Page 76 of His Reluctant Savior

After I layered the cheese between two slices of bread, I heated the pan and turned to face Easton, who was staring down at his hand, which rested flat on the table.

“Are you jealous?” I didn’t ask that to be cruel, but you couldn’t play with words around Easton. No doubt he would have those feelings after how he was brought up.

“More like… envious.”

“It’s okay to feel that way. Do you think I’m going to choose the boy over you?”

He looked up at me with a blank face, but he couldn’t hide from me. “Yes.”

Anyone who was a father figure would have pulled him into a hug with reassurances, but that wasn’t Easton. I think he liked it even if he never responded to touch like that. It made it difficult sometimes to know if I should or shouldn’treassure him like that.

“There is no choosing. You are mine, and I’m yours. You know this. Even if Dalton wants me in his life with Owen, you will still be mine.”

Easton simply nodded. “They may not like me. Many people don’t. I don’t really care, but you do.”

I breathed out a small laugh and smiled. “They will definitely like you.”

“But I’m… different.”

“You are, but that makes you special, too.”

I turned off the stove and sat down at the table to talk a bit more with Easton, since this was clearly bothering him, or so it seemed.

“You’re almost a man now,” I said.

“I know.”

“Perhaps I should’ve already done this, and maybe it doesn’t matter now that you’re grown, but would you… like me to make you mine… officially? Legally? We can’t go to a courthouse like regular people, but I bet Layla can get the paperwork in order. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if you would care, but since Dalton and I have been on the run, you have shown that perhaps you care more than I gave you credit. For that, I’m sorry.”

His brow furrowed, and he swallowed, staring at his root beer, thinking about my words, showing me a vulnerable side to him. Maybe vulnerable was a bit much since he didn’t have those sorts of feelings, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel at all, either.

“I… get lonely sometimes, or maybe it’s boredom, but I’m not sure.”

“I’m sure you can feel loneliness, and boredom can certainly make it seem that way. I’m sorry about that. What do you think of my offer, East?”

He sighed and finally looked me, his dark eyes large and showing how truly young he was. “Would that mean you would be my father?”

“If you would like. I can be yours in any capacity you wish.”

“My parents were bad people,” he said, fisting his hands tightly on the table, his knuckles turning white as the first signs of anger emerged.

“They were, but you know me well enough by now that I wouldn’t hurt you like that.”

That calmed him down, and he unclenched his hands. “Okay.”

I smiled at him and stood. “I’ll make the arrangements as long as the family doesn’t kill me first.”

“They will pay if they do,” he said in a low rumble.

Of that, I had no doubt. “I don’t think it will come to that, East. Why don’t you sit and watch TV with Owen? Let him get to know you.”

After Easton walked out, I made two grilled cheese sandwiches, one for each of them.

Easton wasn’t one for love or even truly understood what it meant, but he was lonely and possessive enough to want to have a stronger hold on our relationship. Bonds formed for men like Easton were more self-serving, which made it difficult to form close relationships with others or to find love.

Perhaps he would’ve been better off with therapy instead of being trained as an assassin, but he had already killed someone. Itwas either that or spending a lifetime in prison. I couldn’t change who he was, but I could at least ease some of his loneliness and give him more of a home and family than he had before.

While I deeply cared about Easton, this decision to be his legally was also a protective measure. I didn’t need him getting jealous of Owen, which could be dangerous to the boy. He not only saw me as a father figure, but as his property. Anything that hindered that was a threat. Including him in all these decisions and making him officially mine would help with that.

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