Page 98 of Broken Skulls

My hand lightly pats her tummy. “I’ll get to you next,” I tell it.

I instantly regret it. A sadness flits across her features. It remains only a moment, but long enough for me to notice.

She forces a smile on her face, sitting up. “I’m starving.”

“I hear that,” I tease, trying to keep the mood light. She knows how I feel about having kids, and I wasn’t lying. Kids have never been something I’ve wanted. All I can do to show her I’m not lying is to just keep loving her. Exactly as she is.

We dress and head to the kitchen.

“So, do you remember your mission today?” I ask.

She hugs me around the waist as I stir the eggs on the stove.

“Mission complete.” She gives me a little squeeze.

I shake my head. “We need to see about getting you some glasses.”

“You’re the best thing about this place.” She slaps my ass and then heads over to the fridge.

She slapped my ass.

I’m not sure how to feel about it. That’s never happened to me before. It’s not the slap itself, it’s that she’s being playful.

I glance over my shoulder. She’s bent inside the refrigerator. Her cute little butt cheeks are hanging out of her sleep shorts.

Fuck.

I’ve never felt like I was a lucky man.

Until I met her.

“Why do you have me complete missions every day?” She stands up, catching me with my head tipped to the side. Her ass is perfection.

I shrug, my gaze moving down her legs.

She crosses them. “Stop,” she whispers.

“Never.”

This makes her smile.

I’m getting better and better at detecting her real ones versus the fake. This one is real.

I decide to answer her question, because it’s something that’s been weighing heavily on my mind. I wave her over to the table. “This is finished. Sit and we’ll talk.”

She still gets nervous when we talk. I think she’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Stop,” I tell her. I tap her knee. She has her leg curled up in front of her to hide from me.

Her foot lands on the floor with a soft thud.

“I give you missions each day because for one, it gets you out of the house.”

“I love your house.”

“Our house,” I correct.

She doesn’t look like she believes that yet, and that’s okay. “Second, I’m trying to help you find what you might want to do.”

---