Killian Read online

  because he's trying to spare me from having to have an uncomfortable conversation with Chloe.

  I take a deep breath before I say what I say next, because I think it's the riskiest thing I've ever said. This is jumping in with both feet, free-falling into nothing.

  "Killian?" I ask.

  "Yeah?"

  "Stay."

  "Stay. . .?"

  I nod. "For breakfast." I take a deep breath. Jumping, falling. "You should stay."

  Killian stands there unmoving, his face impassive. For a second, I wonder if he even wants to stay at all, especially after my confession last night. Maybe he's rethinking this whole thing. He has his bachelor pad in the mountains, and he's used to living by himself. Maybe –

  His answer jolts me out of my thoughts. "I told you I'd grow on you."

  "What?"

  A slow grin spreads across his face. "Careful what you wish for, cupcake. You invite me to stay, I might not ever leave." He clears his throat. "You got that waffle-maker downstairs? I know you think you have the monopoly on baked goods and all, but I do make a fucking fantastic waffle."

  Downstairs, Killian makes us breakfast like it's the most normal thing in the world, while I hold my breath, watching Chloe's reaction, wondering if I did the right thing by asking him to stay.

  I just invited him into my life in a big way. Our lives.

  Chloe waits until we're at the table and she's taken a bite of her waffle before she starts asking questions. "Are you living here?"

  "I have my cabin I live in," Killian says. "But I might hang around here a little more often. If it's okay with you."

  "Okay, sure." Chloe shrugs one shoulder nonchalantly. "But will you show me how to fish?"

  He glances over at me. After a moment's thought, I nod my approval.

  "You bet," he answers with a smile.

  37

  Killian

  "Hell has officially frozen over." Luke stands in the doorway of his house with arms crossed over his chest as Autumn walks up behind him, closely trailed by Olivia.

  "What's frozen over? And why are you two standing in the doorway? You're going to let the flies in. Come inside or get out onto the porch."

  I back up as Luke and Autumn step outside, closing the front door behind them. Olivia squeals, rushing across the porch and heading straight for a lizard darting across the floor. "Get bug!"

  Luke points at me, talking to Autumn. "This man my brother Killian Saint, a man whose photo you would see under the word 'recluse' in the dictionary is inviting all of us – let me emphasize the words all of us – to his cabin. To meet his girlfriend. And her daughter."

  "When you say it like that, it sounds completely ridiculous." Even so, I can't hide the grin that's been plastered across my face for the past few weeks. I know I look like an idiot with this goofy smile, but I can't seem to help myself. I wonder if this is how I'm going to look permanently. The past few weeks have been filled with more grinning – more laughter – than I thought was ever going to be possible for me. Lily has actually given in and let me help out regularly at the store, although I think it's mostly so she can get a piece of me in her office during working hours.

  I think it's also so she can fend off the college girls who want to leave their numbers for me, even though when I suggested that as a possibility, she rolled her eyes and stormed off into the kitchen. So, I picked her up, carried her into the office, slid up her skirt, and showed her how much I think of the stupid college girls who wander into the bakery and try to flirt with me.

  Last weekend, the three of us went hiking – me, Lily, and Chloe. Chloe was full of a million questions about absolutely everything on the trail, and I got to show her bugs and some of the plants that grow wild out on the mountain. She was like a little sponge, soaking up all the information, and it was pretty awesome.

  Autumn's arms around me shake me out of my thoughts. "I'm so happy for you, Killian!"

  I can feel my cheeks burning. "Honestly, you guys act like it's some kind of miracle that I'm seeing someone."

  Autumn glances at Luke. "No…" Luke says.

  "Shut up, Luke."

  "We're delighted to come up to the cabin, Killian. Right, Luke?" Autumn asks.

  Luke laughs. "Aww. You look so adorable with that grin on your face."

  "I'm not too adorable to slap the –" I pause for a second, glancing at Olivia. "Crap out of you."

  "Oh, God." Lily looks down at her cell phone.

  "Mom, I'm ready!" Chloe bounces into the living room, clad in a yellow shirt with the words "Too Awesome!" in pink glitter across the front, pink jeans, sneakers that light up when she walks, and a purple floppy hat with a giant brim. She's holding her tackle box and the pink fishing pole I picked up at Connie C.'s store.

  "Wow, that's quite the ensemble." Lily looks at me and grins. "Obviously, she's not been looking forward to this at all."

  "I have been!" Chloe squeals. "I want to go fishing!"

  "You might find that it's a little more boring than you'd think it would be. There's a lot of waiting around and doing nothing," I warn her.

  Chloe sighs loudly. "Are we going already?"

  Lily looks down at her phone, then back at me, her forehead furrowed. "One of the groomsmen in Amy Porter's wedding had a little too much B-O-O-Z-E before the ceremony and put his hand into the wedding cake. She's about to walk down the aisle and she's texting me a photo of the cake." She turns the phone around and shows me the photo of the mangled cake. "She's really upset."

  "Why are you spelling things?" Chloe asks. "Boos? What's boos? Like a ghost? Who wants a ghost at their wedding? That's crazy."

  "I really want to go fishing, but I also need to swing by a wedding and fix a cake," Lily says.

  Chloe groans. "Mo-om, no. You promised we could go fishing."

  "I'm sorry, baby. I – crap. Maybe –"

  "I can take her down to the park," I interrupt. "I mean, if that's okay with you. Go fix the cake and just meet us there."

  "Yeah!" Chloe yells. "You can meet us there. Come on."

  I half-expect Lily to say fuck no, you're not taking my kid fishing by yourself. She stares at me, obviously considering whether or not I'm going to let Chloe play with matches and run with scissors. Or go waterskiing in the pond or something.

  "Okay," Lily says, and I nearly have a heart attack.

  "Okay?" I ask, because I'm not sure I heard her correctly.

  "Okay," she repeats, smiling. "I'm not going to be that long. I'll meet you at the park."

  Chloe hoots and hollers as she bounces across the living room, her shoes echoing loudly as she heads down the hallway toward the front door. "Come on, Killian!"

  "Are you sure?" I ask. My hands slide around her back and I pull her against me. "I know this is a big deal."

  She looks up at me, her eyes smiling. "I know. So don't fuck it up."

  "That's some sage advice." I kiss her lightly on the lips, then a second and a third time. God, I can't get over how it feels to have this woman around so much. The more I'm around her, the more I want to be around her.

  "Gross. Eww, kissing." Chloe materializes, yelling loudly. "Super, super gross. Barf. Barf all over the floor."

  Lily laughs and steps back. "I'll see you guys at the park in like thirty minutes. An hour, tops. Don't let her run with sharp objects. Or swim in the pond. You hear me, Chloe? There are snapping turtles in that pond. Do not get too close to the edge, Chloe. Don't let her too close to the edge, Killian."

  "No swimming. No sharp objects. No getting close to the edge. Check, check, and check."

  Chloe sighs again. "Come on already."

  Half an hour later, Lily texts me to say that the cake repair is taking slightly longer than expected. Chloe and I are cool, though, sitting in the grass beside the pond with her little fishing pole in the water. She was beside herself with excitement for the first fifteen minutes, but she's since declared fishing really boring.

  "It's just waiting," she procla