Valor has worsethings on his plate than my fuckup.
I’ve thought about the truce and how we’re D’Medici and Cavanagh relationship saturated. I know it’s unlikely that the D’Medicis will want to deal with us now that we have the truce. But this isn’t fair. How am I supposed to just walk away from my fated mate?
I grab Mom’s dark green stand mixer and the bag of attachments, then walk it back to the kitchen.
Leticia pulled her hair up into a ponytail and dumped flour out on the counter. She’s teaching Kerrianne how to make a little well inside it.
Awww. Look at them.My wolf sighs. It’s all love and affection for two of his favorite people.
Seeing Leticia with Kerrianne is cute, but I’m definitely not thinking about what it’d be like if Kerrianne was our kid.
If you don’t want to have kids with someone, isn’t that a sign you’re not the right fit?I try that thought on for size, but all it does is conflict with my heart that’s screaming how much we need her in our life.
36
LETICIA
ANOTHER FIRST…
I forgothow tiring it is spending a whole day with a second grader, and to think Toni does this with a whole classroom.
With Kerrianne tucked into bed upstairs, Royal and I were mostly off the hook until his parents came home. Now we’re officially ‘off duty,’ and the first thing I did was change back into Royal’s oversized T-shirt and pajama bottoms.
I pull the fabric up to my nose, drawing in the strong masculine scent of him again. The inhale and exhale send a wave of relaxation through my whole body.
Royal is sitting at his desk when I come back, his fingers flying over the keyboard. The screen is black with green letters, like the old-school computer games on floppy disks we used to play in elementary school.
“Work?” I ask, leaning against the back of his chair.
Even seated, he’s so tall that I can rest my head on his shoulder rather than on top of his head.
He hits the Enter key on his keyboard a couple of times and nods silently. I let him concentrate, just standing there content to watch as he does his work.
A few minutes later, he leans his head against mine. “Yeah, just a temporary security patch. The client had an idiot employee open an attachment for some malware. My data scrubber got it out of theirsystem, but it left a back door wide open, so I’m just running some code to make sure it’s patched.”
“It’s cool that you can do all that.” I wrap my arms around his shoulders, hugging him.
Royal picks up one of my hands and brings it to his mouth, kissing the back of it, then along my thumb before turning my wrist over and kissing the inside of it. “It’s all in a day’s work. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. Kerrianne knows how to take it out of you.”
“All out of you?” I stop breathing, wondering if he’ll get the meaning behind my words.
“I wouldn’t sayallout of me.” Royal’s kisses turn a little more heated, and his tongue brushes against my skin. “What do you have in mind?”
“Well.” Indecision hits hard as I try to ask for something but don’t know how to say the words. “I-I’m not quite...”
Royal takes pity on me, nuzzling against my head before turning slightly to look at me. “More of what we’ve already done or something new?”
I dislodge myself from hugging him and let him turn to see me. “I don’t want to leave any firsts for someone else to ruin.”
With a solemn nod, Royal’s eyes turn calculating, moving back and forth a little, like the code on the screen did. “There’s a lot we could try, but some of it should be done with warming up and practice. It’s not something that should be done just on a whim.”
“Oh.” I try not to let disappointment hang in my voice.
“How have your cramps been?” He turns his chair to face me, and god, how I want to climb into his lap.
“They’re fine, not as bad as they have been.” I brush it off like I normally would, like my mother and the doctor do.
“I noticed you had a bad one while helping Kerrianne. I should have offered to get you something.” Royal hangs his head a bit.
