23. Emery
TWENTY-THREE
EMERY
I crept downstairs, keeping my footsteps light, like I was on some covert mission.
I guessed that I was.
Wanting to witness Kane interacting with Maci when he didn’t know I was there.
They’d spent the entire afternoon playing together, basically any game that Maci could come up with.
Hide and seek and cards and every toy that had been in that toybox and stuffed into the built-in shelves on the wall opposite her bed.
I’d hidden in my room.
About thirty minutes ago, they’d gone downstairs, and the only thing I’d heard from them since were the faint bumps of movement that echoed through the floor.
I hit the bottom landing, and my pulse turned thready as I turned toward the sounds that were coming from the direction of the kitchen. Laughter and the strains of what sounded like opera music that curled and twisted down the hall.
I tiptoed, keeping my breaths quieted as I inched along the corridor.
I crept by the rooms that lined the left side, passing a library, a den, then a formal dining room before I edged up to the entryway that opened to the kitchen and a casual living space.
Glittering rays of early evening sunlight poured in through the large windows that lined the room.
I pressed myself close to the wall as a peal of laughter suddenly ripped through, and I peeked in to find Maci had changed into the ballerina outfit she’d insisted on packing when we’d come.
“Look it how many spins I can do, Mr. Kane! One, two, fee , four!” Maci twirled and twirled before she stumbled to the side when a rush of dizziness hit her.
I started to rush inside, only Kane already had her swept up and into his arms before I had the chance. The man laughed casually as he intoned, “Whoa there, that might be one too many spins.”
“There can never be too many spins if you’re a really good ballerina,” she told him.
Another low chuckle rippled through the air and skated over me.
A riptide of confliction.
He set her onto the island countertop where he was chopping something, and it was then I noticed the scent infiltrating the air.
Onions and garlic and spice.
My stomach growled.
God, I hadn’t been able to eat in days, and now my stomach was going to pipe up?
“Well, that might be true, but sometimes we have to work up to things. We just want to make sure you don’t go bonkin’ your head.” He poked her belly when he said it.
She giggled like it was hysterical, grabbing at his finger to guard herself as she sang, “I’m not going to bonk my head, Mr. Kane. I’m a professional. I took a lesson and everyfing .”
“What? A lesson?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, it sounds like we’re going to have to get you some more of those lessons.”
“They got dance here?”
“Oh yeah,” he said, back to chopping. “There’s this really cool place in town called Tiny Toes. They have dancing and tumbling. My nephew goes to the tumbling ones, and now he’s a tumbling machine.”
“You think he’s gonna get a gold medal?”
The slow slide of his rumbling amusement billowed and bashed, and my stupid heart flailed at the sweetness.
“He just might.”
“I better go with him then if he’s gonna be my other best friend. I been needin’ to learn some big fwips .”
“That sounds like a plan. I’ll make the call tomorrow.”
Inhaling a steadying breath, I peeled myself from the wall and stepped into the rambling, open room.
A casual living space was on the right, an oversized couch facing the television that hung on the wall above the fireplace mantel.
Off to the left was the kitchen. An L-shaped countertop ran just below the big windows that had the same view as the bedrooms upstairs, and a giant island was in the middle with six stools tucked into this side.
Kane and Maci were on the other side of it, Maci facing away from me.
But the man…his attention lifted. Those shocking, magic eyes gulping down the sight of me.
An electric shock streaked through the air and pierced through my defenses.
Weakening my knees and speeding my heart.
“Hey, there,” Kane said in that low, mesmerizing voice.
I swore, the man was made for seduction.
Possessing the power to strip you of every reservation.
“Hey.”
Brilliant response, I knew.
But how the hell was I supposed to form a coherent thought when twilight hugged him from behind, his brown hair glinting like he was surrounded by a halo, his teeth tugging at his plump, bottom lip?
Impossible.
“Hope you’re hungry.”
It was a grumble .
An offering.
Maci shifted around so she could send me a grin. “You better be, Auntie Em, because we’re makin’ dinner, and it’s gonna be deeeelicious.”
She rubbed her belly.
Kane chuckled. “Hopefully Maci here isn’t getting your hopes up too high, but fajitas are my specialty when I do cook.”
Frown carving into my forehead, I eased deeper into the room. “Don’t you need to go to work?”
“Nah,” he said, though there was something that darkened across his brow. “Figured I’d take a couple of days off until you two get settled.”
“You don’t need to do that.” I guessed I’d been set on the reprieve I’d thought I’d get while he’d be gone at night.
Sincerity bled into his hoarse, deep voice. “Yeah, Emery, I do. It’s important to me that you’re comfortable here.”
“I’m very comfortable,” Maci peeped, completely unaware of the tension that strained between us. “I got the softest bed I ever felt.”
Kane slanted me a searching glance before he hoisted Maci up from under the arms. “Off you go. I need to finish up at the stove.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I can’t be by the stove ’cause it’s really hot,” she grumbled like he was putting her out.
“Why don’t you go change back into your sundress so you don’t get your ballerina costume dirty?” I suggested.
“Good idea, Auntie Em!”
She came flying my way, hand held above her head for a high-five.
She jumped to reach mine, never slowing as she raced through the threshold, leaving me alone with Kane.
He’d shifted around, his back to me as he tossed the meat he’d sliced into strips into the skillet that sizzled on the stove.
Cautiously, I edged up to this side of the island, needing to keep a solid object between us. “Is there anything I can help with?”
He glanced back at me, and a longer piece of his hair flopped into his eye. It made him appear almost boyish, but there was no type of innocence that lived beyond the shadows of those eyes.
“Nothing other than grabbing what you want to drink.” He angled his chin toward the refrigerator on the left wall. “Not sure what you like…unless you feel like drinking tequila tonight?”
He didn’t even try to hide the innuendo.
My stomach tumbled in a fit of greed, but I managed to scowl as I headed for the refrigerator. “You know that is not going to happen.”
I pulled the door open and searched through the ridiculous amount of drink choices he had inside, including a slew of typical children’s drinks.
How the hell had he managed all of this overnight?
Our rooms and the clothing in our closets, which mine had somehow been my exact same size, mind you, plus the refrigerator was stocked.
I reached in to grab the gallon of milk for Maci and pulled out a cherry-flavored seltzer for myself. I started to step back so I could close the door, only I froze when I realized he was right there.
Towering behind me.
His presence overpowering.
An overwhelming force that sent unfound need skittering through my veins.
He darted a tattooed arm around me, the corded muscles rippling and flexing as he reached in to grab a package of cheese.
His mouth dropped to the shell of my ear, the words a breath. “Another time, then.”
Then he was gone.
I sagged forward.
I didn’t know if it was in disappointment or relief.
I slammed the door shut with my hip and strode back to the island, grumbling, “And that time will be exactly never.”
He only chuckled one of those tempting sounds, and he hiked a shoulder to the left of him. “Glasses are in that cabinet.”
I opened it, grabbed a plastic cup for Maci, and filled it half full, before I popped the cap to my seltzer and poured it into a glass.
I carried them over to the round table on the far side of the island.
Maci came bounding back in just as Kane moved to a different cabinet and pulled down three plates .
“All done!” she shouted as she flew in, the pigtails I’d put her hair into this morning now a disaster and falling out on one side.
“Perfect time, Angel Face. Dinner is ready.”
“I fought I could smell it.”
She ran straight to the table and climbed into the spot where I’d placed her milk.
No anxiety or feeling like she was out of place or didn’t belong.
While I ran my hands up my arms, having no clue what to do with myself.
“Utensils are in that drawer right there if you want to grab them,” Kane said, as if he’d read my thoughts and knew I needed something to do with my hands.
I grabbed three sets of silverware, plus a few of the napkins that sat to the side of it, then took them back to the table. By the time I got there, Kane was maneuvering three plates in his hands, setting one in front of Maci, one in my spot, and another for him.
“Voilà,” he said with a flourish of his hand.
Maci clapped from where she sat on her knees, also waving her hand and mimicking, “Voilà!”
Kane laughed and ran a palm over the top of her head and down the back.
I nearly wept.
Never so torn.
My emotions never so at odds.
He plopped down into his seat. “Let’s eat.”
“Because you’re a starvin’ marvin like me?”
“That’s right. From all the playin’ you had me doing today. Think I could eat a horse.”
“Eww,” she giggled with an adorable scrunch of her nose. “Doncha know the lady died when she swallowed the horse?”
“Ah dang, I totally forgot about that. Guess I’m just gonna have to eat these fajitas, then.”
He sent me a crooked grin.
Damn him. There was no stopping the fluttering that flitted in my stomach .
That spiral of energy that looped and weaved.
Tying me in knots of discord.
Maci took a big bite of her fajita, chewing as she garbled, “Whelp, tastes like we did a good job, Mr. Kane.”
“We sure did, thanks to you,” he said as he took a bite.
Warily, I turned my attention to the plate. Picking up the fajita mixture that was already wrapped in a tortilla, I brought it to my mouth.
Flavor exploded on my tongue.
All those scents I’d smelled amplified.
Onion and garlic and the perfect blend of spice against the melted cheese.
Dang, they really did do a good job.
“You like?” Kane asked.
I looked up to find him with some kind of arrogant tilt to his head. Like maybe he wasn’t referring to the food at all.
Rolling my eyes, I didn’t answer, I just took another bite, sure I didn’t do anything to hide the little moan that worked its way free at the taste. You know, considering the rough scrape of a laugh that lumbered out of him.
Then he picked up his phone that he’d set on the table next to his plate and waved it around a little as he turned his attention to Maci.
“So, my family has been blowing me up all day, asking when they get to meet you.”
“Who me?” Maci chirped around her food.
Protectiveness swelled, and I sent Kane a warning glance. He sent me one that promised he knew what he was doing.
“That’s right. Took everything I had to keep them from busting down the front door today, but they thought maybe you might like to go to a barbecue at one of my brothers’ houses this coming Sunday. The one who has the little boy.”
“You mean my new best friend?”
Something that sounded far too close to affection rippled out of him. “Yeah, that’s the one.”
“Do I even gotta give an answer? Duh. ”
“Okay, sassy pants,” I reprimanded quietly, trying not to laugh.
Kane didn’t seem to see reason for restraint.
His bellowed.
Bouncing off the windows and walls.
Trembling over me in a warmth I shouldn’t feel.
“I thought you might like to, but figured I’d better check first.” Kane looked at me then. As if he were asking for my permission.
As if it mattered.
As if I mattered.
“Pretty sure they’re going to want to meet you, too.”
My brow curled. “Why?”
A bolt of potency rocketed out of him as he sat back in his chair, that torrid gaze demolishing me. “Because they make it their business to know anyone who’s important to me.”