Page 67 of Risk

My panties are already damp.

His eyes drop to my mouth, and it dries. I have to resist the urge to lick my lips. Because I will not go there with him.

Ican’t.

He drags his eyes slowly up my face and stares into my eyes. “You want me, Beautiful. And I sure as fuck want you. In my bed and in my life. Permanently. I’ll never be good enough for you—that’s for sure. But I’ll work hard to be the best man I can be for you. And I am going to prove to you that I want you, Beautiful.You.”

The look he gives me grabs me by the hand and pulls me underwater. I feel like I’m drowning in sensation and feelings.

He leans in and brushes his lips over my cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I’m still standing there when my door clicks closed behind him. My heart is no longer in my chest. It followed him out the door.

TWENTY-FOUR

“I’m sorry.” It’s the next morning, and Kaden is at my door with two cups of coffee in his hands and a contrite look on his face. “I steamrolled you last night, and I shouldn’t have.”

I step back, allowing him to come in, and shut the door behind him.

He holds out one of the coffees for me to take.

“Decaf?” I check.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks.” I blow on the steam rising from the sippy hole before taking a sip and then walk over and take a seat on the sofa.

Kaden sits down beside me. “I handled last night badly,” he says. “I don’t think I’m wrong in what I said—” He holds a hand up, stopping me when he sees I’m about to interject. “I do think it would be the best for all of us if you moved into my apartment. But I shouldn’t have come at you the way I did—telling you itwas happening instead of putting my suggestion forward. It was stupid and shitty of me, and I apologize.”

I chew over his words for a moment before putting him out of his misery. “Thank you for apologizing.”

“So…” He drags a hand through his hair, mussing it up. “Can we have a conversation about living arrangements and what the future will look like for the four of us? Or is it too soon after me acting like a caveman?”

The four of us.

I like the sound of that way more than I should.

Even though he pissed me off with what he said, I did spend the rest of last night thinking it over, and logistically, it does make sense for me and the twins to live with him. There’s barely enough room for me in this studio, let alone two babies, and financially, I’m not in a position to rent another place—a place outside of university housing that would fit the three of us would be well out of my price range.

Babies might be small to start with, but the amount of stuff they need in the beginning is staggering, and I’m going to need double the number of things.

Just the thought of the cost of what they’ll need makes me start to sweat.

Putting my coffee down, I shift in my seat so I’m facing him. “We can have a conversation about it.”

He lets out a breath. “Good. Okay. So, do you want to start, or should I?”

“You.” I want to hear how he’s going to put this—hopefully a lot better than he did last night.

“Right.” He holds his coffee in his hands, between his spread thighs, as he looks over at me. “Okay, so my thoughts are that, for practical purposes, you moving into my apartment would be good because I can be there for you to help with anything you need throughout the pregnancy, and when the twins are born, itwill save us from shuffling them between our places. Also, you moving into my place will mean the twins will have their own room, and so will you, obviously.”

“Obviously.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then he says, “So, what do you think?”

I have a sip of my coffee, just to drag it out. “I think you make good points. But I have concerns.”

“Tell me them, so we can iron them out.”

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