Page 107 of You're so Bad

“What do you think Constance would do to him?” he asks. “Teach him how to badly crochet?”

“Very funny. No, I was actually thinking about this last night. I’m going to ask Rafe if he can come by The Waiting Place this morning so we can give Reese a tour and maybe an art lesson. I figure he needs something good.”

“That’s mighty fine of you,” he says, pulling me in for a kiss. “I’m going to tell Burke about Reese,” he says in an undertone. “I don’t like keeping something like this from him. He’s got a right to know, especially since this is the kind of thing his parents could use against him. Plus, he’s smarter than I am. A problem solver. He’ll have ideas for—”

“Do I have to knee you in the nuts? Because you know I’m capable of it.”

“What’d I do this time?” he asks, his lips quirking slightly. I run my finger over them, and he sucks it in. It’s distracting, but I’m not going to let him distract me from this.

“Quit acting like you think you’re stupid.” I pull my finger back. “You’re not. You’re one of the most non-stupid people I know.”

“Careful, Tiger. That was almost a compliment.”

“You’re smart, Leonard. You’re capable. There’s your compliment.”

He’s grinning now. “If you want to puff me up, you could just tell me I have a big dick and be done with it.”

“But youknowyou have a big dick,” I say. “And this is the kind of stuff you need someone else to tell you.”

He kisses me, which is satisfying but also not satisfying, because I know he still doesn’t believe me. It’ll take a while, probably, but I’m nothing if not persistent.

We leave the room, and my heart takes on a nervous rhythm as we step into the hall. There’s the possibility Reese left and we didn’t hear him, but he’s there on the couch, nestled up in a blanket my grandmother crocheted. She may not be talented with her hook, but sheisprolific. Bertie is curled up right beneath him.

Reese looks so innocent, so young, and I feel my inner tiger flex her claws. I’d like to tear them through his foster father.

A smile settles on Leonard’s face, telling me he was worried too.

“I’m going to go wash up and text Rafe,” I say.

Leonard pats me on the butt as I go by him. Once I’m in the bathroom, I brush my teeth and poke out a message to Rafe.

Bless him, he’s not thrown.

But he does complain that I forgot to text him last night.

I was busy.

Gross. Don’t want to think about that.

Not with that, you ignoramus. With the kid showing up.

Fine. You get a pass.

With sex too, obviously, but that came first. You may not want to touch the worktable in The Clay Place anytime soon.

I hate you.

I just texted Sinclair. She’s good with offering the kid the job once he’s eighteen. I’ll meet you at The Waiting Place in an hour and a half. I’m still at the gym.

When I come out, Reese is up, and it takes everything in me not to laugh at the sight of him in my grandfather’s clothes. They’re both too short and too wide.

“I washed your clothes,” I tell him. “They’re in the dryer.”

“Oh, thank God. I thought we were going to have to be seen with him like this,” Leonard teases—and Reese is smiling as he goes off to retrieve them. Nana gave him the grand tour last night, and the house isn’t large enough that he’s forgotten where things go.

“You have a gift,” I tell Leonard in an undertone.

He lifts his eyebrows. “Are you still hyping up my bra trick?”

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