Be My Hero (Forbidden Men, #3)

She frowned. "I'm not kicking you out of you own bed, Patrick."

"Damn." I let out a dreamy sigh and grinned up at her as I rolled onto my back. "It still sounds hot when you call me that, even when I'm half dead asleep." With a yawn, I curled back onto my side, facing away from her. "Please, God, don't make me get up and move right now. Can't 'member when I last had this much sleep."

She was quiet for a minute before saying, "You're right. I'm sorry for pestering you. Go back to sleep, Patrick."

I smiled at the address and then sighed when she lightly ruffled my hair. I loved the feel of her fingers against my scalp. About to sink back into peaceful oblivion, I bolted upright when a thought occurred to me.

"Shit! Is Fighter awake?" I hadn't gotten up with him yet, and usually I did once or twice a night.

"No, I just fed him, changed him, and put him back down."

I rubbed my face. Why did I feel so crusty? "You didn't have to do that, Tink. I'm home, I could've gotten up." I was a little chagrined that I had slept right through his crying.

Eva merely rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it. Seriously. I was already up with Skylar."

"Thank you," I said, meaning it from the bottom of my heart. "I owe you."

She shook her head as if amused by me and strolled down the hall toward my bedroom . . . to sleep in my bed. I groaned and collapsed back on the couch. With as much wood as I was sporting, it'd be a while before I got back to sleep now.

***



In the morning, I got out of the shower to peek into my bedroom, my towel wrapped around my waist. Eva wasn't in bed and neither was Skylar. I heard rumblings in the kitchen so I dropped the towel and dug through my underwear drawer for something clean. Once I was dressed, I carried my socks into the kitchen, which for some reason was where I put them on each morning. When I reached the entrance, I was surprised to find Eva pouring two bowls of cereal.

From the back, she looked good first thing in the morning, her clothes wrinkled and molded to her curves and her hair pulled up into a fashionable yet sloppy knot with these tempting little stray tendrils hanging down and teasing the back of her kissable neck. I knew she'd look twice as amazing when she turned around. I was so tempted to come up behind her, wrap myself around her and kiss the tops of her shoulders. My arms ached because I restrained them from acting on the impulse.

She turned around, and I saw she had Skylar cradled in one arm. "'Morning," she said brightly, though lavender bruises of sleeplessness underlined her eyes.

I yawned and ran my hand through my wet hair. "'Morning." After I padded barefoot across the kitchen to the table, I plopped into a chair and pulled on my socks. Though I'd gotten more sleep than usual since I hadn't needed to pace the floor with Julian at all, I felt stiff and sore from bunking on the couch.

I jumped when Eva set one of the bowls of cereal in front of me. About to tell her she hadn't needed to do that, because it seemed to be my catch phrase these past twenty-four hours, I paused, wondering if she was getting sick of me constantly repeating it. So I settled for a sincere, "Thanks."

She sat across from me and rocked Skylar in her arms as she ate with one hand. "So how many days do you work from nine in the morning until two the next morning?" she asked between bites.

I smiled through my munching, amazed by how well she multitasked. When a drop of milked dripped down her chin, making her scramble with both hands full to wipe it up, I smiled even wider and leaned over to mop it up for her.

"A couple," I answered, licking the droplet of milk off my thumb. I worked that much most weekdays, actually.

She shook her head, staring at my thumb as I pulled it away from my tongue. "I don't know how you do it without tumbling dead from exhaustion."

I motioned to her with my spoon before I took a big bite. "You just worked the same hours as I did yesterday. More, actually. How're you still going?"

She shook her head to disagree. "But I had plenty of down time."

I snorted. "When? When you were watching not just mine, but your own kid, cleaning my house or cooking me supper? Oh, and don't think I didn't notice you gave Fighter a bath last night. He smelled all clean and fresh when I leaned in to kiss his head just now."

"Okay, fine," she relented on a sigh. "I'm secretly Wonder Woman. I just hid my bracelets, tiara, and lasso in Skylar's diaper bag so you wouldn't find out."

I grinned. "Wonder Woman was always my favorite superhero."

"And I'm sure her breast size, tiny waist, and incredible thighs had nothing to do with it either."

I snorted out a laugh and nearly choked on the last of the milk I was drinking from my bowl. "You know me too well." Rising to my feet, I went to rinse it in the sink, only to realize how freaking spotless the sink was. Not only had she done dishes, she'd scrubbed the sink as well.