22. Kane
TWENTY-TWO
KANE
“How many rooms do you even got in here?”
Maci’s little voice coming at us from behind had me stumbling back, ripping myself from the magnet of this woman that threatened to do me in.
Had never once in my life had someone affect me the way she did. Way I wanted to crawl right inside her. Get lost in those warm toffee eyes. Sink into the sanctuary of that body. Understand the fear and reservations she so clearly carried.
But we had more important things we needed to be dealing with right then than the insane reaction she created in me.
I cleared the clog of lust from my throat and turned toward my daughter.
My daughter who was standing in the doorway, grinning from ear to ear, wearing another one of those sundresses, her blonde hair done in these little messy pigtails on each side of her head.
My daughter didn’t even know who I was. But if she needed to think of me as her best friend for a while, that was just fine.
“Five bedrooms.”
Four on this side of the hall and the primary that was on the opposite side .
“Five?” Her little eyebrows lifted for the sky, then she was peering around me at Emery who was trying to control the hammering of her heart.
I could feel it. The erratic thrum that pounded through the air and bashed against the walls.
A fuckin’ match to mine.
“Told you it was a princess house, Auntie Em. Did you even see my room? It’s got magic !” She whipped her hand overhead and twirled a circle like she was casting a wish with a wand. “You gotta come see it.”
With a shaky nod, Emery seemed to suck all her reservations down and stepped forward, woman peeking over at me for a beat as she wound around me.
So damned obvious as she took that extra wide berth.
She seemed to straighten out once she accepted Maci’s extended hand and followed her out.
There was nothing I could do but tag along.
Keeping back and leaning a shoulder on the doorjamb as Maci turned around to face Emery and dragged her into her room with both hands.
“Look it, Auntie! I got a very special room just like my very special bag.”
Emery released a shallow wheeze as she took it in.
The walls were painted blush pink and accented in sage green, the molding done in a glittering gold. A white, wood-framed bed was on the far wall and a circular canopy with sheer blush curtains draped from the ceiling and down to the floor around it.
The canopy was decorated with twinkling star lights and little sprigs of green branches.
Bedding and rug to match.
“How?” Emery muttered from where she stood gaping.
“Had a little help from my family.” Wasn’t even sure if she was asking me, but I was giving her the answer, anyway.
When I’d sent out a text last night telling everyone that my little girl was coming to live with me, along with her aunt who’d be staying here for four weeks, Raven had immediately responded, asking what she could do.
She, Charleigh, and Otto had shown to help. River had stayed back at their place since Nolan was asleep, and Theo had business at The Sanctuary, the motel that we used as a temporary holding spot for the families we were trying to get to safety.
And Cash…well, I hadn’t exactly expected him to show.
The four of us had spent the better part of the night painting.
We’d lucked out that Raven had a connection with the owner of this upscale interior design shop downtown.
She was able to get in there early this morning before opening and picked up bedding for both rooms, and she’d used her mad decorating skills to bring it all together, fashioning that canopy herself.
Plus, she and Charleigh had just come back and left right before Emery and Maci had gotten here to drop off a bunch of new clothes and different things she thought they may need, working their magic together to make sure both Maci and Emery were comfortable at my place.
Truly, it had blown me away.
The care this family had.
Emery turned back to look at me with disbelief written all over her stunning face. “When?”
“Spent last night and this morning getting both rooms ready for you two.”
“Because you really wanted your best friends to come stay at your house with you?” Maci peeped.
“That’s right, Angel Face, I really wanted my best friends to come stay with me.”
My gaze drifted from the adorable little thing to her aunt who itched in the middle of the room.
Toffee eyes swimming in distrust and that potent thing that strummed between us.
A low, delicious beat that thudded and enticed.
We both jumped when Maci suddenly went flying for her bed. She hopped onto it on her knees, giggling as she bounced around to face me, grabbing a fluffy pillow and hugging it to her chest. “I fink you got my style.”
A chuckle rolled out, and I roughed my fingers through my hair. “Can’t take credit for all of it. Had a bunch of help.”
“Tell ’em I said fank you very much because I love it all the way to the stars and to infinity.”
“How about you tell them when you meet them?”
Excitement widened those eyes that slayed me every time the child looked at me. Swore to God, the little girl was like looking at my mother’s face. My chest clutched at the thought, but I shoved it off, refusing the grief that was always right there below the surface, ready to devour.
“I get to meet them?” Maci shrieked.
“Absolutely.”
She fell backward onto the mattress like she was fainting.
“I got the best day of my whole life,” she dramatically sighed toward the ceiling.
Worry gushed out of Emery, a full physical reaction as she cast me a desperate glance. One that begged me to be careful. To take heed.
It was going to take her a minute to get that I would never harm this child.
“I think I’ll unpack. I’ll be right next door if you need me,” she murmured to Maci.
“You don’t got to have any worries about me.” Maci scrambled back onto her knees and her voice dropped to a whisper. “I got new clothes and new toys in here, Auntie.”
Maci slipped off her bed and went to the white wooden box that had her name painted on the front in the same gold lettering as the molding.
Charleigh had taken that project on herself, thinking Maci having her name on something would give her that extra sense of belonging.
She tossed the lid open and started digging through the toys inside, and instantly, the child was swept into her own little world, mumbling to herself as she gave over to her imagination.
Emery hesitated for a beat before she finally moved for the door .
My heart rate kicked as she came my direction.
Reservations filled her as she angled to the side to slip by, only her chest brushed across my side as she went.
With the bare contact, a fire ignited.
An inferno that streaked beneath my flesh and twisted my guts in a want that I was pretty sure was never going to let me go.
Emery froze for a beat, held in those flames.
Her perfect tits nothing but hard, pebbled peaks. Chest heaving with her harsh, ragged breaths. Her eyes wild.
Yeah.
She was just as affected as me.
What I wouldn’t give to haul her out into the hall and push her up against the wall. Lift that thin cotton tee that hugged her delicious frame to get to the sweetness underneath.
Get her behind a locked door so I could explore every inch of that body.
The lid of the toybox clanged shut.
I jolted back, instantly knocked out of the trance.
“Excuse me,” Emery wheezed, jarred from it, too. She dashed out, her footsteps echoing on the floor as she hurried into the next room.
“Mr. Kane, you wanna come play with me? I got so many toys, and I fink you’re really gonna like ’em.”
I shifted to find Maci on her knees and waving two dolls in front of her. This child that needed to be my only focus. The one I needed to get to know. The one I was meant to cherish.
I had to let that attraction go.
Whatever that insane connection was that blistered between me and her aunt.
So I muttered, “Yeah, Maci, I definitely want to play with you.”