A Measure of Love (31 page)

Lexie watched in amazement as Noah blushed and dropped his face to his forearms on the table edge. Kat giggled and looked toward her husband, whose blue eyes creased as he chuckled with her. Kat was curvaceous and sexy, and her skin was as unblemished as Lexie imagined skin could be.

Her porcelain skin was the complete opposite of Grace’s, whose own was an exquisite caramel color. She smiled widely at Lexie, showing beautiful, straight white teeth, and pushed her long, curly ebony hair over her shoulder. “Riley’s told us so much about you both.”

“We’ve been desperate for a variation in conversation,” Max teased. He was a little rough around the edges, all wild hair and unshaven scruff, but his dark eyes were playful.

“Shut up,” Riley commented with a smile. “Take a seat.” He gestured for Lexie and Noah to sit down, and Carter and Kat shuffled around the booth to make room.

“I love your ink,” Grace said, her gaze on Lexie’s arms. “The colors are amazing. It’s so beautiful.”

Lexie felt her cheeks warm. “Thank you.”

“Have you ever had them photographed?”

Max snickered at her side. “Gracie, leave the poor girl alone.”

Grace smirked at him. “What? They’d look fantastic as a part of my show.”

Lexie cocked an eyebrow. “Show?”

“I’m a photographer. I have a show here in New York in six weeks.”

“Sounds fantastic.”

“You should come.”

Lexie glanced at Riley, who shrugged good-naturedly. “I’d like that.”

Max placed his arm around Grace’s shoulder, the pride clear on his face.

“Mommy, can I has a burger?”

Lexie smiled at Noah, who was looking intently at the menu as though he could actually read it. “Have whatever you want, baby.”

“He’s super cute,” Kat uttered quietly, leaning toward Riley. “Like a mini-you.”

Riley grinned. “Lucky kid, right?”

Lexie rolled her eyes affably, and the tension that had resided in her shoulders since she’d woken that morning slowly ebbed as conversation moved around the table. Riley’s hand continually found a part of her to covertly touch and squeeze, calming her further, even though his friends were more than a little welcoming; the way Grace and Kat cooed over Noah was too sweet.

Noah appeared more than a little taken with Kat, chatting his heart out to her about his adventures in New York, which Kat listened to attentively. Lexie wondered if she and Carter had children or even plans to have them; Kat seemed to be a little broody. “Can we borrow him?” Kat asked, all large green eyes and fisting hands.

Carter shook his head with a smile. “Peaches, he’s not a DVD. He’s a kid.”

Kat shoved his arm playfully. “You know what I mean.” She looked between Riley and Lexie. “We could babysit if you two want some time alone together.”

Lexie could feel her cheeks heat, and she avoided Riley’s stare despite feeling it burning into her. “Sounds good,” Carter said, cocking an eyebrow at her. “But they leave tomorrow.”

“Well, then maybe next time they visit,” Kat offered.

Lexie opened her mouth a couple of times before she found her voice. The momma bear in her reared a little; she’d only just met these people. Glancing at Riley, however, shook her of the feeling. She knew better. Riley would rather die than leave his son with someone he didn’t trust. “I—if Noah is okay with it.”

“What do you say, Noah?” Kat asked softly. “Wanna hang out with me and Carter sometime?”

Surprisingly, Noah’s hazel gaze didn’t go straight to Lexie’s and
instead found Riley’s. “It’s okay if you don’t want to, buddy,” Riley assured him in that voice Lexie loved and knew he only ever saved for the little boy.

Noah shrugged a little, looking at Kat, then back at Riley. “Cans we stay at your house?”

“Sure, man, Kat and Carter come to my place loads.”

“You think about it,” Kat offered. Lexie watched as Carter leaned over and kissed her temple. It was such a tender gesture from a man who looked anything but. “We could bring some games.”

“We could?” Carter asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes.” Kat nudged him. “We could.”

Carter looked over at Noah and winked. “We could.”

As the conversation continued, Lexie allowed herself to think about what it would be like if she and Noah lived in the city with Riley, living in his gorgeous apartment, hanging out with his friends, and fitting into his life like pegs in round holes.

She knew Riley had been trying to organize moving back to Michigan, willing to change his life without even a second thought, explaining that it would be easier for him to move than her, but guilt teased at her all the same.

“How do you like New York, Lexie?” Carter asked after the waitress had taken their orders and collected their menus.

“I love it,” she offered truthfully. “So much more than I imagined.”

“Cans we stay forever, Mommy?”

Lexie ran a gentle hand over Noah’s head. “You want to stay here forever?”

He nodded solemnly. “Riley is all on his owns.”

Lexie heard a small
aw
from both Grace and Kat as Riley held out a fist for Noah to bump. “I’m okay, man,” Riley assured him, but Lexie wasn’t blind to the sadness in his eyes.

“We’ll look after him when you go home,” Carter offered, smiling at Noah. “Promise.”

Noah’s brows drew together as he considered this. “Okay.”

Once their food arrived and Lexie talked more with Riley’s friends, she began to understand why Riley liked them all so much. Each of them was so different and seemed to draw out various facets of his personality. With Max and Carter, Riley was louder, brasher, but with Kat, he was calmer, speaking to her with an underlying respect Lexie was sure she’d earned when she’d taught him at Arthur Kill.

With Grace, he was teasing, softer and sweet. It was truly wonderful seeing him so happy. He was the Riley of old, carefree and devastatingly attractive. It was becoming increasingly difficult to not allow her desire for him show. She wanted him, of that there was no doubt, but she was terrified of pushing too hard, too quickly. She’d been telling the truth when she’d told him that the ball was in his court. It was all on him and, despite her longing, she would wait as long as it took.

The food they ate was amazing. Why was everything edible in New York like nothing else on Earth? Noah was of the same mind, eating everything that was placed in front of him before he shared a huge ice-cream sundae with Riley.

Before they left, Lexie swapped cell phone and Facebook details with Kat and Grace, promising that she’d let Grace photograph her tattoos the following day while assuring Kat she would send her a catalogue of her Love, You jewelry and design her a version of the necklace Lexie was wearing.

Later that evening, with Noah fast asleep, Lexie and Riley sat on the sofa, he at one end, she at the other, their legs tangled between them. “I had such a good time,” she said with a small smile.

“I’m glad. I think Noah has a little crush on Kat.”

“Right?” Lexie agreed. “I’ve never seen him like that before.”

“He’s gonna have to beat the ladies back with a stick when he’s older. Kid’s already too handsome for his own good,” Riley said with a knowing wink. “He looks like his old man, after all.”

Lexie laughed and trailed her finger down the side of her glass of juice. “Can I ask you a question? You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”

Riley smirked. “Sound ominous.” Lexie’s eyes moved toward the ceiling, then the wall, then back to Riley’s face. “Wow. Now I’m intrigued,” he said on a chuckle.

“How many . . . have there been many women?”

Riley’s eyes widened for a second before he appeared to regain his composure.
Well.
That wasn’t a good sign. He fidgeted and cleared his throat.

“That many, huh?” she asked wryly, knowing that she had absolutely zero right to feel jealous or hurt, despite the pinch in her heart.

“Lex,” he began with a long sigh.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “It’s really none of my business. Forget I asked.”

He sat forward and placed a hand on her shin. “When we . . . finished after your dad died, I didn’t know what to do. I missed you—you know that.” Yes, she did know that, and not only because they’d talked and shouted about it over the years, but because she’d lived it, too. “I slept with women to try and forget, Lex. I tried to lose myself in them so that I’d lose the love I had for you.”

Pain and regret lanced through Lexie, taking her breath away. “I was . . . so horrible.”

“No,” he whispered. “You were lost. You weren’t the Lexie I knew, my best friend, the girl I loved. It hurt, but I survived it. And we’re here now because deep down, no matter how many women there’ve been between then and now, I always believed we’d find our way back to each other.”

The tear that fell down Lexie’s cheek was one of apology and gratitude. The faith that he’d always had in her, in them, had always astounded her. When he reminded her of it, she was reminded of how easy it had been to fall in love with him and then to love him every day following.

“I’m not ready for you both to leave yet,” he said, watching his hand as it moved up and down her leg.

“Me either.” Every time they separated, it tugged on the fear she harbored that she’d lose someone she loved again. It was selfish and admittedly ironic considering her and Riley’s history, but there it was. “When will you be back in Michigan?”

His grimace was small but noticeable. “A couple of weeks. Maybe three?”

“Are you asking?” she said with a smirk. “Because you know you’re welcome whenever you want, and Noah just . . . he loves you very much.”

“I love him, too.” Riley exhaled through his nose. “So listen, I thought that . . . maybe on my next visit or the one after, we could sit down and talk to him about who I am. I think it’s time. Don’t you?”

Lexie bit her lip on a smile. “I think that’d be perfect.”

Joan Moore was known for three things: her unending patience, her ability to defuse any situation (especially among four brothers), and her ability to throw awesome birthday parties. The last was certainly true on the day of Seb’s (two-weeks-early) twenty-seventh birthday. It was the first time all four brothers had been in the same state together, let alone the same room, in far too long, and Riley had been looking forward to it for weeks.

There were balloons stuck to the front door—as their mother had commented, no one is ever too old for balloons—the kitchen table had been extended as it always was when there was a family gathering, and it was set up with a buffet of all the foods Riley and his brothers loved: sandwiches, chips, dip, chicken wings, and ribs, as well as a huge chocolate cake and Jell-O for dessert.

“She does know I’m closer to thirty than three, right?” Seb asked as he handed Riley a set of plates to place on the table and regarded the spread.

“Physically maybe,” Riley retorted with a grin.

“Lex and Noah still coming?”