His stomach contracts, sucking a sharp inhale, and it takes everything in me not to lift my hips and rub to feel exactly what I’ve been dying to feel.
He wants to kiss me. I want him to kiss me. I also really want to shed the few layers of clothing that separate where our bodies connect. But I can see in his torn expression that he’s beating himself over wanting me and, though sometimes I’ll put him through that torture because it’s fun, I can’t give him someone to miss. And after what he told me, it’s clear he can’t keep himself detached the way I can.
“Fine,” I say, breaking the tension. “I’ll cuddle with you, but only because I can’t have you jealous of your son over that.”
His forehead drops with a combination of regret and relief that things didn’t escalate.
Kai flips onto his back, his arm out wide, nudging my head to rest on his chest. I do so, settling my arm over his waist.
This is new for me. I’ve never been in a relationship before and I’m not one to linger after a hook-up, but with him . . . I surprisingly don’t hate it.
“Do you make every woman who shares your bed cuddle with you?”
“I couldn’t tell you the last time I shared a bed with a woman.”
I look up to find out what the hell he’s talking about.
“I couldn’t tell you the last time I was with someone. Well before Max, I know that.”
Well, fuck me. My last bit of hope for a casual hook-up dies with those words.
“I could help with that, you know. It’d be a sacrifice for sure, having sex with you, but I’m a martyr that way.”
He chuckles. “I don’t need your charity.”
“Why not? I could use the tax write-off.”
Kai completely changes the subject. “Thank you for bringing Max to the field today. It meant the world to me.”
“I can’t believe none of his other nannies ever brought him.”
“I never asked them to. I never talked to any of them long enough to ask.”
“But you talk to me.”
His blue eyes are soft. “Yeah, Mills. I talk to you.”
I settle my head back into his chest, once again soothingly tracing the lines on his ribs.
“Besides being tempted to murder my catcher,” Kai adds with a yawn, “today was a good day.”
“They can all be good days.”
His breathing slows and his words are barely a sleepy whisper when he says, “At least for the next six weeks.”
Chapter 17
Kai
“Dadda.”
The sweet scent of sugar fills my nose as I breathe a deep inhale.
“Dadda.”
My body is melted into the mattress, my arms filled with . . . Miller.
Miller is in my bed, or rather I’m in hers.
Inhaling again, I pull her closer until her entire body is on top of mine with her head tucked into the crook of my neck.
She feels like heaven. Warm and cozy. She also feels like mine.
“Dadda.”
My eyes shoot open to find my son at the foot of the bed, perched on Monty’s arm, the two of them looking down at us.
Max is wearing a smile. Monty isn’t.
“Shit,” I breathe out.
I’m a thirty-two-year-old man getting caught in bed by someone’s father.
“Well, I’m not sure how I’m going to scrub this visual out of my brain,” he says dryly.
Miller stirs when she hears her dad’s voice, but it’s not enough to fully wake her. Instead, she nuzzles further into me, slinging her leg over my hips where I’ve got a raging case of morning wood going on. I could not be more thankful this hotel bed has a thick comforter.
“Dadda,” Max says again, and Monty puts him on the mattress, allowing him to crawl over to us.
“Hi, Maxie.” My voice is all morning rasp as he climbs over my torso. “I missed you last night.”
He settles on my stomach, head on my chest, looking at a sleeping Miller. I wrap an arm around his little body so I’ve got them both as he cautiously reaches out to touch her septum ring. His tiny touch is enough to wake her and, as she opens her eyes, she looks right at my son, a sleepy smile blooming on her lips.
“Morning, Bug.”
He smiles right back at her.
This moment would be a whole lot sweeter, the two of them cozy on my chest together, if Monty wasn’t still staring down at me.
“Morning, Millie,” her dad says.
Miller whips around, realizing he’s here. “What the hell, Dad?” she asks, quickly covering herself with the blanket, not that there’s anything to hide.