Sway (Landry Family 1)

I glance down at my clothing and grimace. “I can’t believe I’m letting you see me in this!”

“Stop,” he winks. “I want this.”

“My holey robe?”

“Yes. And your morning rush with Huxley and your out-of-bed hair. I want it all, baby.”

Grinning wildly, I start to comment without swooning, but I hear the sound of Hux’s feet coming down the hallway. I feel Barrett tense, a nervous energy passing between us.

Turning to see Huxley coming towards us, I smile. “Hey, buddy. Barrett came to say good morning.”

“Hey,” my son says, giving Barrett a little wave.

“How are you?” Barrett asks him.

“Good. I was just, um, checking on my mom.”

Barrett’s face breaks into a smile as he steps towards Hux and stretches his hand. “You’re a good man, Hux.”

Hux beams, obviously liking being treated like a man, and shakes Barrett’s hand. “Want some breakfast? Mom actually made food today.”

“Did she?” He leans close to Hux and whispers, but loud enough for me to hear. “Did she sing while she made it?”

It’s some kind of joke between them, I can tell, but I have no idea what it means. I raise my brows and they both laugh.

“I was asleep. But she doesn’t make food in the morning, so I’m guessing yes.”

“That’s a good thing.” Turning to me, Barrett’s face sobers a bit. “I hate to run, but I have a meeting in about twenty minutes. Troy’s going to have to drive like a bat out of hell to get me there the way it is.”

“Go,” I insist, shooing him towards the door. “But thank you for coming by today.”

He watches me, wanting to kiss me but not sure if he should do it in front of Huxley. “Thank you for letting me.”

“You can come here anytime,” Huxley says. “But I’m going to go back in the kitchen now in case you’re going to kiss her because I don’t want to see that.”

We laugh as he salutes Barrett and zooms back to the kitchen and out of sight.

“I like him,” Barrett says, pulling me into him. He kisses me sweetly again, making me melt under his touch. “I still get to see you tonight right?”

“I was counting on it.”

I kiss him one last time before he walks out the door.

My spirits soar and I walk to the kitchen like I’m walking on air. Huxley is putting his empty plate in the sink. He scratches his head, his morning hair wild. “He makes you happy, huh?”

“He does. But only if you like him.”

He looks at me in a way that reminds me of Hayden. It’s a careful look, calculating, and at another time in my life, my heart would have tugged in my chest. I would’ve thought back to a life we could’ve had and to all the things that went wrong. But today, I don’t go there. I’m too worried about the life that we can have and all the things that just might go right if we’re lucky.

“I like him,” Hux announces simply.

Laughing, I amble towards my son and pull him into a hug. “I love you, Hux.”

“I love you, Mom.”

Barrett

"DO ONE MORE," ACHILLES, MY trainer, demands, watching me like a hawk. I pay him a lot of money to put me through my paces, and he does, many times after hours in his gym. "Three, two, give it hell, Landry, one. Relax."