Page 78 of Your Soul to Keep

Another voice joined the first.

“I bet she’s tired,” Maeve replied drily, a smile in her voice. “Let’s leave Daddy and Shibaby to rest, hm?”

My eyes popped open and stared directly into Gabe’s. Smile lines fanned out from the corners of his startling blues as his mouth, soft from sleep, curved up in a smile. Sleep lines from the pillow creased his cheek, his hair stood on end, at least five days of scruff covered his jaw, and he’d never looked more delicious.

I wanted to straddle him and pin him to the mattress with my knees.

But his mother was in the room.

With his daughter.

I think I might have whimpered.

The door to his bedroom snicked shut, Maeve and Dylan’s voices receding down the hall.

He raised a finger to his lips. “Sh.”

My eyes bugged out. “Sh?”

He smiled wider. “If we pretend we’re sleeping, she might leave us alone for ten minutes.”

I looked around the room. “How far off the ground is that window? Think I can make it?”

Pulling me across his chest, he wrapped his arms around me. “You’re not jumping out the window.”

“That doesn’t exactly answer my question.”

His chest rumbled with contained laughter. As quiet as we were, it didn’t help.

Little feet stomped down the hall and burst into the room.

Thank God I had on Gabe’s t-shirt and a pair of his boxers. I quickly rolled away from him.

“Hey there, Daddy!”

Dylan’s compact little body hit the side of the mattress as she struggled to pull herself up. After two attempts, Gabe reached over and hauled her up.

She scrambled over his chest and immediately curled up on top of him like a cat, her ear over his heart. A sweetly serene contentment settled over her little face. “Hey there, Daddy,” she whispered.

I couldn’t look away. I knew exactly how she felt.

His heart; her home.

His big hand gently stroked her curly head. “Hey there, Dilly-bar,” he whispered back.

His big hands, tender and sweet.

Her little face, serene and content.

Their love, a beauty so pure and primal it hurt.

She smiled even as her curious eyes moved to me, her sharp mind five steps ahead of her body.

“Hey there, Shibaby,” she whispered. “You is tired?”

“Say yes,” Gabe demanded.

“Yes?” I answered uncertainly.

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