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"Sure," he says, and jerks his head over his shoulders toward the staircase that separates the living room from the kitchen "Cole so I could use your help"

My pulse starts ha to children What if I say the wrong thing? What if I let an F-bomb slip? What if Ruby and Violet hate me?

I setI could just slam its contents back, and follow Ryker up the stairs

When we get halfway up, I can hear the kids' voices more clearly, which ratchets up my nervousness, but before I know it, Ryker has ainst the wall He presses his body intoon either side of my head He kisses me quickly but doesn't pull away I can feel his ainstmine, he murmurs, "I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you"

I want to just ht into hi out to me And it does seem like forever It's been teeks since Valentine's Day and we've rand total of three tia class with Max

It's been tough the last teeks, either because of ations to the girls All of our intiht phone calls where we'll talk forever, sometimes about dirty stuff, but most often it's just our own deep interest in the other person getting assuaged as we learn each other's histories

"The girls are going to sleep over here tonight," he says with his lips still resting against mine "Come home with me?"

I lean in, press my mouth to his harder, and he accepts a deep kiss from me But I pull away just as quickly because I don't want to take the chance of the girls seeing us like this

"Okay," I tell hih

He drops his hands, leans back fro smile he's ever bestowed upon htness and I feeltoward him in a way that it never has I want to freeze thisht in his world It's a huave that to him, and makes me feel truly needed for the first time in my life outside of my father

Ryker turns and heads up the stairs I follow behind, repeating silently to myself, Do not cuss, do not cuss, do not cuss

At the top of the stairs, we turn left and head down to what appears to be a bonus rooeat least from what I can remember of the layout of the house fro at a little table that appears to be where Ben does art projects They're pretending to have a tea party, but because this is Ben's playrooirls', they don't have the necessary iinary cups in their hands as they talk Ben is sitting in the corner, playing with Legos

"You kids about ready for sohetti?" Ryker says, and they all three turn their heads toward us Ben jumps up and yells, "Yay! Pah-skettimy favorite"

He jets by both of us and I can hear the echo of his feet as he tramples down the stairs

Ruby ju splint still on her arives a tiny knock insidethe little teddy bear I had given her "I brought ave me See?"

She holds it out to ers to take it "I see," I tell her with a smile, and damn if my voice isn't raspy from a serious case of nervous dry throat "He looks like you've been hugging on him hard"

I hand it back to her and she nods happily "He sleeps in bed withwith Ollie"

"Who's Ollie?" I ask

"That's her stuffed octopus," Violet says as she comes up to us

"You remember Miss Brannon?" Ryker asks Violet

She nods shyly and casts her eyes doard I want to h s that Ryker has told irl who has stars in her eyes half the time Usually shy but easy to coax out of her shell, if you spark her vivid iination into play

"That's quite the tea party you had going on over there," I say to Violet, and her eyes raise up to mine "I particularly like the pattern on your china"

I walk over to the table, look down at the iinary kettle and cups, and tilt my head to the side "Are those little purple flowers on the cups?"

When I look back at Violet, her eyes are bright and she's nodding her head enthusiastically "Ruby's cup has pink roses, but I have violets on my cup"

I slap my palm to my forehead "Of course, now I see Violets just like youViolet"

She grins and co me by the hand "Want to have a tea party with us?"

Before I can answer, Ryker's stepping in "Not now, Violet Dinner's ready, but after we can coo to bed"

Violet looks disappointed, but Ryker also told me she's the most obedient child in the world She never thinks to push back at her father and his rules, whereas Ruby questions everything In fact, Ruby likes to argue and try to get hiht that Ruby soht times out of ten, he ultimately has to trump her with, "Because I'm your father and I said so"

Ryker turns his body sideways and holds out his hand, indicating to us that we need to go Ruby scaly undisturbed by her broken aro next, and as I pass by Ryker, he pallare over h "Told you I'd cop a feel too when they weren't looking"

--

Much, much later, I lie in Ryker's bed with his arht

Spooning me