Page 127 of A Dangerous Kind of Love

She looks around the room again, brows pulling together. “Are you expecting someone to attack you right now?”

“Doll, this is how things are done,” I say through clenched teeth.

“You seem mad at me.”

Shit.

I reach for her hand. “I’m not mad at you.”

“I don’t want people watching us eat if they’re not joining us. It’s weird.”

I exhale, forcing the tension out.

“Would you feel better if they stood outside?”

“Yes.”

I glance up. I give a small nod toward the door, and they move.

I look back at her, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. “Better?”

She nods. “Thank you.”

My hand slides to the back of her neck, and I pull her into me. She comes easily, like she was already halfway there.

“Can we make a compromise?” I ask against her mouth.

“Like what?” she asks.

“They won’t come in while we eat, but we stay in here. We eat at this table.”

She studies me for a second. “Why is it so important for you to eat in here?”

I let out a breath.

“I told you my parents were always gone. Traveling. Working. Doing everything but being home.” I glance around the room. “But when they were here, we ate at this table. Right here.”

I meet her eyes again.

“Some of my best memories with them happened in this room.”

Her expression shifts.

“Michael—“

“It matters to me,” I say. “And one day.” I pause and let it come out anyway. “I want to sit here with my wife and kids. I want that to be normal.”

She looks down at her lap. When she speaks, it’s barely above a whisper.

“Me too.”

The next day, I go into the bathroom where Katie’s already gotten in the shower to start getting ready for the charity gala. She’s figured out how to connect her phone to the surround sound, and she has music blasting. I undress and get in. She has her eyes closed, working shampoo through her hair and singing at full volume. She doesn’t hear me come in.

I step under the opposite shower head and turn it on. Her eyes snap open.

“Shit.”

I laugh.