Read A Forever Kind of Guy: The Braddock Brotherhood, Book 2 for Free Online

about Fletcher.”
    Hayley took a tentative sip of her wine. “What did you tell her?”
    “That I’ve never heard him speak, but other than that, he seems like a pretty normal kid.”
    “Does he?” Hayley glanced Fletcher’s way again. He seemed to be getting the hang of the game. He drew cards and moved his game piece by himself now.
    “She asked why he doesn’t talk, and I told her I didn’t know.”
    Hayley looked at Ray. He’d crossed his arms over his chest, his beer held in one hand. He looked relaxed and not all that curious about Fletcher.
    “He’s, um, he’s not my child,” Hayley told him in a low voice. She took another sip of wine. Her nerves were humming, which might be due to Ray’s close proximity and her reaction to him in spite of all her best efforts to ignore the effect he had on her. She felt reckless, like if she didn’t stop herself in time, she’d tell him every detail of her life, lay all the ugliness out there before him and see what he thought of her then.
    “Yeah. I sort of got that impression.”
    Hayley looked to see if there was meanness behind his comment, but she didn’t find any. Ray was merely stating a fact.
    Still it stung a little. “I know. I’m not any better as a mother than I am at rescuing pizza from the oven before it burns.” She took a bigger sip of wine. She had a feeling she was going to need more than one glass to get through this evening.
    “Hey, I didn’t mean anything like that. Damn.” He ran a hand through his hair and turned to the counter behind him. He took a swig from his beer bottle and set it down to flip the steaks he had marinating on a plate.
    Hayley stared into her wineglass. “Sorry. I guess I’m a little sensitive about my maternal skills. It doesn’t come naturally to me. Not every woman’s cut out for it, you know?”
    “I guess not,” Ray muttered.
    Great, Hayley , she congratulated herself. You’re not in the door five minutes and you’re already off on the wrong foot. She stepped closer to him and touched his shoulder. “Hey,” she said softly. “Can we start over?”
    When he turned his head, his gaze met hers. “We seem to do that a lot, don’t we?”
    She dropped her hand, far too aware of the contact. She tried for a smile and thought she made it. “You know what they say. Practice makes perfect.”
    She picked up her wineglass and held it up to him. “How about a toast?” He picked up his bottle of beer. “To a friendly, neighborly evening.”
    “To a friendly, neighborly evening,” he agreed. The glass clinked. They both breathed a sigh of relief.
     
     
    While Ray tended to the grill, Hayley managed to get the potatoes into the microwave and push what she hoped were the appropriate buttons. Last time she’d attempted to microwave a potato, it had exploded. She poked her head out the sliding door to double-check with Ray about the time, and he gave his approval.
    “Good, then I can relax,” she told herself. She topped off her wine and thought about joining Ray outside. But that meant she’d be alone with him, and that, she had decided, wasn’t a good idea. Better to hang out with Fletcher and Molly until dinner was ready.
    Ray had already set his dining table, which looked like a work of art in oak. It was polished to a glossy sheen, and the chairs had beautiful carved backs. The rest of Ray’s furniture looked to be of good quality and barely used. A microfiber sectional sofa in a neutral shade of beige was arranged before the television set housed in an entertainment center that looked like it had been designed for the space. It was the same oak, Hayley realized, as she wandered the room, with the same carving on the cabinet doors. She ran her hand over it, impressed by the craftsmanship.
    The shelves held a collection of paperback fiction, CDs, DVDs and a few knicknacks. Behind a stack of CD cases she noticed a picture frame. Carefully, she edged it forward, moving the CDs aside.
    Well, that