“Yeah. A couple so they don’t get too lonely.” He swallowed and she watched the ripple of muscles in his throat. “I’ve always had this dream of being part of a normal family.”

Her heart ached for him and she totally understood his desire. She huffed out a laugh. “What does normal even look like?”

His mouth pinched and she would love nothing more than to be the sort of confident woman who’d kiss him and make things better, for a moment anyway.

“Stable. Loving. Both parents being there for their children.”

It sounded perfect, but you didn’t always get to choose stability. People left whether you wanted them to or not. People died. “You never heard from your dad?”

He shook his head. “Have no idea who he was. My mom didn’t name anyone on my birth certificate and claimed she couldn’t remember the guy’s name. I don’t know if she was telling the truth or not. Probably. If she’d known how to find him, she’d have hit him up for child support.”

Darby twisted slightly so she was facing him. Lifted her hand to brush some droplets of water off his hair, which was soft to touch.

He caught her hand. Suddenly, the air went taut between them. Darby felt trapped in the absolute darkness of his eyes. His gaze dropped to her lips and her heart gave a flutter of excitement. They were wet, almost naked, and only inches apart. Surely, she couldn’t be misreading this situation?

She leaned forward a fraction of an inch, he held perfectly still, watching her carefully, and she took a chance and closed the distance and pressed her lips to his.

He groaned and opened his mouth. He tasted of beer and chlorine and him. She kissed him softly, playing with his lips. She twisted more in the seat and he slowly and carefully picked her up and brought her in front of him, so she was straddling his thighs.

She blinked in surprise as she found her balance and, as always, he made sure she was all right.

“You okay?”

She nodded quickly.

“Because it is okay if you are not okay.” A dimple cut into his cheek.

“In which case it must also be okay to be okay?”

He grinned. “As long as you aren’t ‘fine’ because then we are all in trouble.”

She laughed then bit her lower lip, thrilled when his eyes followed the movement. “I am fantastic and I don’t want you to stop.”

“Stop what?” he teased. “Kissing you?”

She gripped his shoulders. “Not just kissing. All of it. Everything.”

His left brow rose. “We don’t have to rush anything. In fact, I think it might be better for both of us to take this extremely slowly.”

She leaned back, a little delighted and a little confused by his words. “Both of us?”

He took her hands in his. “We both have a lot to lose if this doesn’t work out the way we want it to.”