“Finally, I feel like an adult,” Sharon said as she opened the door to Robert’s apartment. He and Julian were at work, but she had her own key now and could come and go as she pleased.

As Bhathian muscled her four suitcases through the door, his perpetual scowl deepened. “I still think you are jumping in too soon. What’s the haste? Two weeks out of transition and you’re rushing to move in with your boyfriend?”

Sharon stretched on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I’m a big girl, Daddy.” She made a mock sad face. “You have to let go.” Thinking of another way to needle him, she smirked. “Don’t think of it as losing a daughter, think of it as gaining a son.”

That had gotten rid of his scowl fast. Bhathian laughed. “I’m so glad you’re not my daughter. I don’t think I could’ve survived it if Nathalie fell for an ex-Doomer.”

Ouch. That hurt. Apparently, Robert was okay for Sharon but not for Bhathian’s precious Nathalie.

All joking aside, Sharon often thought of Bhathian as a father figure, which was strange given that he looked so young and that she hadn’t known that he was much older. It was even weirder to think that Nathalie was his and Eva’s child. The daughter looked older than her parents.

Heck, Sharon looked the same age as the man she often thought of as a stand-in father.

It must’ve been because of Eva, who was like a mother to her and her coworkers. As Eva’s partner, Bhathian became the daddy.

Except, there was more to it.

Bhathian was protective of the three of them, treating them as if they were Eva’s real children. Not that it was a bad thing. The two immortals had done a better job than Sharon’s own parents had, whom she’d never felt at home with. Eva and she, however, had clicked from day one.

Maybe that was the reason it proved harder wrapping her head around the fact that Eva was Nathalie’s birth mother than all the other immortal business put together.

Eva belonged to her, Nick, and Tessa. Not Nathalie.

“Where do you want me to put the suitcases?” Bhathian asked.

“The walk-in closet. Follow me.” She led him down the hallway.

“You should have waited until it was time to move to the village. Now you’ll have to schlep your things twice.”

Sharon opened the closet door and motioned for Bhathian to go ahead. “Robert is not moving until Kian does, you know that. And Kian is not going to move until everyone else other than those working directly under him move. It will take weeks. Maybe even months.”

Bhathian lined the suitcases up against the wall. “Eva and I are waiting for Nick to transition before we move. If not for that boy, we would’ve been one of the first families to settle in the village.”

“Yeah, about that. What if it never happens for him?”

Sharon turned off the lights as they left the closet.

“I have faith in Eva.” Bhathian wrapped his arm around her as they exited the room. “She insisted from the start that the three of you were Dormants. She was right about Tessa and you. She is probably right about Nick too.”

Maybe. But he was such a dork. Eva would have her baby before Nick made a move on Ruth, who Sharon now knew was another immortal.

“Would you like a beer? Julian stocks that Snake Venom all of you guys love.”

Bhathian’s perpetual scowl was replaced by a face-splitting grin. “I knew there was a reason I always liked that boy.”

“As if that’s the only reason to like Julian.” Sharon pulled a bottle out from the fridge and handed it to Bhathian.

He popped the cap and took a swig. “He is a fine lad. His mother should be proud.”

“Oh, she is. Bridget adores him.”

Bhathian cast her a questioning glance. “What about you, Sharon, do you fancy the young doctor?”

Men were all idiots. A girl couldn’t say a nice thing about a guy without them thinking she wanted to jump his bones.

“He is Robert’s roommate, and I like him. But Robert is the one for me.”

Bhathian lifted the beer bottle to his mouth. “A pity. Julian is a better catch.”

The punch she delivered to his bicep hurt her more than it hurt him. “You’re like an old yenta. The doctor title makes you swoon.”

Bhathian sat on a barstool, his back to the kitchen counter, his long legs sprawled before him. “It’s not only that. The lad is good-looking and good-natured. If I were a female, I would’ve fancied him.”

“He is too shiny for me.”

“Shiny? What does that mean?”

“I don’t want to walk into a restaurant with a guy who is better looking than me, or watch other women undress him with their eyes. Robert is handsome too, but not in a flashy way like Julian. He might get a few second looks, but no open-mouthed salivating. Do you get the difference?”

Bhathian nodded, though he didn’t look convinced. “Yeah, maybe it’s a female thing. I like seeing men sneak glances at Eva and look at me with envy in their eyes because I walk in with a beauty like her.”

“Does it not make you jealous?”

“Nah.” He flexed one of his bulging biceps. “With me around, no one would dare anything.”

Sharon rolled her eyes. “Your impressive muscles notwithstanding, one withering look from Eva is more effective as a deterrent. Men don’t mess with her.”

“The smart ones don’t.” He flexed again. “But these babies are backup in case some moron with no survival instincts decides to bother her.”