I slipped a hand over his chest and propped myself up to look down at him. “I think I’ve been in love with you for a while now. My weeks revolved around when you would call me. Hearing your voice always made everything else better. And you telling me you love me before you . . . well, you know.” I felt my cheeks burn. Talking about sex made me blush. Didn’t matter that I had done it. “That was special.”

He reached up and cupped my face as he stared at me in awe. “You love me?”

I nodded, wondering if this man realized just how lovable he was. The world loved him. No, that was wrong. The world didn’t know him. They thought they loved him, but the man underneath was so much more. They had no idea.

“I want inside you again,” he said, sliding his other hand down between my legs. “But you’re sore. I can kiss it. Make it better.”

“I’m not that sore,” I told him, which was a lie, but I figured if it meant I got Kiro inside me again, I would do anything.

I opened my eyes to see the sunrise coming through the windows. Kiro and I hadn’t left the room yesterday. We slept and then played all day long. After he had taken me in the shower, I didn’t remember much. I wondered if I had passed out. Reaching up, I felt the rat’s nest that my hair had become and cringed. I needed to get up and fix this. I was a mess.

I eased slowly out of Kiro’s arms, tiptoed into the bathroom, and slipped back into the shower. I washed my hair, since that would be the only way to tame it after going to bed with it wet last night. Once I was finished, I dressed quickly and made my way downstairs.

Kiro had hired me to manage the house. I wasn’t sure what all that entailed, but I was ready to start learning. He had mentioned that there was a cook when he told me about the job, and then three times yesterday, food had magically appeared outside our bedroom door. It wasn’t just any food, either. It was good stuff. Fancy stuff. I never saw anyone bring it, though.

“Hi,” a little voice said when I came to the bottom of the stairs.

I looked up to see Rush standing there in a pair of Batman pajamas. He was the cutest little boy I’d ever seen. But then, I’d never seen Kiro’s little boy. Would he be this adorable?

“Good morning,” I replied, pushing thoughts of Kiro’s son to the side. We were going to have to talk about that. I needed to know more. I knew Kiro enough to know that if he had a son, he’d want to know him. So why didn’t he?

“Come eat,” Rush announced. He motioned with his little hand for me to follow him before he turned and padded off back down the hallway.

I followed him, walking down a path I hadn’t taken yet. But he seemed to know where he was going. How often did he visit? Dean was a good dad. That much was obvious. This kid loved his dad. I wanted that for Kiro, too.

“Rush, where did you run off to?” an older lady called out, and Rush giggled and slid across the floor on his socks through the double doors.

“Gettin’ Emmy,” he replied, pointing at me.

A short, round lady with a warm smile walked to the door and put her hands on her hips as she studied me. “I see you found another early bird. Well, come on in, then. I’ve made Rush his favorite chocolate chip waffles. I expect you’re hungry after the day you had yesterday. And I’m Margarette Fuller, but just call me Margie like the rest of them,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes, as she shuffled back to the stove. “Rush likes to wake up with the sun, but his daddy don’t like it much. He tends to sleep right through Rush’s escapades in the mornings. When he’s here, I keep my ear out for the sound of little feet so I can catch him before he gets into mischief.” She stopped and glanced back at me. “He’s been talking about you. He’s taken a liking to you, I guess. Dean says you faced off with his momma and won. Good for you.”

I might have missed an entire day in Kiro’s room, but apparently, the rest of the house knew all about my short time here already.

“Sit,” Rush demanded, patting the stool beside him at the bar.

I walked over and did as I was told, trying not to laugh at his very bossy manner.

“You’re good with him. He don’t take to people real easily. But he likes you. Makes me think maybe you might be just what our Kiro needs. There’s another little boy I’d like to see running these halls and eating my waffles.” She closed her mouth and turned away quickly, as if she’d said something she shouldn’t have.

“I know he has a son,” I assured her. I didn’t want her to worry that she’d told me too much.

She turned back to me, her eyes round with surprise. “He told you?”

No. But I wished he had. “Georgianna said something about it.”

Margie just sighed and shook her head. “That woman,” she mumbled to herself.

I wondered what Kiro’s son’s mother was like. Was she beautiful? Was she like Georgianna? There was so much I wanted to know about Kiro.

Kiro

I found out this morning I fucking hated waking up without Emily in my arms. Fucking. Hated. It.

I didn’t bother with a shirt, just jerked on a pair of jeans and headed out to find her. Then I was dragging her back to my bed. I wasn’t ready to share her with the world yet. I just wanted us to live in my room. Alone. Forever.

God, I was losing my shit.

The sound of her musical laughter drifted toward me as I hit the bottom of the stairs. Frowning, I realized it was coming from Dean’s side of the house. His ass better not be making Emily laugh. Those laughs were mine, dammit. He needed to go get his own woman.