Page 71 of His Coveted Obsession

“Me, too!”

I stood and stepped aside to let them in, then I brushed a kiss across Easton’s soft lips.

“You’re overly excited about this.”

I rolled my eyes and chuckled. “It’s as if you don’t even know me. Of course, I’m excited. You look good as a babysitter,” I said again, winking at him. I took it down to a whisper. “It softens all those sexy, hard edges. Not that I don’t love those hard edges, too.”

It was spring break, so Owen and Annie were out of school. Since Easton told me he had to watch over Owen, I suggested taking the younger ones to the museum.

“I’m trained as…” he sighed heavily. “I’m not a babysitter.”

I snorted a laugh as I grabbed my hoodie from the closet, since it was still cold, and pulled out one for Annie.

“Come on! We gotta go!” I yelled upstairs for her.

“Coming!”

Annie came barreling down the stairs and jumped the last two steps. “Hi!” she said to Easton and Owen.

I handed her the hoodie, and she tossed it on.

When we stepped up to Easton’s car, Annie whistled. “Wow. Nice car.”

“Thank you,” he said, buckling Owen up in his booster seat.

Since we lived in the Capitol Hill area, it didn’t take long to get to the Smithsonian area. The museums flanked either side of the grassy mall area. At one end of the Mall was the Capitol building, and at the other was the Washington Monument.

It hadn’t been warm enough for the cherry trees to bloom, but they would soon.

When we walked through the large doors, we stepped into a world of silent planes from days past, floating above our heads like ghosts. The aircraft were from all over the world and from different periods.

The place was packed with tourists, so Easton took Owen’s hand. “Do not leave my sight. Do not let go of my hand.”

“Okay!” Owen said. I’d only met him twice, but he seemed like a really sweet kid who adored Easton.

I know just how you feel, Owen, I thought.

There was one massive airliner, fighter jets, and some really old planes. It was amazing how they managed to fit all of them into the building.

“Whoa! Look at that one, East!” Owen pointed, tugging at Easton. It wasn’t like him to be led at all, but with Owen, he didn’t seem bothered by it. “And look at that one! What’s that one, East? It’s so pointy.”

He looked up and said, “It’s aGrumman F-14D Tomcat.”

“Cool! Does it shoot stuff?”

“Yes.”

“Cool!”

I giggled quietly during the whole exchange.

Annie tugged on me. “Let’s go to the space section.”

“Yes, space! I love space! I wanna be an astronaut!” Owen yelled, using his loud, outdoor voice, but the place was already loud with the number of people in there.

As we headed to the space section, I bumped Easton’s shoulder with mine. “Look at us, like a little family.”

He looked at me with his stunning, pale brown eyes. “Is this what you want? Kids? They’re awfully loud.”

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