Ever since our night in the tub, and the hours after in his bed, he’d done nothing but make me feel as though his relationship with me was at the top of his priority list. Besides his children, he was solely focused on me and making sure I was comfortable and happy.
I was. Blissfully so. And I worked hard to return the favor. I was at his house most nights, although I was still sneaking out before the kids woke up. There was a distinct joy that came with settling into a routine with him, Jax, and Ruby. I no longer felt as though I was visiting when I was at their house, but that there was a place carved out for me.
“Daddy.” Ruby’s angry voice carried down the hall.
“What?”
“My swimsuit is ruined.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look.”
Devon and I both turned our heads from the television and saw Ruby standing at the mouth of the hallway, holding up her one-piece swimming suit. It had holes cut in it, along with other wide strips of material missing.
“What in the world happened to it?” I asked.
“Jax?” Devon called, seeming to already know who was responsible. I tried to hide my smile as Jax emerged from his room, head bowed, guilt written all over his face. “Did you do this to your sister’s swimsuit?”
“I needed something to make a slingshot with! The material of her suit was stretchy and I had to use it since I couldn’t find a rubber band big enough.”
“You used my swimsuit to make a slingshot?” Ruby yelled, obviously not finding the humor in the situation I was. She lunged toward him, but he was faster than her and ran away before she could catch him.
“Ruby,” Devon called out, his voice sharp and swift. “I’ll handle your brother. Don’t lay a hand on him.”
She huffed out a frustrated breath and stomped back down the hallway. Once she was out of earshot I buried my face in Devon’s chest and let out the laughter I’d been holding in. His warm hand came to the back of my head, holding me to him, and I felt his chest rumbling with laughter too. I pulled back and looked him in the eye.
“Only Jax would cut up his sister’s swimsuit to make a slingshot. He’s crazy smart.” My smile was wide. I’d been smiling a lot in the past few weeks.
“I don’t know about that. Smart people usually consider the consequences before performing such obvious crimes. Did he not think he was going to be caught?” He let out another laugh, but when it died down it turned into a sigh. “A swimsuit trip was not on my agenda. Evie’s coming to get the kids tomorrow and I have to work all day.”
“I can take her to get a swimsuit,” I said, moving my hand up his chest to rest on his shoulder. “I’d love to, actually.”
“You have time tomorrow?”
“I’m free as a bird,” I responded with a smile.
“You’d really be helping me out. Ruby’s been a handful lately and I’m sure Jax doesn’t want to go swimsuit shopping with his sister.”
“It’ll be good. I’ve had plenty of one-on-one time with Jaxy at school and stuff. It’ll be nice to have a little girl time with Ruby. Maybe we can go get our nails done or something too.” A sweet smile spread across his face and he leaned in, kissing me deeply until I was out of breath. “What was that for?” I asked when he pulled away.
His thumb came up and rubbed right under my bottom lip. “You called him Jaxy. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you call him anything except Jax.”
It hadn’t occurred to me that I hadn’t been using his nickname. I’d heard Devon and Ruby call him that ever since we started dating.
“I guess you finally rubbed off on me,” I said, lifting one shoulder in a shrug.
“I think, perhaps, you finally are starting to feel like a part of our family.”
“Perhaps,” I whispered, emotions creeping back into my voice. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined finding a man as wonderful as Devon and finding a place in a family. A family was all I’d ever dreamed about, and sitting here with him, his arms around me, children arguing down the hall, it all seemed too good to be true.
“I think you should stay here tonight.” His words were definitive.
“All right,” I agreed. It wasn’t as though I hadn’t stayed over almost every night in the last month.
“And I want you to be here when the kids wake up.”
“Devon—” I began to argue, but he cut me off.
“I want you to get used to it as much as them. I promise it won’t be a big deal. In fact,” he sat up straighter with his words and then called out, “Kids, come out here for a moment.”
“What are you doing?” Panic made my heart race.