Page 178 of A Dangerous Kind of Love

“She likes beautiful things. Complicated things too, when she has patience for them.”

Katie studies me. “Am I beautiful or complicated in this scenario?”

“Both.”

My mother has missed most of my life because she chose to. There’s no point dressing that up into something kinder. Still, the version of her who brought me here, who sat beside me in dark theaters and rested a hand over mine when the music started, and the one who sat at the dining table with my father, was the closest thing I had to her being fully present.

After the show, the cool night breeze feels good after the packed lobby. Enzo waits at the curb with the SUV, and I help Katie inside before getting in beside her. The second we’re settled, she slips her hand into mine and rests her head on my shoulder.

“I’m really glad you brought me tonight.”

I kiss the top of her head. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She tilts her face up just enough to look at me. “Can we come back sometime?”

“You liked it that much?”

She nods lazily against my shoulder. “Someday when we have kids, they can come with us.”

When we have kids. I want that future so badly it borders on fucking insanity, and she knows it. I haven’t kept it a secret, but now I can see clear as day.

Her pregnant with our child. Her standing in our kitchen holding our baby against her chest. Her laughing next to me in the front seat as our children argue with each other in the back on the way home from another symphony.

I want the ring on her finger. I want my children in her arms. I want every fucking version of forever she’ll give me.

Chapter 64

Katie

“Did you have fun?” Michael asks. He’s holding my heels in one hand while the other rests on the small of my back.

The warmth of his palm sinks through the thin fabric of my dress as he guides me inside. This man is physically incapable of keeping his hands off me whenever I’m close to him.

“I told you I did.”

I smile up at him. His tie is loosened from the drive home, and the top buttons of his shirt are undone, exposing the tattoos on his neck. He looks so damn handsome.

“You want me to take you upstairs and ravish you?”

A blush creeps up my neck, but I nod.

“Good,” he says, and then he’s lifting me off the ground with one arm hooked under my thighs. The movement is so effortless and smooth I barely have time to react before I’m wrapped around him.

My arms slide around his shoulders while a startled laugh escapes me. The man carries me around with ridiculous ease, and the worst part is how much I enjoy it.

“Is this your favorite position to have me in?” I laugh, my fingers tracing over the back of his neck.

Michael’s hand flexes under my thighs as he looks at me.

“No, Doll. I’m going to put you in that position upstairs,” he says.

Oh, fuck me.

He keeps climbing the stairs while I hide my burning face against his shoulder. His chest shakes with quiet laughter beneath my arms.

“Cute,” he murmurs. “Now you’re shy?”

I glare at him. This man enjoys flustering me far too much for his own good.