I laughed. “Sure, we’ll sit outside under the heaters. Diesel gets to eat all the crumbs off the ground. He likes it there too.”
Kacie got up and walked to the door. “Good night, girls. I love you.” She reached over and turned the light switch off.
“Love you, Mommy,” they sang in unison.
“Night, Twinkies.” I started to follow Kacie out.
“I love you, Brody,” Lucy called out into the dark.
“Me too,” Piper added.
I stopped in my tracks and leaned back against the door frame, closing my eyes and pulling my hand up over my heart. My chest ached.
Holy shit.
Before I responded, I had to clear my throat to get rid of the basketball-sized lump those two little girls had unknowingly just put in it. “I love you guys too. So much.”
As Kacie reached past me to shut the door, I noticed a tear fall onto her cheek.
“Come here.” She took my hand and pulled me into the living room. “I want to talk to you about something.”
We sat down on the couch and she pulled her leg up, turning to face me.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?” I asked.
Her eyes moved around my face, but she wouldn’t meet my stare. “I’m fine, but I’ve been meaning to tell you something.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “My first day at the hospital—”
“Mommy! Mommy!” Lucy and Piper yelled, running down the hall toward us. Lucy clutched the collar of her pajamas and Piper dove into Kacie’s lap. “It’s dark in there; we don’t like it.”
“Dark?” Kacie frowned at them. “You want me to leave the light on?”
“No. There are weird noises. We don’t want to sleep in there.” Lucy shook her head back and forth.
“You’ve only been in there for like two minutes.” Kacie chuckled. “Let’s try again.”
“No, Mom. Pleeeeeeeease,” Piper whined. “Can we sleep out here with you?”
“Um…” Kacie stalled.
“I have an idea!” I jumped up.
An hour later the girls—and Diesel—were sound asleep on my living room floor under a canopy of couch cushions and blankets that were pinned to bar stools with stacks of books. Kacie and I lay on either side of them with our heads propped up on our hands, facing each other.
“I can’t believe you made them a fort,” she whispered across them, her soft eyes grinning at me.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve made one.” I looked up at my design. “I did a pretty damn good job.”
“You certainly did.”
“Anyway, what were you gonna say before they came in?”
Kacie looked down at the girls and back up at me. “It can wait. No big deal.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely.” She sighed. “Tonight was fun.”
“It was fun. I’m hoping you guys coming here wasn’t a one-time thing?”
Her lips pulled up into a tiny smile. “More like a once-a-month thing.”
I’d had such a fantastic night with Kacie and the girls. I didn’t want to make her mad and push her boundaries, but we hadn’t seen each other in days and I couldn’t stop thinking about the way she kissed me on the couch.
“Interested in ending this night the fun way?”
Raising one sexy eyebrow, she turned her head slightly. “What way is that?”
I motioned toward my bedroom door. “In there.”
She chewed on the corner of her lip and looked down at Lucy and Piper. “You think it’s safe? Think they’d hear us?”
A playful smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth as I looked her straight in the eye. “I can be quiet. Can you?”
I backed out of the fort and walked around to Kacie’s side, taking her hands and pulling her up off the floor. As soon as she stood up, I cupped the side of her face with one hand and tilted it up to me. I studied her beautiful greens for a quick second before I had to taste her. I took my time kissing and sucking her full lips. She kept trying to hurry me along, but I knew it was going to be several days before I saw her again, and I wanted to enjoy every single second with her tonight. She put her hands on my chest and kept kissing me as she pushed me backward toward my bedroom.
I let her.
Once inside, she turned to quietly close the bedroom door. Diesel appeared in the doorway, eager to go to bed in my room where he normally sleeps.
“Sorry, bud. Park it out there for awhile,” I said as Kacie closed the door in his face.
She turned to face me, her back pressed up against the door. I slid my hand around behind her and clicked the lock securely.
Kacie looked up at me, frowning nervously. “What if they need me?”