Page 60 of Enticing

“As real as it gets,” I tell him and look through the glass at the woman inside talking to my sisters. “She’s it. I knew it the minute I met her.”

“Yeah... that’s how it happens.” He pushes off the wall and moves in front of me. “Can I give you a piece of advice?”

“Always.”

“Talk to her. When you think you’ve talked enough, talk more. You travel half the damn year for work. Build the basis for that solid relationship because that’s what’s going to keep you solid. And show her how you feel every day. Never make her question it. Make sure she knows.”

“That why you and Mom have always been so solid?” I clap him on the back as we walk to the back door.

Dad stops and looks at me before he grabs the door. “That and a lot of sex.”

“Fucking gross. Jesus Christ. What the hell is wrong with you?” I yell, fucking disgusted, wishing I could unhear his words as he laughs.

“Don’t ask if you don’t want the answer.”

Well shit. I didn’t wantthatanswer.

ADELAIDE

Putting a kid to bed who claims she isn’t tired is like putting to bed that one drunk friend we’ve all had. First there’s the refusal. She will not go to bed. She doesn’t need sleep. Then there’s the request for water, and different pajamas because hers feel itchy, followed by begging for you to lay with them. Tossing and turning and some weird yoga-like positions. And finally, she’s asleep. Upside down with her head at the foot of the bed, one leg under a cover and her arm around her teddy bear. But sleeping so I’ll take it.

—Addie’s Secret Thoughts

Icreep out of Izzy’s room as quietly as possible.My girl.She never gives me that hard a time, but she also just got handed eight brand-new cousins and a whole brand-new family who may have looked at me, wondering if I’m a gold-digging whore, but they were super sweet to my girls.

Definitely something we’re going to have to work on though.

I walk into my bedroom, unsure whether I’ll find Leo in here or not. Unsurprisingly, he’s sitting on my bed in black jersey sleep pants with Lennox sleeping on his bare chest. It’s like he’s determined to demolish every wall I have.

“She asleep?” he murmurs, careful not to wake my sleeping baby, and sweet baby Jesus in a manger on Christmas, I’m jealous of my daughter because this man’s chest is chiseled perfection. And my daughter on it is the absolute sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, bar none.

Holy freaking hell.

This man . . . My husband.

“Yeah.” I sit down on the bed and unzip my boots. “Looks like they’re both out. Give me a minute, and I’ll put her down.”

I kick off my shoes, then wiggle my toes, working out the numbness I always get from wearing them. I’ve had them for years, and they’ve always been my favorite. Seriously, my ass looks amazing in them. But damn, they hurt.

“I can put her down,” he offers, and I realize he’s already changed her.

“I already married you, Sinclair. You don’t have to win me over,” I tease as he stands, that predatory grin back in place.

“You did marry me, didn’t you?” He kisses the top of my head and crosses the room. “Pretty sure that makes this our wedding night, wife.”

And then he slips out of my room... our room... to put Lennox down, leaving me to wonder what happens now? Am I ready for things to happen? Do I want them to?

Oh, who am I kidding?

Yes, I want them to happen.

I want him, but even that thought sends a panicked shiver down my body because wanting Leo is such a complicated thing. My heart hurts, just thinking about it. So I don’t. I grab pajamasfrom my drawer in the closet and walk into my bathroom, hoping maybe he’ll be asleep by the time I’m done.

Am I acting like a scared child? Yes. Yes, I am.

I don’t know how to do this anymore. How to trust a man with my body. Can I even give him my body without giving him my heart? Because the only way I’m going to survive Leo Sinclair is by guarding my heart. He’d be so easy to give it to. And I just don’t think I can do that again. I barely pulled my life back together after the last time my heart was smashed to smithereens along with my body. And I’m barely surviving now. How bad would it be if I let it happen again?

It doesn’t take me long to wash my face, brush my hair, and change.

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