Diesel hugged her against his side. That was his way of agreeing with her. Tracey wasn’t just used to his idiosyncrasies—she loved them. There was something wonderful and intimate about being so in tune with a person she could read his thoughts.

As she scrolled through more pictures, she came to a few where Diesel’s gaze was a little tortured and his jaw was tight. She’d noticed that several times throughout the evening, and she was pretty sure he’d been thinking about his mother. She wanted to ask him about it, but part of falling for Diesel was knowing when to bring up the parts of his life he kept closest to his heart, and this was not the time.

She continued looking through pictures, chuckling at some, studying others, wanting to soak in as much of everyone as she could. She’d taken a bunch of pictures of their gardens, too. “My mom used to dream of having a beautiful yard with gardens and flowering trees. I’m so glad she has it.” She came to a picture of Diesel sitting at the patio table beside Malia with a slice of pie in front of him, fork at the ready. Malia was grinning from ear to ear, caught spearing his pie with her fork. Diesel’s brows were furrowed, his eyes narrow, like he was attempting a scowl, but his kissable lips were quirked up at the edges in the cutest smile. Tracey could stare at that picture all night. She’d thought she was falling in love with him, but tonight she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was put on this earth not only for his mother, whose world clearly had revolved around him, but for her.

“Who’s this smiling guy?” She lifted the phone so he could see it better.

“Some asshole,” he grumbled.

She set her phone on the nightstand, shifting so she could see him, her chin resting on his chest. “I used to think you could be jerky, but now I know you were just trying to hold back from going after me.”

His lips quirked. “I can be an asshole, sparky.”

“Sure, when people do things that warrant it.”

He palmed her ass, giving it a squeeze. That, she’d learned, meant he wasn’t sure she was right but he wasn’t going to argue the point.