Page 52 of York

York’s eyes flashed.

My body… got ideas.

So I did the only thing I could do.

I turned and strode right the hell out of that apartment.

Then spent the next two hours doing rote tasks that didn’t require much of my brain, so all it did was wander.

To him.

Both current and past.

Which left me aching and frustrated as I left the office building with my cash and headed back home, not sure how I was going to face the man without wanting to jump him.

The answer to that ended up being relatively simple when I walked in to find the two of them still in the giant tent that took up damn near all the space in the living room.

The movie had stopped playing and Denny was just asking York her usual fifty thousand questions like she always did to me when she was tired but didn’t want to go to bed yet.

“Uh-oh,” York said when I closed the door. “We’re busted.”

Denny giggled.

“Oh, I was under no delusions that she would be in bed by the time I got home. She’s a brilliant bedtime con artist.”

York pulled the zipper, the sound both foreign and familiar, making something tug inside my chest.

“Go brush your teeth, princess,” York demanded.

“And change into your jammies I put out,” I called as she ran down the hallway to the bathroom, dropping three pieces of candy as she went.

“Yep. I brought candy. A lot of it.”

“You don’t need to bribe her, you know. She already loves you.”

His smile was soft at that as I bent down to grab the dropped candy.

“Why don’t you go take a shower? I’ll read her a few books to get her down, then I’ll clean this up.”

Well.

I wasn’t going to turn down that luxurious of an offer.

“I’ll take it,” I said, rushing to grab some pajamas, making sure Denny actually brushed her teeth, then closing the door and taking a worry-free shower. So I could do it all: deep condition, shave, exfoliate, and lotion.

When I made my way back out, a quick glance into Denny’s room showed her fast asleep, clutching her capybara with her projector light on.

I closed the door and made my way out, then walked toward the tent that was still taking up most of the living room.

Figuring York had given up on the task, I lowered down and started to crawl inside.

Only to find him already in there, carefully tucking the last of the crayons into the case.

His gaze flicked up, and there was no way for me to just quietly back out now like I’d never even been there at all.

“I thought you gave up,” I admitted as I crawled in. Even as warning bells went off in my mind about being alone with him in a cramped space.

“I deliver on my promises.”