Her eyes go wide as she stares up at me, and I get the feeling she’s not sure if I’m serious or not.
I am, but I guess she doesn’t need to know that.
“Well, aren’t we cozy?” Alex stands at the top of the stairs, leaning against the wall, watching us. He doesn’t even try to hide the hunger in his gaze, and I can’t say I blame him.
This damn dress.
Kat clearly hadn’t heard him approach, as she whips around to face him, ruining our moment.
“I called dibs, brother,” Alex reminds me, cocking a brow and smirking at me as if he just won some great victory over me.
He did, but I won’t be the one to tell him that; there’s always tomorrow.
Alex doesn’t wait for my reply and ignores Kat’s look of confusion as he stalks toward us and scoops her up in his arms. I half expected him to take off the second he had her, but instead, he surprised me by remaining in front of me for a moment.
“Say goodnight, Cherry.”
She looks from me to Alex and back again, and I watch, unable to look away as her tongue flicks out to wet her lips.
“Good night, sir.” I see the mischief that shines in her eyes, and I swear it makes me harder than the damn title.
The cocky smile on Alex’s face tells me he’s well aware of her effect on me, and the way he quickly turns to leave with her lets me know he sees just how close I was to taking her for myself.
Tomorrow.
We have the rest of our lives, after all.
Dinner failed miserably, but that doesn’t mean the night has to as well.
No, I wanted us to celebrate Carter being taken care of, but celebrated or not, it’s still the truth.
Carter will never be able to touch Kat again, and while I know she hated that we finished this ‘in-house,’ I’m glad we did. There is no room for doubt or error.
‘If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.’ It’s a saying for a reason, after all.
With Kat tucked in my arms, I jog to my room, throwing the door open before moving in and closing it behind us, flipping the lock into place.
It’s not something I do often, but for tonight it’s necessary.
This is just for Kat. She deserves a night just to relax.
Oh, note to self, I need to look into some spas and stuff like that. I’m sure they would love a mother-daughter day together.
I move through the room and right into my bathroom, where I’ve set up what I hope will be something to put her at ease.
The host at the restaurant was an ass, beyond out of line, and deserved his punishment, and more if I’m being honest. But despite our handling him and our attempts to soothe her, I could see the damage he did.
Over the last few months, it’s become painfully obvious that Kat believes she’s worth very little, if anything at all. We’d been working hard to fix that, helping her to see just how amazing she is in hopes she will see herself the way we do, but after tonight, I’m not sure that’s possible.
Some wounds are too deep; they leave a scar that will never heal, and we have to learn to live with them.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t try. I’ll never stop trying. I need her to know what she is to me, to us.
“Oh.” She sucks in a breath, and I hear the shock in that single word.
Good.
The room is dim, with candles burning on the sink and the edge of the tub. The water is the perfect temperature and will stay that way thanks to the fancy tub I installed a few years back. I’d only ever used it once or twice, but now I’m happy to have it.
