I bite my lower lip, trying not to grin.

“I’ll pretend it’s a chore if it’ll make you feel better. I’ll even groan out loud.”

This time I laugh. I can’t help it. He’s so damn sweet.

“Is that a no?” he asks, deadpan.

“I’m not usually this emotional,” I say.

He shrugs. “All women say that. It usually precedes an episode of batshit craziness.”

“Are you calling me crazy?”

He shakes his head vehemently. “Definitely not.” He smiles. “There are a lot of words I would call you. Crazy isn’t one of them.”

Now I’m intrigued. “Do tell.”

“You’re f**king gorgeous as hell,” he says. His eyes drag up and down my body.

Heat creeps up my cheeks.

“And you’re smart. And loyal. And you’ve bit off more than you can chew taking on three kids that aren’t even yours.”

I like that he thinks I’m smart. And loyal.

“And you’re not mine.” He gets to his feet and reaches down to take my hand. “So we had better get out of the stairwell before I do something stupid like kiss you.”

He pulls me up, and I brush off my butt, trying to figure out what to do. “You want to kiss me?” I ask.

“More than anything,” he says quickly.

I grin and look away from him. “Good.” I open the door to the stairwell and walk through it.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asks my retreating back.

“Nothing,” I toss over my shoulder. My heart feels a lot lighter than it did a few minutes ago, probably because there are about a million butterflies fluttering around in my gut. My belly flips when I meet his gaze. “I’m glad you want to kiss me, is all.” I shrug again.

“So can I?” he asks softly. He’s following me to the street and toward my car now. I beep the locks so I can open the door. I start to pull bags out and load him up.

“Can you what?” I ask.

He grins. “You know what.”

I drop my voice down to a whisper. “You might have to spell it out for me, Matt.”

“I W-A-N-T T-O K-I-S-S Y-O-U,” he spells out, laughing.

I laugh, too. “Good,” I say again. I get out the last of the bags. He’s carrying most of them, so my load is pretty light. I step up onto my tiptoes and kiss him really quickly on the cheek. “Thanks for helping with the bags. And for the pizza. And for rushing over when Seth called you. I’m sorry if he ruined your night.”

“You can make it up to me,” he says. He puckers his lips.

I can’t keep the smile from my face. “You coming up?” I ask.

He holds up the bags like he has no other choice.

“Run while you can, Mr. Reed,” I say, and I try to take a bag from him.

“I don’t think so,” he says.

My belly does that little flip again, and I can’t help but wonder where this is going.

Matt

Her cheeks are a pretty pink color, and she avoids looking at me in the elevator. I let her walk in front of me down the hallway because she has absolutely the prettiest, most perfect ass I have ever seen and I want an excuse to look at it. She’s wearing her business suit again—a pencil skirt, heels, and a pretty top.

She looks over her shoulder at me and draws her lower lip between her teeth, her face growing even rosier. I go hard immediately. If she doesn’t quit it, I’m going to have to hang out in the hall before I can go inside. I take a deep breath and stop looking at her ass. Instead, I look at the bags and bags of clothes she piled me high with. They’re dripping off my arms, and I have shoe boxes stacked in my hand.

“Did you buy the whole store?” I ask as she opens the door.

She holds up four fingers. “I bought out four stores. Little girls are expensive.” She shrugs and says, “I got some things for Seth, too. I just hope they fit. I had to guess his size.”

He’s going to love that. The kid hasn’t had anyone to take care of him in a long time. I have a feeling she could have bought him a pink fur coat and he would have taken it with pride just because she gave it to him. “I’m sure whatever you got will be fine.”

She opens the door, and I start to divest myself of bags. The heavy one filled with jeans left grooves on my wrist, and I hold it up for her to see. “See what your shopping trip did to me?” I ask playfully.

She takes my hand in hers and turns my arm over, appraising it closely. Her hands are soft, and her fingernails are manicured to perfection. She drags her forefinger across my wrist. “I’m so sorry, Matt. Look at you: you’re wounded!” She laughs loudly. It sounds so pretty coming out of her lips. It’s unfettered and not at all restrained. I f**king love it, particularly when she tips her head back and then she gets to laughing so hard she snorts. But that just makes her laugh even louder. “What can I do to make it up to you?” she asks.

I hold my wrist up and stick out my bottom lip. “Kiss it and make it better?” I suggest.

She lifts my wrist up high and presses her lips to my skin. I’m afraid I’m going to melt into a big, old, sweaty ball of funk right there on her carpet, but as soon as her lips touch me, she blows a quick raspberry into my skin. It makes me laugh, and I grab for her, pulling her to me.

But just then, a na**d child streaks out of the bathroom. It’s Mellie, and I cover my eyes as she runs by. Seth chases after her carrying a towel. He growls at her playfully, though, and she dashes behind the couch. She starts to run by me, and I reach out really quickly and grab her, holding her squirmy little na**d body far away from me. Damn, but she’s slippery. She laughs and wiggles her feet, kicking wildly, and it’s all I can do to hold on to her.

“Come here, you,” Seth growls, and he wraps Mellie up in a towel. She giggles all the way down the hallway until I hear the door shut.

Sky lays her hand on my chest, brushing down it. “You’re all wet,” she says, shaking her head.

“It’s fine,” I say, brushing her worry aside. “It’s just a little water.” I rub my hands together. They’re still slippery. “And soap.” I laugh.

“Let me get you a towel,” she says and starts toward the kitchen. “I’m still learning where things are.” She opens drawer after drawer. She finally finds a hand towel and holds it out to me. “Sorry she got you wet. Not to mention streaking na**d in front of you.”

“Are you kidding?” I ask. I f**king love this stuff. I have missed this commotion in my own house since the younger boys left. “It’s fine.”

“I would give you a T-shirt to change into but I don’t have one your size,” she says. She grimaces. “Sorry.”

I make like I’m going to pull this one over my head, and her eyes dance toward my abs, growing wider when she takes in the tattoo to the left of my belly button. “Wow,” she breathes. She covers her mouth with her fingertips.

My tat is a green frog. But it’s not just any green frog. My brother Logan is an amazing artist, and he drew it for me. It’s a frog on a lily pad with flowers floating all around. On top of the frog’s head is a crown of thorns. I really love it, but I feel kind of raw and exposed now that she’s seen it. “Want to kiss my frog?” I ask, since I’m feeling so out of sorts.

She licks her lips.

“Don’t do that,” I warn. My voice sounds gruff even to me.

“Do what?” she whispers.

I step toward her, glancing really quickly down the hallway to see where the kids are. “Don’t lick your lips at me, Sky,” I say.

She does it again. “Oops,” she breathes, but she’s grinning.

I want to kiss her, but I need to know what I’m up against. “How’s your boyfriend?” I ask. I know Seth said they broke up, but I want to hear it from her. I won’t touch someone who is dating someone else. I have had enough heartbreak in that arena to last a lifetime.

“What boyfriend?” she asks.

“Don’t give me hope if there is none,” I sing. But I’m serious. Totally serious.

“We broke up.”

“Are you devastated?” I want to know how she’s feeling. About all of it.

“Elated,” she says instead.

Thank God. A shiver crawls up my spine because I’m seriously interested in this woman. “You sure you’re done with him?”

“Positive.” She nods. Her eyes don’t leave mine.

“I’m going to make you fall in love with me,” I warn.

“You can try,” she says quietly.

I lean down and kiss her cheek really quickly just before Mellie runs into the room. She skids to a stop at my feet, sliding into the room on her footed jammies. She grabs onto my legs with one arm and slips her palm into Sky’s hand with the other. Sky brushes a strand of hair from Mellie’s face, a soft look in her eye that I didn’t expect from her.

“Anybody want to play bowling on the Wii?” Seth asks as he walks into the kitchen. He looks from Sky to me and back. “What did I miss?” he asks.

“I got you a bunch of stuff today at the store. Why don’t you check it out?” she asks.

His brow arches. “You got stuff for me?” He grins and woops and goes to rummage through the bags. He is a teenage boy, and I do have experience with those beasts. The girls, not so much. When she’s not looking, I chuck him on the shoulder and warn, “Even if you don’t like it, pretend you do. Don’t hurt her feelings.”

“Are you kidding?” he asks. He holds up a T-shirt. “These are great.” He tries his shoes on, and they fit. She bought Vans, so she couldn’t go wrong there. He loves them. “You shouldn’t have, Aunt Sky,” he says. He gets up and goes to her. She’s grinning from ear to ear. He picks her up and spins her around. “Thank you,” he says.

She squeals. “I have to get used that hugging thing you do,” she says.

“Why?” he asks. He looks confused. I have a feeling Sky didn’t get much affection as a child. But these kids were steeped in it.

“It’s just… not something I’m used to,” she says.

Seth’s face falls. “Do you want me to stop?” he asks. “I hugged my mom all the time.”

“If you stop, I’ll have to ground you or make you wear a funny hat to school or something. Hell, I don’t know how to torture you, but I’d come up with something.” She laughs, but I can tell she’s uncomfortable.

He wraps his arm around her shoulder again and squeezes her. She squeaks a little, and he laughs. “You’re like a little mouse,” he says. “Do you whisper when you’re angry, too?”

She punches his shoulder. “You’ll find out if you keep it up.”

Sky kicks her shoes off and pads around in her stockings. She gets a piece of pizza and goes to sit on the couch. The kids start a game of Wii bowling, and they con her into playing. “I’ve never done this before,” she warns.

“It’s easy,” Seth says. He motions her forward. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

She gets up, grinning, and I reach for the front of the TV to turn the sound up. Sky pulls her arm back, right as I turn back to walk to the couch, and suddenly the controller flies out of her hand and smacks directly into my nose.

“Ugh!” I grunt out.

Sky puts her hand over her mouth and gasps. But then she runs toward me when she sees the blood dripping down my face. I walk into the kitchen because I don’t want to get blood on her carpet.

“Oh thit,” I swear, when I see that the kids didn’t follow us. She sits me down in a chair and puts a towel under my nose. “That hurts wike a mudder fudder.” I sound like I’m all stopped up with a cold, but the blood is still dripping, so I pinch my nose closed.

“I’m so sorry,” she says as she drops down in front of me. She rests her forearms on my thighs. I can smell the pizza she just ate on her breath, and I really, really want to kiss her, but I have blood all over my face and hands. “I’m so sorry,” she says again. “I didn’t know it would fly out of my hand like that.”

“You hab ta wap it awound your wist,” I say.

“I have to wrap it around my wrist?” she repeats.

“To keep it fwom fwying.”

“Crap,” she says again. “I am so sorry.”

She already said that. She gets up and goes to get a wet towel. She cleans my hands and wipes gently beneath my nose. My nose hurts like a son of a bitch. I jerk my head back, but she just follows, probing and prodding.

“I think the bleeding has stopped,” she says. But I let her continue to fuss over me, just because I like it. “Do you want some ice?” she asks.

Yeah, but I need it for my dick and not for my nose. “Pwease,” I say. Her face is only inches from mine. But then she goes to the fridge. She comes back with a bag of ice. She’d probably get offended if I shoved it in my pants, so I lay it against my nose, instead. I brace my chin with one hand and hold the ice with the other.

“I really didn’t mean to hit you,” she says. She looks so worried that I have to let her off the hook. Hell, I lived with four brothers. I have had more nosebleeds than I could ever begin to count.

“I’ll wiv,” I say.

She leans close and kisses my cheek. I want to turn my head and press my lips to hers, but I don’t.

“You in lub wif me yet?” I ask.

She laughs and turns her head away, closing her eyes. Her giggle is so damn cute. She winces.