Without thinking, I cut a piece and put it on his plate.
“Me, too,” Eva says, so I give her a piece, too.
“It runs in the family,” I whisper to Eden.
The baby, who is now awake, makes a gurgling sound. “You’re gonna have to wait until you get some teeth.”
I call the waitress and order two more steak dishes for the kids.
“Grandpa, take my picture.” Tim grins while leaning against my bike. His sister joins him in the frame. His mother purses her lips in disapproval, but Sheriff Rose pulls out his phone and snaps a few pictures. “Can I sit on it?”
I lift the boy onto the bike, then do the same with his sister. More pictures are taken before their mother lifts them off.
“Let’s go,” she huffs. She walks away and helps them in a car a few feet away.
“I’m not doing that again anytime soon,” Eden says. “Thanks for the dinner offer, Mom, but it’s a no. Not unless you guarantee Sylvie won’t be there, but I can’t even trust that.”
Eden gives her mom the side-eye.
“That was my doing.” Sheriff Rose puts a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Your mother had nothing to do with it. I disagree with what she did, and I’m going to talk to her when we get home.”
“Yeah, that’ll fix her,” Eden says with a good dose of sarcasm. “She lives there now?”
“No, but things are bad with her and Levar,” her father whispers. “His dumping Tim back at home could be the last straw, so there’s a good chance she’ll move in with the kids.”
“Okay. Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll see you both later.” She hugs her parents, and they leave without a word to me.
“I’m sorry,” Eden says. “That was one of the worst lunches I’ve ever had.” She wraps her arms around me and buries her face in my chest. “Do you think Gavin knows it was you?”
“I’m certain of it.”
She looks up, her eyes filled with concern. “What if—”
I put my finger to her lips. “It’s not what he knows, it’s what he can prove, and he can’t prove shit. I’ll break his neck first.”
She exhales in relief.
“And what were you thinking choosing that pussy?”
“I wasn’t. Sorry, my king.”
“You better be.”
“But I didn’t have you being good with kids on my bingo card.” She looks up at me in awe.
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you kidding me? You made those kids feel seen, heard, and important. That’s sexy as hell.”
“Does that mean you’ll fuck me later?”
Chapter 57
Eden
Cori looks at her phone, makes a face I can’t read, and quickly turns it over. It’s almost as if she doesn’t want me or Selene to see who she’s been communicating with.
“So, you’re moving in here?” Selene asks. They’re both sitting on the bed while I unpack one suitcase and pack the smaller carry-on.
