“Are you trying to lure my kid to the dark side?” Her tone was nothing but flirt and tease, and she wound a fist in my shirt, yanking and making me stumble forward a step.
I didn’t mind a bit. I found the base of her neck and tipped her head toward me. My other hand hit that sweet spot at the small of her back, bending her back. I whispered close to her face, lips hovering an inch from hers. “Never would dream of it, baby.”
Her eyes darted to mine, and that energy swelled. It was always this way. One touch. One murmur.
Fire.
That bell-like voice had me jerking my head back enough to catch the grin lighting up Kallie’s face. “All morning when you went and seen your brover, me and Momma were listening to you singin’, Baz. Momma turned it up way, way loud.”
Slowly, I slid my gaze back to Shea who was still leaning back, completely reliant on my hold. “Is that so?” I demanded.
A deep blush skated right up Shea’s neck and throbbed on her cheeks.
So maybe I shouldn’t get off on the idea of my girl listening to me while I was away.
Crazy how just a few weeks ago, I’d felt ill over the idea. I didn’t want my sweet, soft girl witnessing the way Sunder had to look on stage. All that hostility and hard and aggression that beat through our songs.
But now…
Now I wanted her to be a part of it.
Every aspect.
Every facet.
Because Shea got that it was me.
“You miss me while I was gone?” A smirk ticked up at one corner of my mouth.
Shea wet her lips, voice raspy with the admission. “Always.”
“Good girl.”
Teeth clamped down on her bottom lip, so hard it blanched, and damn if I didn’t want to haul her upstairs, toss her onto her bed, and sink into her warmth.
To taste and play and fuck.
To get lost in her sea of light and dark.
Just for a little while.
But the water was starting to boil on the stove and we had a little one watching us with rapt attention, innocence needing to remain intact.
Priorities and all.
I dropped a swift, closed-mouthed kiss to Shea’s tempting mouth, then righted her on her unsteady feet. “Come on, let’s finish up dinner. We just need to throw on the spaghetti and we can eat.”
Shea shook off the desire skimming along her honey skin. “Sounds good.”
I angled in and scooped Kallie from the counter. She released a high-pitched shriek, throwing her arms out, flapping them around as I made her soar through the air.
Butterflies and contentment and ease.
I slung her onto my back and helped her dump the box of spaghetti into the boiling water.
This was the way it was always supposed to be.
The way we were supposed to be.
The three of us sat down at the table and shared the meal.
And I knew I’d never experience anything better in my life.
“You are a mess.” Shea rubbed her nose against Kallie’s as she pulled her from the chair and into her arms.
Spaghetti sauce was smeared across Kallie’s face, clumps stuck to the front of her shirt, pieces decorating her hair. It looked like more had dropped onto the floor than had made it into her mouth.
“Bath time.”
Shea adjusted Kallie on her side, her lithe body slithering toward me where she dipped down and fixed a kiss on me where I still sat at the table. “Thank you both for dinner,” Shea said quietly.
Gratefully.
Truly.
Affection squeezed my ribs.
“Anytime,” I answered back, meaning it. “Go on and get this little one cleaned up and I’ll work on getting the kitchen back in working order.”
Upstairs, water ran, and I got up and cleared the table. I dove into the pile of dishes in the sink, quick to rinse through them and load them into the dishwasher. I wiped down the counters, swept up the floor, cutting through the mess Kallie and I had made earlier while wondering again how it was possible my life could change so drastically in just a few short months.
Sunder was still supposed to be on our European tour, filling up dark, rowdy music halls, raising hell, reveling in debauchery and sin. And here I was in this quaint city, cleaning my girl’s kitchen.