Page 163 of Sins of Innocence

Is he feeling the pinch of moving in with mom, the girls and me already?

He shrugs. "The property caters to corporate extended stays."

That explains the desk and office setup in a nook off the dining area, but not why he rented it for half a year.

"Why did you book it for six months?" I ask, something hollow growing in my belly.

"Because I want to have sex with my wife." His dark eyes bore into mine, the message there making my core clench. "And she's not ready to move into a house with me and our family."

Relief I don't want to acknowledge, floods me. So, not a place for him to live on his own, but a place for us to have sex without being overheard. Because with him? I'm loud.

And I'm not going there with the girls on the other side of the wall.

Heat spreads up my neck and into my hairline. "It's not me. It's the girls. We need to ease them into another big change like that."

Only, it's a little me. Maybe a lot me.

I'm scared of moving out of the sanctuary I created for all of us after Troy's death. Frightened Kieran will change his mind, and I'll be picking up the pieces all over again.

Only this time with three brokenhearted daughters.

"Sure," he says skeptically.

"You said you understood."

"I did."

"Do you mean you did understand?" As in he doesn't understand anymore? "Or you did say that?"

"Both."

"It's still true," I claim, not sure that it really is.

The girls love having Kieran as a stepdad and seem a lot more capable than me of rolling with all the changes happening in our lives. Of course, it helps those changes are positive ones for them.

The boys who bullied Sadie and assaulted her won't be returning to St. Patrick's Preparatory Academy. Ever.

Somehow, she's developed a texting friendship with the one of them who actually stood up for her when it mattered most. I still don't know how I feel about that, but he's living in Ireland with his dad and Mick Fitzgerald's family, so I don't have to worry about it either.

Much.

Neeve is no longer being bullied at school either. But how long will that last? Do anti bullying programs really work? Especially when the kids will be on summer break soon and they'll have a couple of months to forget everything they learned in the mandatory seminars they've all been attending.

Joy is delighted to have another human to treat her like the little princess she is.

Even mom is exuding quiet joy over her upcoming trip to Ireland. Which Kieran insists on paying for, despite her frequent vocal objections.

Mom is stubborn. Kieran has the movability of a two ton rock.

He upgraded all of her travel and accommodations to first class. She yelled about it. Then cried and said thank you.

"If you say so." There's no overt doubt in Kieran's tone, but I still get the feeling he's humoring me.

"Well, I do. I'm their mom. I know them best."

"No arguments here." He leans down and lifts me up so my thighs straddle his torso, and then shifts one forearm under my ass. "Come on, baby girl. We have better things to do than argue."

My skirt hiking up, I clamp my legs around him and cling like a monkey as he carries me across the sitting room.