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I frowned.
She angled her head. “That we’re what you’ve been missing.”
Twenty minutes later, the kitchen was cleaned and popcorn was popped.
Apparently, the thing River had needed to take care of when he’d left was going by my apartment to ensure no one had been there, though he’d returned with a duffle bag full of my things.
I hadn’t known whether to be angry over the clear overstep—the invasion of privacy—or be grateful, though I could say for certain that it didn’t surprise me.
He wasn’t exactly the kind of guy who played by rules and boundaries.
I’d gone upstairs to a guest room he’d said was mine for as long as I needed it and had changed into a pair of sweats and a tank before I’d come back downstairs.
Raven was still up in her room, changing, too.
Nolan had a big plastic bowl tucked against his chest, his little arms barely able to circle around it. “All ready! I get to pick the movie.”
“You always do,” River mumbled from behind me, though there was nothing aggravated in his tone, just that gruff support he always seemed to carry when it came to the child.
“Dad,” Nolan drew out with a longsuffering sigh. “Thought we already figured it out that I have really good taste.”
Amusement rippled through me as I followed Nolan out of the kitchen. The floors were cool on my bare feet, and the very last vestiges of the light were getting sucked away by the darkness that crawled across the sky.
I was surprised when Nolan bypassed the oversized sofa in the family room and instead carried on down the hall that ran to the other side of the house to a set of double doors on the left.
“Open it up, Daddy-O,” he called, kicking out a foot since both of his hands were occupied with the popcorn.
“Yes, sir,” River teased, those murky eyes gleaming when he angled around and let his gaze wash over me. He opened the door and stood aside.
Nolan rushed in, and the little guy shifted around to shower me in his excitement. “Look it, Miss Charleigh! We got our very own movie theater. What do you think?”
Okay, it wasn’t quite a movie theater, but it was impressive.
An enormous black leather sectional faced a giant screen that covered the entirety of the wall on our right, plus about six different beanbags that looked like they were made for two people were tossed randomly on the floor in front of it. Throw pillows and blankets were strewn all over the place.
Movie posters lined the walls.
All cartoons.
Nolan had started for the couch when he whirled around. “Oh, wait, I forgot somethin’ really very important.”
He came beelining back my direction, sending kernels of popcorn slinging over the sides of the bowl. “Hold this for me for only one minute. I’ll be right back so fast.”
He shoved the bowl into my hands before he went blazing back through the door, and I could hear the pounding of his little feet as he clambered up the hardwood stairs to the second level above.
In it, the air shifted, and I could feel River’s presence swell behind me. The second we were alone, his being rising high and taking over.
A pillar in the darkness that towered over me.
Warily, I turned to look back at him, trying to school my nerves that went sailing through me at the sight of him.
Standing in the doorway, shoulders so wide that they nearly touched each side. His expression fierce and indulgent.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, voice scraping in that gruff way as he took a step deeper into the enclosed, dimly-lit room.
The thud of his boots reverberated the ground and sent a shiver rolling through me. “Better.”
His stormy gaze raked over me as if he were searching for proof. “Good.”
