a story there.”

  “Oh, I’d love to hear more of it sometime.”

  I nod. “I’ll give you all the gory details. Actually, it’s pretty cut and dried, but I don’t want to get into it right now.”

  “I didn’t mean to pry.”

  “You didn’t. However, my mom and Gabby are about two point five seconds from stealing you away from me. We can talk later?”

  “Hollis. It’s good to see you,” Gabby says, walking into the foyer. She leans in and hugs Hollis, and t
hen me. “Come on.” She grabs Hollis’s hand. “I’ll introduce you to Connie and Wes.”

  “He’s snoozing,” Chase says when I join him and Dad in the living room. He has Milo resting on his chest with his blanket snuggled around him.

  “He took a pretty good nap earlier this afternoon, so he shouldn’t sleep long. In fact, don’t let him, that way he will sleep tonight.”

  “Is he still sleeping all night?”

  “For the most part. There’s a night here or there that he’ll wake up hungry. I give him a bottle, and then he goes right back to sleep.”

  “You’re welcome.” Chase gives me a cheesy grin.

  “Thank you, Chase.” He’s kidding, but I’ve never been more serious. I don’t know what I would have done if Chase and Gabby had not looked after my son when they did.

  “I’m going to need a sitter one day soon.” He winks.

  “How about you leave both of the crumb snatchers with me and your mother, and you boys have a good time?” Dad offers.

  “Mine’s not here yet. I can’t wait until we find out what we’re having.”

  “Did Gabby finally decide to not keep us all in suspense?” I ask him.

  “Yeah, she said she could wait, but nine months is a long damn time to wonder.”

  “But it’s one of the true miracle surprises in life,” Dad comments.

  “Did you know we were both going to be boys?” Chase asks.

  “Yep.” Dad chuckles.

  “Come and get it!” Mom calls out.

  “Want me to take him?” I ask Chase.

  “No. My time is limited. Once Grandma and Aunt Gabby get their hands on him, my time will be over.”

  “You’re not getting out of this house until we’ve all had a turn,” Dad says, pointing at me. “This one,” he points at Chase, “is a baby hog.”

  “Soon, there will be another, so more baby love to go around,” I remind him.

  “Right. Like that’s going to make a difference. Until we have one for each of us, it’s going to be a battle.”

  “Hold up, old man. You’re rushing that a little, don’t you think? Milo and I are flying solo.”