Page 49 of My Single Dad Biker

I'm in love with him.

The realization doesn't scare me the way I thought it would. It settles into my chest like something that was always going to be true and I just needed time to recognize it.

I'm in love with Holt. With his gruffness and his certainty and the way he loves his son.

With the way he sees me and the way he makes me feel seen. With the life he's building that has space for me in it.

I'm not ready to say it yet. Don't know if he's ready to hear it. But I know it's true the way I know anything true.

One week. That's all it took.

One week to fall completely in love with a man I didn't know existed eight days ago.

I fall asleep with his name on my lips and the certainty in my chest that this is permanent.

Tomorrow will come. Next week will come. Whatever Marrow is planning will come.

And I'll face all of it with Holt beside me.

Because I'm his. And he's mine.

And I love him.

Chapter 8 — Holt

Katherine is asleep in my bed when I wake up Saturday morning.

Third morning this week I've woken up with her here. She stayed Wednesday night after tacos. Thursday night because the routine felt right. Friday night after I asked. Now it's Saturday morning and it's starting to feel less like she's staying over and more like this is just where she belongs.

The room is still dark. Five-forty-five according to the clock on the nightstand.

I should get up and make coffee and start the day but I don't move yet. Just lie here watching her sleep.

She's on her side facing me with one hand tucked under her cheek. Her hair is spread across my pillow. Her breathing is deep and even. The sheet has slipped down to her waist and I can see the curve of her shoulder and the soft swell of her breast.

Ten days. That's how long I've known her.

Ten days since I saw her in that parking lot and something in my chest shifted before my brain understood why.

It feels longer. Feels like she's been in my bed and in my kitchen and in my life for years instead of days.

I reach out and run my fingers through her hair gently and she makes a small sound and shifts closer without waking. I pull her against me and she settles there like this is where she belongs.

It is where she belongs.

I know this the way I know anything certain. Katherine is mine. Permanently. And I'm going to tell her today.

I lie there for another ten minutes just holding her. Then I hear Louis's door open down the hall and his footsteps in the bathroom and I know I need to get up.

I ease out of bed and pull on jeans and a T-shirt. Katherine stirs but doesn't wake. I go downstairs and start coffee, and Louis appears in the kitchen five minutes later in pajamas with his hair sticking up.

"Morning," he says.

"Morning. You want pancakes?"

"Is Katherine making them?"

"She's still asleep."