She hadn’t asked me to stay, but she didn’t seem to mind I’d invited myself over for the night. Whether there was an unspoken invitation, or I was assuming too much wasn’t clear. I didn’t really care either way.
As we lay together in her tiny bed, snuggled up, the warmth of our bodies mingling, we didn’t talk. We didn’t need to. Everything felt comfortable and familiar, like we’d been together this way for years.
I closed my eyes, and my thoughts drifted back to dinner.
“Is Kadie smart?” I asked, breaking the silence and opening my eyes. “You know, like super smart?”
Aspyn’s face twisted into confusion. “What? Why are you asking about that now?”
I shifted slightly, pulling her tighter again me. “I’m not around a lot of little kids, but she’s around two and a half, right?”
“Yeah.”
“But she talks so much. Most kids her age don’t talk that much.”
“How would you know? You just said you’re not around a lot of little kids.”
“But I’ve seen those other kids your mom watches. Most of them are like, ‘Give milk,’ or ‘I pee.’” I snickered.
Aspyn laughed. “You making fun of toddlers now, Alex?”
“No. I’m just saying our daughter’s smarter than them.”
“Listen to you, Mr. Proud Daddy.” She shrugged. “I talked in full sentences when I was her age too.”
“My dad said I barely talked until I was 4.”
She winked. “I guess we know who she takes after.”
“Yeah, I guess we do.” I laughed and nuzzled her neck. “Okay, just wanted to know. Goodnight, Aspyn.”
“Goodnight, Alex.”
I closed my eyes again, and Aspyn rubbed my back until sleep took me. When my dreams came, they were of family and happiness, not fire and blood.
My soul knew what I needed to be happy.
Chapter 31
Aspyn
My eyelids fluttered open, and a tattooed and heavily muscled torso greeted me. I inhaled deeply, enjoying Alex’s male scent. I could get used to waking up to this every day. Addictive, very addictive.
I pulled away from his arms to peer up at his sleeping face, a grin coming to my own. The weird thing was that we’d not even had sex the night before. That was a good thing, I thought, because it proved that whatever Alex and I had together, it went beyond some lust in the sheets.
As much as the idea scared me, I knew it was that way for me, but it’d been hard for me to be sure about Alex. Men were men, and you never knew which head they were thinking with.
I wasn’t sure why we hadn’t screwed. Maybe it was because I was spent emotionally from what had happened at dinner. Kadie didn’t seem fazed at all. It was like she’d always known. Maybe a kid could sense their parents in some way.
I wasn’t sure whether she just realized it or just accepted that this man who had shown up and was spending so much time with her must naturally be her daddy. The why didn’t much matter, I figured, only that she seemed happy. That’s all I really cared about.
That meant one big problem was handled. Alex and I still had a lot of things to figure out, but if Kadie could accept him, that meant we at least had a chance together.
I accepted now that I did want to at least try, or at least I owed it to my daughter to try. Not saying I was ready to ask Alex for a ring or something, but I could see us together as something other than only as Kadie’s parents. I still wanted to be careful about this because I couldn’t help but wonder if he was using me in a way.
I thought that over as I watched the rise and fall of that wonderfully sculpted chest of his. So nice. So damn lickable. But having a nice body and being great in bed wasn’t enough. He had to really want me for me.
Alex hadn’t returned to Livingston for me. He’d returned to help heal, and he’d started to do that. What would happen after he finished healing?