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“Hi.”
Delilah released her death grip on Cassie and stepped back.
“And bye, I guess.” Cassie ruffled Delilah’s hair. “It’s past your bedtime, right?”
Delilah frowned. “Daddy, can Cassie read me a story? Please?”
Cassie looked at Pres and back at Delilah. He lifted a brow, and she shrugged.
He was okay with it if she was. It felt churlish to send her away after she saved his ass, anyway.
And she didn’t seem to baulk at the idea either. She looked kind of pleased.
“Just one story. That’s it,” Presley warned Delilah, because he knew what she was like.
“Yes!” Delilah did a fist bump and stepped aside so Cassie could walk in. Pres leaned around her to pull the door closed, his arm brushing her chest.
“Sorry. Old habits.”
“It’s okay. No harm done.” She sounded almost breathless. Weird how he felt the same.
He pressed himself back against the wall as she stepped inside and looked around the hallway, as though taking it in.
It was painted white with warm wooden floors, photos of Delilah and his family – along with a few of Jade – fixed to the wall. Mostly taken by his mom.
“You have a big family,” she said, her gaze washing over them.
“Yeah. They’re a lot. Family get-togethers are a blast.”
She smiled softly.
“Come to my room,” Delilah urged, tugging at Cassie’s hand. “It’s a princess room.” She was grinning from ear to ear. “It’s pink. To make the boys wink.”
Pres rolled his eyes. “Did Gramps teach you that?”
“He might have,” Delilah said. “It rhymes. Like a poem.”
Cassie laughed, and he grinned too. “Come on then,” he said. “Let’s get you into bed and ready for a story.”
“Not you. Just Cassie,” Delilah said.
And fuck if that didn’t feel like the softest of knives to the heart.
“You okay if I go up with her?” Cassie’s eyes met his.
He nodded. “Have at it.” Delilah blew him a kiss, and that softened the blow a little, as she led Cassie up the stairs while he stood at the bottom.
Not looking at Cassie’s ass at all.
Nope.
When they’d disappeared from view he sat on the bottom step. When was the last time a woman he wasn’t related to was in this house? He frowned, trying to think. His mom came over all the time, of course. Occasionally bringing along one of his aunts.
And his girl cousins would come over to spend time with him and Delilah, too. Grace was his oldest female cousin, but there was Sabrina, his younger, wilder cousin, too. He had the worrying feeling that Delilah took after her.
Or she would. When she was grown up.
“See, it’s pink,” he heard Delilah saying to Cassie.
