Kate led Colt to her small cottage a couple blocks away from Shuckers, past the white picket fence and onto a quaint porch with a swing.

After she unlocked the front door, she faced him. Her expression was guarded, yet hopeful. “You said you wanted to know me. You’re going to learn a lot about me just by seeing inside my home.”

He snaked a hand around her neck, then leaned in and brushed his lips across hers. “Nothing inside that house can scare me.”

A skeptical look spread across her face. “You don’t think?” She opened the front door, then flipped a switch, turning on two lamps in a front living room.

The room was decorated with a white, slipcovered sofa and oversized chair, lightly colored or painted wood tables, and soft lighting. To the right was a dining table under a shabby chic chandelier. Colt could see a kitchen straight ahead through an arched doorway.

“This isn’t so bad,” Colt joked. “Nothing scary so far.” Kate’s style was relaxed, yet neat and welcoming. It was the kind of home where you could put your feet up, while still remembering to use a coaster.

“It’s not much. You’ve got the living room, the dining room.” She pointed to the table. She headed toward a hallway, pointing to the kitchen as they went. “The kitchen is here.” So far everything was obvious. “Here’s a bathroom on the left. Back there is my room.” She gestured to the door at the end of the hallway. “And this is Sarah’s room.” On the right, across from the bathroom, Kate pushed a door open and flipped on an overhead light.

The room was a simple white room with a white dresser against one wall and a bed against the other. On the dresser was a pink lamp. The bed was decorated with a fluffy white comforter and a quilt folded at the end in shades of pink, baby blue, and other pastel colors.

“Sarah is my four-year-old daughter.”

Kate leaned against the doorjamb with her arms crossed. Colt looked over at her. She was staring at him, most likely looking for—and expecting—a reaction. He looked at the room again, careful not to give her one prematurely, and focused on the chest under the front window. The lid to the chest was lifted, and toys were scattered in front of it.

Kate had a daughter. He most certainly had not seen that coming.

“Okay. Well,” Kate said. “I need to shower the restaurant off of me. So, I’m going to leave you here to think things over.” She uncrossed her arms and took a step closer to him. She placed a hand gently on his cheek. “You told me that you were a SEAL. I know what that type of commitment means and how the members of your unit sometimes come first above all else. I invited you into my house, and I felt I should give you a tiny glimpse into my life. Sarah is just one of the things about me that I’m one hundred percent committed to, above all else. I won’t blame you for one second if you leave while I’m in the shower. As a matter of fact, I would prefer that you leave right now if this gives you even a shred of doubt. No hard feelings.”

Kate turned and headed toward her bedroom, leaving him standing in front of her daughter’s room.

Colt walked around Sarah’s room. Studied the S and the W above her bed. Sarah Ward. Colt remembered Kate’s friend saying her last name last night, but Kate hadn’t told him that, and he hadn’t shared his. They hadn’t traded phone numbers. He was just now discovering she had a child.

Did a child change things? Colt wondered. He heard the sound of her shower turning on.

He walked back out to the living room and lifted a photograph from a shelf. It was of Kate and a little girl he presumed was Sarah. Kate’s blonde hair framed her face, and she wore a big, happy smile—bigger than Colt had seen on her face since he’d met her. Sarah resembled her mother, except Sarah had long, dark brown hair. She, too, was smiling, and he felt a tug at his heart. The two of them were a family. Something he wanted, eventually, but was he ready for assimilating into an already existing family unit? With a woman he’d only just met?

Colt studied Kate’s smile again, and something about it made him wish more than anything that he could be the one to put that kind of smile on her face. She had such sad eyes at times, but he sensed a longing for something under the surface—something that not even Kate could voice. The way she smiled with her daughter in this picture made him imagine that Sarah was most of the reason that Kate was so hesitant to get involved with a man.

“What happened to your father?” Colt wondered aloud at Sarah’s picture. “Is he the reason your mom is so gun shy?” Colt’s heart beat faster, and a fire sparked in his gut when he considered that Sarah’s father might have harmed Kate or Sarah. Maybe that was why she was so careful.

He placed the picture back and thought about Kate at the diner last night. They talked about so many things, and he was certain, even at the current moment, that she had been showing him the real Kate. He didn’t care what her past was about. They’d just met, and he wanted to get to know her, and she him. Now, she knew that he was a SEAL, and she didn’t send him away. Not completely anyway, and not because of his career. And he knew she had a daughter—a beautiful little girl as much a part of her as his unit was of him.

Knowing Kate had a daughter didn’t change anything, yet it changed everything. He wanted more. He couldn’t explain how it had happened so fast, but he wanted to see whatever this was between them through to the end.

He made his way down the hallway to her room. He could hear the water running in the bathroom and imagined her amazing body in the shower… every incredible curve. He wanted her so badly right then, but he wanted her to know that it wasn’t about sex.

So he turned and walked to the kitchen. Maybe she had a bottle of wine or beer. What did she drink? She’d had vodka the night before.

He searched through the cabinets and didn’t find any hard liquor or wine. There was no alcohol in the refrigerator. When he closed the refrigerator and stood, Kate was there.

She stood in the doorway with a towel wrapped around her. Her blonde hair, darkened with water, dripped on her shoulders. “I thought you were gone,” she said barely above a whisper.

“I couldn’t leave.”

She looked down at her feet and curled her toes uncomfortably. When she looked up again, tears swam in those great big brown eyes that were becoming so dear to him. “Why didn’t you leave? You should have left.”

He wanted to step to her and wipe her tears away, but he hesitated. Maybe the tears were necessary for what needed to happen next. “You said Sarah is just one of the things that you’re one hundred percent committed to above all else. What else is there?”

She looked away. “I shouldn’t have said it that way.”

“But you did.” Colt studied her.

Water continued to drip from her hair. The tears that were there a moment ago were gone, blinked away by pure determination to put up a strong front. Whatever happened in her past—and something did happen—still haunted her, yet she was strengthened by it. He had thought yesterday there was something in her eyes in addition to the sadness. He knew now that it was determination—determination to do what was best for Sarah.

Colt approached her now. Her eyes glued to his. She still hadn’t answered the question. He knew they would come back to it.

He reached up and tugged at the towel, pulling it loose from her body. She did nothing to stop him. As he drank her in—her perfect breasts, the dips inward at her waist, and her smooth skin—her breathing sped up. Would she push him away? Or was she glad that he had stayed. His eyes traveled the length of her body then back until he met her gaze again. “You are so beautiful.” He swallowed hard. “And I’m here. You promised me at least the night.” But he would want more after that.

“Are you sure?” she asked in a small voice, her eyes looking more hopeful when she spoke this time.

“One hundred percent.”

She threw her arms around him and kissed him. She devoured his lips with a hunger he hadn’t felt from a woman in a long time, if ever. Somehow, he had gotten through to her at least for the moment. Maybe she craved a man’s touch for however long it lasted. He hoped he could convince her she deserved it beyond one additional night.

He wasn’t sure what he could promise her at this point in his life, but he also knew he wasn’t ready to turn his back on her either.

He bent down and scooped up her legs while keeping his lips on hers. He carried her to her bed. They still had a lot to discover about each other, and they would start with this.