Page 62 of Elusion

Cate clambers down and dances her way out of the room.

As he kicks off the doorframe, Connor nods in my direction. “Nice to finally meet you, Lover Boy.”

Callie bats at him, but he swats her hand away.

“Pizza for supper?” she asks.

“Whatever,” he says over his shoulder.

She rolls her eyes and brings our bags to the bed. Her first mistake is being gorgeous. Her second is coming within arm’s reach. I snag ahold of her, and in one quick movement, I have her pinned beneath me.

“Lover Boy, huh?” I dip my head down to kiss her when she smiles. “Small children go to bed at, like, seven, right?”

Her fingers tease their way up my jawline. “She needs fed, bathed, and read to. After that, I’m all yours.”

“That’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard, if I disregard everything but the last three words.” Before I lose all willpower, I jump up and drag her off the bed. “Let’s go play house.”

“Jordan?”

“Yes,” I answer.

“Are you sitting by the door?” Cate asks.

“Yes.”

“Do you still have on your tiara?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe him, Cal. Check.”

The bathroom door cracks open next to me. Callie pokes her head out and looks down. She eyes the pink, sparkly princess crown in my hands instead of on my head. We smile at each other before she returns to Cate. “He’s right where you left him,” she says. “Tiara and all.”

My head drops against the wall behind me. A few hours with Cate have exhausted me. Other than when I was a child, I’ve never spent much time around kids, but I don’t remember them being nearly as demanding as the little girl in the bathtub. I let my eyes fall shut and await further orders.

I almost stab myself in the eye, returning the tiara to my head, when the door flies open. Out she comes with her hands on her hips, wearing a nightgown covered in pictures of princesses. “Oh,” Cate says, the disappointment obvious. “You are wearing it.”

On her way out of the bathroom, Callie scoops up Cate. “Bedtime, my monster queen.”

“Jordan has to read to me.” She reaches down for me.

Callie spins around, her back to me. “Jordan doesn’t know how to read.”

“He doesn’t?”

“No, and he’s very sad about it. But I bet if you read to him, it would make him feel better.” Callie carries her down the hall to her room.

My illiterate ass gets off the floor, and I follow because—might as well admit it—I’m nothing more than a puppy dog when it comes to either of them.

After three different renditions of the same book, Cate’s eyes close. In stealth mode, I move about a centimeter at a time and dislodge from the grasp of her tiny hands, holding my breath until I escape to the hallway.

In the living room, Callie and Connor are on the couch, watching something bloody and gory on the unreasonably large TV. She lets me under her blanket and cuddles into me.

A cliché scene comes on where a woman walks downstairs to a basement instead of getting the hell out of the house. The ghost or demon or guy in costume leaps out at her from behind a furnace. Callie hides her face in my chest, gripping my shirt.

Thank you, jump scare.

As she recovers, her fingers slowly sweep over my stomach. She slips them under my shirt and brushes over my skin.They lower to the button on my jeans. Now, this is how you watch a movie.

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