Zandra
The instant our lips touched, a fire ripped through me. I knew it then, without a shadow of a doubt, that my body had been claimed by this man from the first moment he’d touched my skin all those years ago. No one could do to me what Kane did.
Now all we had to get past was the fact that we shared a child.
His arms went around me as he pushed me back against the side of his car. One hand fisted in my hair, pulling it in a way that had my panties soaked instantly. His body pinned mine to the car, his cock thumped against my sex, and I knew that if we weren’t in public, he would’ve taken me right then—and I would’ve loved it.
But we were in public, a fact Dr. Price knew too. His mouth left mine. We were both breathing in short pants as we stared at each other. “Come home with me, Zandra.”
“’K.” I ran my fingertips over his clean-shaven face. “I think we can work things out, Kane.”
“I think I need you in my bed, Zandra.” His lips touched mine for only a second. “And then we can go from there.”
In his bed!
“’K.” Butterflies filled my tummy as he took my hand, leading me up to my apartment.
“Pack a bag, baby. You’re staying the night.” He stopped outside the door, and then turned to face me. “Let’s keep this under wraps when we’re in front of Fox, though. There’s no need to further complicate things with him.”
I understood that we couldn’t be all over each other in front of the kid, but I kind of felt like he wanted to keep me a secret. “For now.”
With a nod, he let my hand go then opened the door. Fox sat on the sofa with a glass of chocolate milk in his hand. “Fox, what the hell is that?” Kane asked him.
“Chocolate milk, Dad. Taylor made it for me.” Fox looked over his shoulder at Taylor, who still hanging around in her itty-bitty bikini.
Kane looked at me. “I don’t let him have sugar, chocolate, or cow’s milk, Zandra.”
I couldn’t believe what he’d said. “Are you serious?”
He nodded, then looked back at Fox. “And you know I don’t let you have any of those things. Go pour it out, wash that glass, and put it away.” Kane looked at me. “Go pack.”
“Aw, man. I didn’t even get one sip of it,” Fox whined as he got up to do what his father had told him to.
I headed to my bedroom to pack. “Should I bring anything special? Like, what’s the plan for today?”
“I’m going to cook us dinner out on the grill,” he told me. “Just like Fox has wanted since a week ago today.”
Fox shouted, “Yeah! And you told her to pack a bag. Does that mean she’s staying the night with us?”
“Yes, it does. I think she needs to be around us so she can learn our rules, son.” Kane’s tone turned stern. “That way you won’t be able to take advantage of her for not knowing what’s allowed and what’s not.”
Fox looked very guilty all of a sudden. “You’re right. Sorry, Dad.”
I left the room to pack and couldn’t help the thrill that ran through me.
Kane’s taking me home!
When I finished packing and the three of us headed out the door, I went to get into my car. “Did you leave something in there?” Kane asked me.
“No.” I turned to look at him. “I thought I would drive my car over. You know, so you don’t have to bother with me in the morning when you take Fox to school and go to work.”
Kane shook his head. “It’s no bother at all. Besides, I want to take you to the school and get you signed up to drop him off and pick him up. If we’re going to do this, then we’re going to do it right. So come on and get in my car; you’re riding with us.”
I had no idea what had suddenly gotten into Kane. He’d spent all of last week keeping me and Fox from spending time together. Now he was including me in everything.
I wasn’t about to complain, though.
He opened the passenger door for me as Fox got into the backseat. “Thank you.” I sat down, taking in the decadent, creamy leather seats in his Mercedes. “This is a very nice car, Kane.”
“Thanks.” He closed my door then went around, getting in the driver’s seat.
Fox buckled his seat belt, sitting in the middle seat. “Okay, Mom, lesson number one, I always sit in the middle seat in the back. It’s the safest place in the vehicle.” His father smiled, looking proud of Fox for letting me in on the rules. Then Fox added, “Now, if you guys have another baby, then the baby will go here, and I’ll take one of the other seats in the back. And that way I can help with the baby, too. You know, give him a bottle or his binky. That’s what my friend Josh does with his baby sister. His mom calls him her little helper.”
Kane looked at me and I felt my cheeks heating. “Blushing, huh?” He snickered. “Get ready to be doing that a lot. Kids don’t really have much of a filter. At least, ours doesn’t.”
Ours!
Everything felt surreal. Our little family was taking our first drive together. And we were heading to the home that I thought we might share one day, if everything worked out.
I knew I was getting ahead of myself, but I just couldn’t help it.
Fox piped up, “Yeah, Mom, when I think it, it comes out of my mouth.”
“Good to know.” A smile took up residence on my face, and it stayed there during the entire ride to their home.
Their home that was located in the Charleston Country Club community. Their home that was more like a mansion than any home I’d ever seen.
“Here we are,” Fox called out as Kane pulled into a horseshoe driveway and then into one of the stalls of his six-car garage.
“You’ve done extremely well for yourself, Kane, even for a doctor.” I got out of the car and looked at the other stalls. One had a tall, four-wheel-drive truck in it. One had a Chevy Suburban in it. There was a motorcycle in another one, and the rest of the spaces were empty. “You’ve got a lot of vehicles in here.”
Fox hopped out of the car, coming up behind me. “Yeah, Dad’s got lots of cars and stuff. The boat’s in the shop, getting ready for the summer. And the yacht stays at the marina.”
“Damn.” I caught my slip up. “I mean, dang.”
Kane went to the door then stopped abruptly. “Come here, Zandra. I need to show you how to use the alarm system.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I didn’t think I would need to be in their home without them in it. “Why would I need to know that?”
“Just in case,” he said as he waved his arm, gesturing for me to go to him.
Which I did. “Okay, I guess so.”
He pointed at the pad. “Okay, I want you to do it. Punch in twelve fifteen, then hit the green button.”
The number hit me like a brick in the chest. “Twelve fifteen?”
“Yes.” His smile grew. “Does that number mean anything to you?”
“It’s the time my baby was born.” I looked at Fox. “It was the time you were born.”
“Yeah, I know. Dad uses that number for everything. He says it was the instant that his life changed,” Fox let me know.
“It was for me, too.” My heart skipped a beat.
Kane had to be the best father in the entire world. Our son was lucky he had him. And I hoped I might get lucky enough to have him too, one day. And hopefully that day wouldn’t be too far away in the future. But for the time being, I was happy just getting to spend time with the two of them.
We walked into an enormous kitchen with gadgets that I didn’t even know existed. “Oh my gosh! Do you have a cook who knows how to run all this stuff?”
Kane laughed. “No. I know how to run all this stuff, Zandra. And I can teach you if you want.”
I was in over my head and knew it. “You’re a lot smarter than I realized you were, Kane Price. I mean, a doctor, and apparently some kind of a financial genius as well, and now I find out you’re a master chef, too. All I can say is … wow.”
“Yep. Dad’s got it all, Mom. And he knows how to work on cars and motorcycles too.” Fox beamed at his father, pride radiating through him. It was clear his dad was his hero—and I couldn’t fault him for that. I was started to think Kane might be my hero too.
Kane finally looked the slightest bit sheepish. “Well, I know a little bit. I still let my mechanic handle the majority of those kinds of things.” He took my hand. “Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the place.”
As we passed through one room after another, I realized there was at least one more thing to add to the list of things he’d mastered. The man knew how to decorate a home. “I can’t believe you did all this, Kane.”
“All what?” he asked as we stopped in front of a painting that was clearly meant to be the focal point in the foyer.
I held my arms out then spun around. “All this decorating.”
“Oh, Dad didn’t do that. Aunt Nancy did,” Fox informed me. “Dad, can I take her upstairs and show her my bedroom now?”
“Yeah. I’ll let you show her around up there while I get the pit going. I’ve got some pecan wood I want to use, and it’ll need time to burn down and get all smoky.” Kane left us, giving me a wink. “Be good, Momma.”
I had no idea how he did it, but with just a couple of words, Kane had me going weak in the knees again.
Fox grabbed me by the hand, taking my attention away from the sight of Kane’s backside as he retreated. “Come on, Mom.”
“Your dad sure has changed his way of thinking, hasn’t he?” I asked as we went to a staircase made out of shiny oak.
“Probably ’cause Aunt Nancy and Uncle James talked to him.” He led me up the stairs, tugging my hand as we ascended to the second floor. “Those guys always help me out the most when it comes to Dad. He listens to ’em.”
“That’s good to hear. When do you think I’ll get to meet them?” I went into his bedroom with him, finding it decorated with sailboats and ships. “Pretty nice, Fox. I like the nautical theme.”
“Yeah, me too. I really like it when we go out on our boats. I like the ocean a lot. But I like lakes too. I guess I just like water.” He walked over to a large model of a ship. “You’ll probably get to meet them soon. Me and Dad worked on this for a whole month last year. Do you like it?”
“It’s great.” I ran my hand over one of the flat pieces of the ship. “Do you know what kind of a ship it is?”
“It’s an aircraft carrier.” He pointed to the name on the side of it. “It’s the U.S.S. Lexington. Me and Dad went to Corpus Christi, Texas, last summer and we saw it in person. It’s ginormous!”
“It sounds like you two had a great time.” I looked around the bright room and thought how lucky he was to get to live the way he did. Not in a million years had I pictured the baby boy I’d had to give up living such a tremendous life.
“We did. We always have a good time. Most of the time Dad and me get along pretty good, even if he is stricter than any of my friends’ parents.” He walked toward the door. “Come on, I’ll show you the rest of upstairs. There’s a media room and a room just for playing around, with all kinds of fun toys. And four rooms for guests. But the only guests we’ve ever had stay over are Grammy and Gramps. And now you.” He opened the door across the hall from his. “This is Dad’s bedroom.”
My heart sped up. “It is?” I peered in, and then Fox turned on the overhead light. “It’s nice.” Done in dark brown and teal, it also had the slightest hint of a nautical theme, but more like a ship’s captain’s quarters.
“Yeah, I think it’s pretty good too.” Fox closed the door, and we went on to the next room.
One door after another, he showed me the entire second floor. And then we went down to join his father in the backyard. We found Kane at a large stone patio, where he was building a fire in his big barbeque pit. “There they are. Did you get the grand tour, Zandra?”
“I did. Fox is an excellent tour guide. And I saw the ship model you two built. It’s impressive.” I took the glass of iced tea he handed me, our fingers touching slightly as it changed hands. Even just that little contact had my tummy getting tight.
“Glad you liked it.” The way his green eyes sparkled as he looked into mine made that tight tummy do a flip. “Did you see my bedroom?”
I looked away to see where Fox was. He was getting something out of a storage room, out of hearing distance for now. Then I looked back at Kane. “I did.”
“I’m putting you in the room right next to mine. Maybe you’ll see fit to sneak into mine later tonight.” He made a low growl. “If you can be quiet enough that Fox won’t hear us.”
Now I was wet too. “Kane Price, you’re terrible.” I hit him lightly on the shoulder as I smiled coyly at him.
“You think?” He looked to see if Fox was watching, and when he saw that he wasn’t looking at us at all, he swatted my ass. “I think you’ve been bad. Maybe you need a little spanking.”
My body flushed with heat. “Kane, you’ve got to stop. You’re killing me.” I took a long drink of the iced tea to cool myself down.
He smiled cockily, pleased with himself for the state he’d put me in. “Why don’t you take a seat right there at that table while I go grab the meat to put on the pit?” He walked away from me, and I had to fan myself.
“You hot?” Fox asked as he came up right behind me.
Startled, I asked, “What?”
“Hot? Are you hot, Mom?” he asked again. “I can turn on the sprinkler if you are. It helps cool things off.”
“Oh.” I pulled my head out of my ass. “No, that’s not necessary.”
Holding up a baseball, he asked, “Wanna throw the ball with me?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I sure do.”
The two of them were making me feel right at home. I had never imagined being a part of any home, never mind this beautiful one with my son and his father.
It was like a dream come true, a dream I hadn’t even dared to imagine. Life was changing in ways I’d had no idea were even possible.