Page 118 of Renewal After Dark

“I set him up in here.” Duke led her to a smaller bedroom where he’d placed rolled blankets in a circle on the bed. “Will that work?”

“That’ll be great, thanks. He hardly ever moves when he’s asleep.” McKenzie settled Jax in the center of the nest Duke had made for him and waited to make sure he’d stay asleep.

As she stroked his downy, soft hair and kissed his cheek, he never stirred.

“Mommy loves you,” she whispered.

She got up to leave the room and found Duke leaning against the doorframe. “He’s a lucky boy to have you as his mom.”

“I’m the lucky one.”

“As a boy who never once heard his mother whisper that she loves him, trust me. He’s the lucky one.”

She rested her hands on his hips as she looked up at him. “I’m sorry you didn’t have that.”

“You don’t miss what you never had.”

The way he said that indicated it was something he’d said—and thought—many times before. “How did you become this sweet, kind, loving man with no one showing you how?”

“I had people who showed me how I wanted to live, especially your grandmother.”

“I love that she did that for you.”

“She was my Yoda. She made me want to live the way she did.”

“She’d be so, so proud of you.”

“I hope so.”

“I know so.”

“Look at this.” He took her hand and led her to the mantel over his fireplace, where he showed her a photo of him and Rosemary. “That’s the Christmas I spent at her place on the mainland.”

McKenzie picked up the framed photo to take a closer look. “I remember you now. You were sort of gruff and quiet.”

“I was so nervous about saying the wrong thing or something.”

She put the frame back on the mantel next to others of him with various groups of people. “That’s so sweet.”

“I didn’t lure you over here to talk about your grandmother.”

“No?”

He shook his head before he kissed her. “I can’t think about her when I want to get you naked. It feels wrong.”

McKenzie laughed. “She loved us both. I have to think she’d love us together.”

“Maybe so, but if she’s hanging around keeping an eye on things, this would be a really good time for her to get lost.”

The comment had McKenzie howling with laughter that quickly turned into a moan when Duke kissed her neck. Just like that, her knees went weak, and only his arm around her waist kept her standing. How’d he do that with a simple kiss? That was just one more thing to add to his list of unicorn qualities—the ability to render her weak in the knees with a kiss.

“I was thinking about how you’re a unicorn.”

He tightened his arms around her, lifted her and carried her to the other bedroom at the far end of the hallway. “Huh?”

Impressed by the show of strength, she said, “You’re all these things that most other guys will never be.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask…”

---