Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Hide and seek and cards and every toy that had been in that toybox and stuffed into the built-in shelves on the wall opposite her bed.
I’d hidden in my room.
About thirty minutes ago, they’d gone downstairs, and the only thing I’d heard from them since were the faint bumps of movement that echoed through the floor.
I hit the bottom landing, and my pulse turned thready as I turned toward the sounds that were coming from the direction of the kitchen. Laughter and the strains of what sounded like opera music that curled and twisted down the hall.
I tiptoed, keeping my breaths quieted as I inched along the corridor.
I crept by the rooms that lined the left side, passing a library, a den, then a formal dining room before I edged up to the entryway that opened to the kitchen and a casual living space.
Glittering rays of early evening sunlight poured in through the large windows that lined the room.
I pressed myself close to the wall as a peal of laughter suddenly ripped through, and I peeked in to find Maci had changed into the ballerina outfit she’d insisted on packing when we’d come.
“Look it how many spins I can do, Mr. Kane! One, two, fee, four!” Maci twirled and twirled before she stumbled to the side when a rush of dizziness hit her.
I started to rush inside, only Kane already had her swept up and into his arms before I had the chance. The man laughed casually as he intoned, “Whoa there, that might be one too many spins.”
“There can never be too many spins if you’re a really good ballerina,” she told him.
Another low chuckle rippled through the air and skated over me.
A riptide of confliction.
He set her onto the island countertop where he was chopping something, and it was then I noticed the scent infiltrating the air.
Onions and garlic and spice.
My stomach growled.
God, I hadn’t been able to eat in days, and now my stomach was going to pipe up?
“Well, that might be true, but sometimes we have to work up to things. We just want to make sure you don’t go bonkin’ your head.” He poked her belly when he said it.
She giggled like it was hysterical, grabbing at his finger to guard herself as she sang, “I’m not going to bonk my head, Mr. Kane. I’m a professional. I took a lesson and everyfing.”
“What? A lesson?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, it sounds like we’re going to have to get you some more of those lessons.”
“They got dance here?”
“Oh yeah,” he said, back to chopping. “There’s this really cool place in town called Tiny Toes. They have dancing and tumbling. My nephew goes to the tumbling ones, and now he’s a tumbling machine.”
“You think he’s gonna get a gold medal?”
The slow slide of his rumbling amusement billowed and bashed, and my stupid heart flailed at the sweetness.
“He just might.”
“I better go with him then if he’s gonna be my other best friend. I been needin’ to learn some big fwips.”
“That sounds like a plan. I’ll make the call tomorrow.”
Inhaling a steadying breath, I peeled myself from the wall and stepped into the rambling, open room.
A casual living space was on the right, an oversized couch facing the television that hung on the wall above the fireplace mantel.
Off to the left was the kitchen. An L-shaped countertop ran just below the big windows that had the same view as the bedrooms upstairs, and a giant island was in the middle with six stools tucked into this side.
Kane and Maci were on the other side of it, Maci facing away from me.
But the man…his attention lifted. Those shocking, magic eyes gulping down the sight of me.
An electric shock streaked through the air and pierced through my defenses.
Weakening my knees and speeding my heart.
“Hey, there,” Kane said in that low, mesmerizing voice.
I swore, the man was made for seduction.
Possessing the power to strip you of every reservation.
“Hey.”
Brilliant response, I knew.
But how the hell was I supposed to form a coherent thought when twilight hugged him from behind, his brown hair glinting like he was surrounded by a halo, his teeth tugging at his plump, bottom lip?
Impossible.
“Hope you’re hungry.”
It was a grumble.
An offering.
Maci shifted around so she could send me a grin. “You better be, Auntie Em, because we’re makin’ dinner, and it’s gonna be deeeelicious.”
She rubbed her belly.
Kane chuckled. “Hopefully Maci here isn’t getting your hopes up too high, but fajitas are my specialty when I do cook.”
Frown carving into my forehead, I eased deeper into the room. “Don’t you need to go to work?”
“Nah,” he said, though there was something that darkened across his brow. “Figured I’d take a couple of days off until you two get settled.”
“You don’t need to do that.” I guessed I’d been set on the reprieve I’d thought I’d get while he’d be gone at night.