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Bane kissed me on the cheek and strode from the room, leaving me with Bianca.
“Can I help?” I needed something to do with this nervous energy vibrating through me.
“Sure. You can start tossing the salad for me.” She pointed at a large bowl filled with green leaves and red and yellow peppers. “So, how did you meet my little brother?”
I paused, then got with the program again. “At work.” That seemed like a safe reply.
Her brows shot up. “You’re a Doll?”
“Ah, no. Not one of them.” Jesus, even I could hear the disdain in my voice for them. “He and my brother have a working relationship, and I met Bane through him.”
She hitched a hand onto her hip. “Younger or older?”
“Younger,” I reply with a grin.
“Hells yes. Little brothers are such a headache, right?”
A smile pulled at my lips. I liked Bianca. Where Bane was gruff, she was friendly. Where he was aloof, she was open. She smiled a lot more too. “My brother could win awards with the headaches he’s caused me.”
She snorted and got back to chopping. “I don’t know… Bane caused his fair share for me, too.”
“Oh?”
“To say he was wild when he was a kid is an understatement. He was always getting into trouble, but do you know what? He was always there when I needed him, too. He may be younger, but he’s protective of me.”
“I can see that trait in him,” I reply. I looked up when I heard Bane walk back into the room, a little girl cradled in his arms. Fuck, my ovaries may have just exploded because seeing him with a baby made my womb ache. He walked over to us, a smirk on his face. I was trying really hard to connect the man I thought I knew to the man I know, and to the man I was being shown now.
Bianca put down the knife, wiped her hands, and rounded the counter. “There’s my beautiful girl,” she cooed to her daughter.
“She’s gotten big,” Bane commented, staring down at the swaddled bundle.
“You would know that if you visited more often,” Bianca volleyed back, and I got the distinct impression this was an old argument.
“You know how busy I am.”
She stroked the baby’s head. “I know.”
Bane looked up and locked eyes with me. There was such warmth in them. “This is the other female love of my life,” he said. “Valentine.”
Wiping my hands, I walked toward him and peeked inside the blankets. The baby girl blinked up at me with dark blue eyes, eyes that were very aware of her surroundings. She had a shock of dark hair and the most perfect nose and cupid mouth.
“She’s beautiful,” I murmured.
“Yeah, she is,” Bane rumbled in reply, and I looked up to find him staring at me. Flushing, I walked back to my salad-tossing station.
“How old is she?”
“Four months,” Bianca replied.
“And where does she get her dark hair from, your side or her daddy’s?”
“James has blond hair, too, as does all his family, so I think she’ll probably have the same hair as Bane.”
Bane smiled at that.
“Why don’t you two go and sit down. I can take it from here.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
