“Oh, but I really want to talk about that.”
She opened her car door and slid inside. “Too bad. Not going to happen.”
I gripped the side of her car door, preventing her from closing it. “So when do we get started on this little arrangement?”
“There’s no time like the present. I would give you my address, but it appears you already know where I live. So if you happen to show up there in about thirty minutes, I wouldn’t fight letting you in. Eleanor won’t be home tonight. She’s staying by Greyson’s. Oh!” She held a hand up. “That’s another rule. No sleepovers ever.”
“I’ll race you there,” I joked, shoving my hands into my coat pockets.
“Good, and Landon?”
“Yes?”
“This is strictly business. Nothing personal.” With that, she slammed her door and drove off.
Dr.Smith probably would’ve advised me against having a strictly sexual relationship with Shay. She would’ve brought up all the reasons it would be a mistake down the line, but luckily Dr.Smith didn’t have to know. There was no way I was going to pass up a way of connecting with Shay—even if it was strictly physical.
Maybe down the line, that could change.
Maybe down the line, she’d think about letting me back into her heart and allowing me to stay for a while.
43Shay
“Jameson Landon Jacobs,” Raine revealed after hours of labor. After a night of partaking in our newfound acquaintances-with-benefits arrangement, Landon and I had both received text messages that Raine and Hank had brought their new bundle of joy into the world. We headed back to the hospital first thing in the morning once visiting hours were allowed.
Jameson was in the NICU due to him entering the world early, but he was doing really well. Landon and I stood with Hank and Raine in Jameson’s closed-off area and stared down at him as if he were the one to save humanity. He was perfect in every single way.
They named him Jameson because Raine’s parents named her after the town she was born in. To keep a version of that tradition going, the two new parents named their son after the liquor he was conceived with. Always keeping it classy.
“Landon?” Landon questioned, raising an eyebrow to our friends.
“Yes. We wanted to name him after his godfather. If you’re interested in that role, at least,” Raine said. “If not, let me know because I think I still have time to change his name,” she joked.
Landon smiled and looked down at Jameson. “It would be my honor.”
Hank turned to me and nudged me in the arm. “You best believe that his middle name would’ve been Shay if he was a girl.”
I smiled. “I call dibs on the next little rascal.”
“That will be a long, long time away,” Raine sighed. She looked exhausted, but I assumed that was what happened when you gave birth. I was pretty sure she’d be exhausted for the next eighteen years. “But of course, you are the godmother. You have no say in turning down that role. It’s yours, so deal with it.”
“I wouldn’t turn it down if my life depended on it,” I said.
“Do you want to hold him?” Hank asked Landon.
“Can I?” A big smile fell against Landon’s lips, and I accidentally let a smile slip from my lips just from seeing his.
I couldn’t help it, though. He looked so overwhelmingly happy.
“Of course, here.” Hank lifted his baby up into his arms and placed him into Landon’s. There was something so genuine about the way Landon stared down at Jameson. It was the same way he stared at Karla—as if he were looking at the brightest star in the world.
“You’ll never know a day of loneliness,” Landon whispered, placing his lips against Jameson’s forehead.
In that moment, Jameson opened his deep-brown eyes for the first time since we’d arrived, and it officially became the most beautiful moment in the history of ever.
44Shay
Landon was in town for a few more days after Jameson’s birth. When I texted him to see if I could visit him to forget about my so-called life for a while, he’d invited me to come over. In the past, when I felt any form of anxiety, I’d go for a run to help me relax. Yet there was nothing better than having Landon undress me and roam his hands all over my body. Each time he thrust into me, my mind went elsewhere, far away from my current problems. I lost myself in him, and at times it felt like he lost himself in me.