Chapter Eight
Connor finished washing the last of the dishes in Katie’s sink, trying to help out where he could while she gave Val a bath and got her ready for bed. For the most part, everything was put away and cleaned up, thanks to Avery staying to help speed up the process.
But now everyone was gone for the evening, and after four hours of continuous birthday festivities and activities, Val had been smudged with dirt, sticky from cake and candy, as well a little grumpy from being so exhausted. Connor had witnessed his first toddler tantrum and meltdown when Katie had to take away the soft, plush unicorn that he’d given to Val as one of her gifts since it couldn’t go in the tub with her.
The corner of his mouth twitched with a grin as he recalled the way his daughter had flung her little body onto the living room floor and kicked her feet while bawling crocodile tears and crying, “I want it, I want it,” while Katie tried to reason with her. It had taken major effort for Connor to school his expression so he didn’t die laughing at the little girl’s dramatic display. Seeing it all for the first time, he thought it was funny and adorable, though Katie had failed to see the humor in it—probably because she was as tired as Val.
But things had quieted down in the bathroom once Katie had gotten Val in the tub. He heard them talking quietly, and though he couldn’t hear what they were saying, he was in complete awe of Katie’s toddler-whispering skills that had calmed their daughter and had her cooperating again.
As he finished wiping down the counter, Katie came into the kitchen looking a little fatigued, and he walked right up to her and pulled her into a hug, just because she looked like she could use one. There was the barest hint of hesitation before she gave herself over to the affectionate embrace and slid her arms around his waist, leaning into him. It was a small, trusting gesture, but he’d take it.
He rubbed his hands up and down her back and smiled against the head she’d rested on his chest. “Someone’s a little cranky tonight.”
She glanced up at him, a delicate brow raised incredulously. “You’d better not be talking about me,” she said, though there was a playfulness in her tone.
He chuckled. “I wasn’t, but even if I were, I know exactly how to make your grumpies go away.” He gave her a sexy, meaningful wink that made her cheeks go pink, then loosened his hold. “Now it’s your turn to go and take a nice, hot shower. I’ll go say good night to Val and make sure there’s nothing left outside or on the patio that needs to be put away.”
“Connor, you don’t have to do that,” she said with a shake of her head. “Whatever’s not done, I’ll finish up tomorrow sometime.”
“I want to do it.” She was so used to doing everything herself, and he wanted to lighten her burden where he could. “Remember that conversation we had about having someone taking care of you for a change? Let me do that for you tonight, okay?” He’d let her interpret that any way she wanted, because if the opportunity presented itself, he definitely wanted to take care of her in more ways than one.
She smiled at him, her expression grateful. “Okay. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He placed a soft, chaste kiss on her forehead. “Now go.”
He followed Katie down the short hallway, and when she disappeared into her bedroom, he slipped into Val’s. The overhead light was off, though the room was illuminated by the glow of a nightlight on the small table beside her bed. She was already passed out, and even though Connor would have liked for her to see him one more time before she’d fallen asleep, he knew the fun-filled day had completely worn her out.
Pushing his hands into the pockets of his jeans, he stood there for a few minutes taking in the long lashes that framed her closed eyelids, the pink parted lips drawing in even breaths, and her sweet, serene expression as she slept. He’d only known about Val for a short time, but he already knew that this little girl held his heart, and that he loved her unconditionally, with a fierce protectiveness he never knew was possible. He would, undoubtedly, slay dragons for her . . . and kick any guy’s ass in the future who dared to make her cry.
She had a choke hold on the plush unicorn he’d bought for her under one of her arms. The moment she’d pulled it out of the gift bag and seen the gold horn on its forehead and the rainbow-colored mane and tail that shimmered in the sunlight, her eyes had sparkled with such delight. She’d hugged and kissed the soft stuffed animal, had immediately named her Sparkles, and wouldn’t part with it for the rest of the party. Well, until her little conniption fit right before her bath.
He grinned to himself. He didn’t know if she was so attached to the unicorn because it resembled one of her My Little Ponies or if it was because he’d given it to her, but it didn’t really matter. He was definitely winning over his little girl. Now, it was time to work on her mother.
He bent down and ran his fingertips along her downy-soft cheek, and she didn’t so much as stir. “Good night, sweet girl,” he murmured, then left her room, closing the door quietly behind him.
He walked through the backyard, picking up a few things here and there, then came back inside and made sure everything was locked up. He turned off the lights and made his way to Katie’s bedroom. Once inside, he closed her door and after making sure the monitor on the night table was on for Val, he turned the lock. The shower was off, and he heard Katie moving around in the bathroom, so he sat down at the foot of her bed to wait for her to come out.
What happened next with Katie, if anything at all, was completely up to her. If she wanted him to leave, he would. If she asked him to cuddle with her on the bed because she was exhausted, well, holding her close for a few hours certainly wouldn’t be a hardship. And if she was ready to make all those orgasms he’d given her over the phone a reality, he was totally on board with making her relax in the best way possible, too.
Bottom line, he’d respect any decision she made.
A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened and she walked out, dressed in a tank top and pajama short set that was faded and well-worn. The very ends of her blonde hair that brushed along her shoulders were damp from her shower, and her face was scrubbed clean of any makeup, though her skin looked soft and luminescent, and as she neared, she brought with her the fragrance of her body wash—delicious apples and warm honey.
She stopped a few feet away and gave him a self-conscious but wry smile. “So . . . this is me in all my mom glory.” She indicated her comfortable, practical nightwear. “It’s not always pretty, well put together, or glamorous.”
He let his gaze travel down the length of her, taking in the full, bare breasts beneath the cotton material and the gorgeous, toned legs that extended from the end of her shorts before raising his eyes back up to her face. His cock was already thickening behind the fly of his jeans, wanting her just the way she was. He didn’t need sexy lingerie on her body to make him hard. His desire for her was based on how good he already knew it felt to be buried deep inside her. Three and a half years later, and he still remembered . . . and apparently, so did his dick.
“Trust me, I like you like this just fine. More than fine, actually.” He pushed to his feet and closed the distance between them, until he was standing right in front of her and she had to tip her head back slightly to meet his gaze. “You totally fucking rock the mom look.”
She laughed softly. “You’re such a sweet-talker.”
He pushed his hands into her hair and brought her head toward him, until her hands were pressed against his chest and his mouth was right up against her ear. “You know I’m not always a sweet-talker,” he said huskily. “In fact, you prefer when I talk dirty, don’t you?”
“I like you both ways,” she told him, her warm breath caressing his cheek. “Sweet and dirty.”
He chuckled and tightened his fingers in her hair to tip her head back again, the awareness flickering in her gaze giving him hope. “Sweet is reserved for outside of the bedroom, because what I want to do to you in the privacy of this room is in no way, shape, or form sweet. It’s dirty and filthy and so indecent you’ll want to spread your legs wider, claw at the bed sheets, and beg me for more.”
She shivered, her lashes falling half-mast and her lips parting in invitation. “Connor . . . ”
It wasn’t the unconditional yes he was looking for to move forward, but it wasn’t an obvious no, either.
“Open your eyes and look at me, Katie,” he said, and waited until her dark brown eyes focused on his before he continued. “If you tell me you don’t want this, if you tell me to go, I will and we’ll wait until you’re ready. But make your decision fast, otherwise I’m going to strip you naked and touch you and kiss you and make you come with my mouth so hard you’ll see stars . . . and then I’m going to fuck you like I’ve been dying to do since the moment I saw you again at the restaurant.” He skimmed his thumb along the lush bottom lip he wanted to taste, the mouth he’d fantasized about fucking. “Stay or go? What’s it going to be, Katie?”
The tip of her tongue slowly, boldly touched the pad of his finger, and Jesus Christ, he felt that lick all the way down to his stiff, aching cock.
“I want this . . . ” she whispered, the look in her eyes both vulnerable and daring at the same time. “I want you.”
He groaned in profound relief, not because this was about finally having sex with her. No, it was all about taking that next step toward building intimacy with this woman he cared so much about already, and gaining her trust. More than anything, he wanted that.
He brought her mouth to his in a soft, indulgent, getting-to-know-you-again kiss that elicited a sigh of longing from her that resonated in him, as well. Eventually, he increased the pressure of his lips against hers, and like a sweet, blossoming flower, she opened to him and greeted the seductive sweep of his tongue with her own.
She made an arousing sound in the back of her throat, her fingers fisting in his T-shirt and her hips shifting restlessly against his as he devoured her mouth slowly, deeply, passionately. He tipped her head one way, then another, their damp lips sliding erotically, their tongues tangling carnally. They kissed like that for long, endless minutes, letting their desire build and enjoying that first time all over again.
When he finally lifted his mouth from hers, her lashes fluttered open to look up at him, and the laid-bare smile that eased across her lips stirred something inside his chest. Made his desire for her stronger, made what they were about to do more intimate.
“I missed you,” he said, the words traveling from his brain to his mouth before he could stop them. But it was true. They might have only spent one night together in Denver, but she’d put an indelible mark on his heart that was clearly still there.
“I missed you, too,” she admitted, touching her fingers to the stubble on his jaw, for the moment her defenses down. “I didn’t think it was possible, only knowing you for such a short time, but I thought about you every day.”
He let go of her face and settled his hands on her hips. “And at night?”
Her cheeks blushed a pretty shade of pink. “Yeah, I thought about you then, too, and remembered all the ways . . . ”
“I fucked you?” he supplied for her, a rogue grin on his lips as he slid his hands beneath the hem of her tank top. She shivered when his fingers touched her bare skin, her nipples pebbling against where they were pressed to his chest.
“Yeah,” she admitted, her breath catching as he continued skimming his palms up toward her breasts. “You were pretty thorough.”
She shuddered when he placed warm, suctioning kisses along the side of her neck. “And Jesus, Katie, you were so willing and eager and so damn easy to please.” He blew a stream of hot breath along her damp skin. “You were so responsive and needy, like you couldn’t get enough.”
“That was all your fault,” she said, and moaned when he finally filled his hands with her luscious breasts.
“My fault?” he murmured, though he was more than happy to take the blame for something that had benefited both of them at the time. “How do you figure?”
“I’ve never been that way with anyone else,” she said huskily, her confession making his dick swell thicker, harder. “No one has ever made me feel as hot and sexy as you did, so it was easy to just let go and enjoy everything you did to me.”
Yeah, every guy before him had been a fucking fool. Then again, if it hadn’t been for the last idiot she’d been in Denver to surprise, he never would have met Katie. And that was something he didn’t even want to think about.
“Baby, your body was made for a man to pleasure. Let me show you . . . that is, if you don’t mind me testing that theory out on you,” he teased.
She laughed lightly. “Umm, I think I’m okay with that.”
Withdrawing his hands from beneath her top, he led her to the foot of the bed. He sat down on the edge of the mattress and drew her toward him, until she was standing between his spread legs.
“Take off your top for me,” he said, wanting to enjoy the sexy striptease right in front of him.
Her fingers toyed with the hem but didn’t lift it yet. “Only if you do, too.”
He chuckled. “Fair enough.”
He divested himself of his shirt in record time, not wanting to miss a second of her peeling that fabric up along her torso, revealing her smooth stomach and the most gorgeous breasts he’d ever laid his eyes on—well, since Denver, anyway. They seemed bigger than he remembered, her curves more pronounced, probably because of having a baby, and those changes in her body only added to her allure.
Heat and lust pumped through him, and he had to inhale a deep breath to keep himself under a modicum of control. “Come a little closer,” he said. “So those perfect breasts are right at my mouth level.”
Placing her hands on his shoulders, she inched forward, closing any gaps between them, and shamelessly brushed a pebbled nipple across his lips, playfully teasing him. His tongue came out and flicked across that beaded tip as he grabbed on to her waist, then gradually slid his palms down and into the waistband of her shorts and panties. She did the same with her other nipple, keeping them just out of mouth’s reach, the flirtatious light in her eyes only making him hotter, more determined to win at this little game she was amusing herself with.
While she continued to delight in taunting him—and he was able to get in an occasional lick—he tugged the rest of her clothes over her hips and shoved them down her legs, baring the rest of her body.
She gasped in surprise, clearly not paying attention to what he’d been doing. “Oh, you’re good.”
He grinned up at her while trailing his fingers up along the backs of her thighs, until he reached her ass, which he squeezed in his hands. “I’ve got way more smooth moves than you do, sweetheart.”
“Yeah?” She arched a dubious brow, still so seductively mischievous. “Show me what you’ve got, Mr. Prescott.”
“Gladly.” Splaying one of his palms in the middle of her back gave him the control he needed to force her to arch her chest forward, and as soon as her breasts were literally in his face, he latched on to a nipple and sucked hard and deep. Startled by the rough scrape of his teeth, she tangled her hands in his hair and tried to pull him back, but he didn’t budge, nor did he relent with his swirling licks and hot, wet, nibbling bites that would definitely leave marks of possession on her pale skin.
She swallowed back a desperate whimper, her fingers twisting the strands of his hair so tight his scalp burned. “Oh, God, Connor . . . ”
He pushed his free hand between her legs and groaned around her breast as the slick heat of her pussy greeted him. Thrusting two fingers deep inside of her core, he began fucking her just like that, while his thumb rubbed her clit, providing the pressure and friction she needed to make that climb toward her first release.
She started to pant and writhe against him, but the hand still on her back kept her right where he wanted her, unable to escape until he was ready to let her. Her hips rocked uninhibitedly against his hand, matching the rhythm of his pumping fingers as she chased the orgasm he knew she was on the verge of grasping. He pushed deeper, finding the spot that would definitely propel her over the edge, and he stroked it, again and again, intensifying the sensation until she was moaning and her body started to tremble and shake.
She cried out, much louder than he’d anticipated, and he prayed to God that Val was a sound sleeper, and was relieved when he heard nothing from the monitor in the room. Katie’s sex clenched tight around his fingers, her pleasure so intense she went up on her tiptoes to escape the relentless action of his thumb against that sensitive nub of flesh, to release the hard, biting suction of his mouth on her nipple, but he followed, forcing her to ride out the climax pulsing through her and prolonging the exquisite torture until he knew he’d wrung every last ounce of ecstasy from her.
As soon as he released her breast and withdrew his fingers, she leaned into him, her legs buckling. He caught her around the waist and moved so he could put her down on the bed. She scooted up toward the pillows and waited for him to join her. He opened the front of his jeans, but before he pushed them off, he realized there was a conversation they needed to have before they went any further.
He met her gaze, trying to keep his eyes off her gorgeous, naked body. “I have a condom in my wallet, and considering what happened in Denver . . . are you back on some kind of birth control?”
She nodded. “I’m on the pill, mostly to regulate my periods. And I haven’t been with anyone since you.”
“It’s been almost a year for me, and I’m clean,” he told her, just so she knew, and pulled his wallet from his jeans to retrieve the condom.
Quickly stripping off the rest of his clothes, he rolled on the protection and climbed up onto the bed, stopping when he was kneeling in the inviting spread of Katie’s legs. His cock jutted straight up, hard as a spike, and it didn’t help matters that she was staring at his dick like she wanted to swallow it whole. He groaned inwardly. Bad analogy, because yeah, they were going to get around to that eventually.
Her gaze moved up his body appreciatively while he did the same to hers, but in the opposite direction. His perusal stopped when he saw a thin line of a scar low on her abdomen that hadn’t been there in Denver, and his instincts told him that it had something to do with her pregnancy.
It was the only thing that made sense, but if he was wrong, he wanted to know. “What is this scar from?” he asked, touching it gently with a finger.
She exhaled a breath. “They had to take Val in an emergency c-section.”
A rush of emotions hit him hard, along with a whole lot of regrets, and he exhaled through the tightening in his gut. He still didn’t know the details of Val’s birth, but now wasn’t the time to have the conversation. But they would at some point.
“If you’re waiting for an invitation to continue testing your theory about pleasuring me, you have one,” Katie said, opting for a lighthearted comment to get things back to where they were, which he appreciated.
Putting his thoughts back on her, he grinned wickedly and picked up one of her legs. Holding her curious gaze, he placed a sizzling, open-mouthed kiss on the inside of her knee, then continued with a whole lot more of them up her inner thigh—kissing, licking, gently biting his way toward her hot, wet center—still swollen and sensitive from her first orgasm of the night.
She squirmed against the comforter, and when he was good and settled between her legs and was one wet kiss away from her pussy, she reached down and pressed her hands along the tops of his shoulders to keep him from reaching his destination.
“Connor, no,” she begged, her fingers digging into his muscles. “I can’t. Not again.”
With his arms keeping her thighs spread open for him, he grasped her wrists and pulled her hands away, pinning them against her sides so she had no choice but to give herself over to him. “Oh, yeah, you can,” he countered, running his tongue along her slit and reveling in her full-body tremble. “You will,” he added, knowing he could take her up a second time, because he’d done so that night in Denver, multiple times.
He circled her clit, soft and slow, the wild whimper that escaped her throat telling him that while her mouth might protest, her pussy was totally on board with another orgasm. “I want you right back on the edge, baby, so when I fuck you, I’ll feel you come around my cock.”
Done talking, he gave all his attention to the task at hand, and before long her hips were arching up to meet the swirl of his tongue and she was begging for that second release she’d sworn she didn’t have in her to give.
With her at the peak once again, and his cock throbbing for the feel of her body, hot and tight, gripping him, he released her hands and reared up and over her, burying himself balls deep in one hard, driving thrust that wrenched a gasp of shock from Katie. That moment of adjustment quickly unraveled into a needy moan as her inner walls began pulsing around him.
He saw the raw, unbridled passion in her eyes, and a reciprocating lust and desire spread through him like wildfire. The feel of her wrapped so tight around his shaft was all too much and yet not enough. She clutched his shoulders and arched beneath him, and Jesus fuck, he slid impossibly deeper, groaning as her slick heat coated every inch of his dick as she came undone.
He was right behind her. Hitching her legs high around his waist for an even better angle, he buried his hands in her hair, pulling her head back as he crushed his mouth over hers, his tongue demanding, claiming, and possessing. The same way he branded her body, completely and utterly, his climax roaring through him as he rode her so fucking hard and deep he was surprised he didn’t split her in two.
When they were both spent, he moved off of her and went to the bathroom to clean up. When he returned, he pulled her close to his side, refusing to let her retreat from him, emotionally or physically. Luckily, she cuddled into him, resting her head on his chest, with one of her legs entwined around his and a hand resting on his stomach.
He pulled the sheet up to their waists and gave her a few moments to relax, to let the adrenaline rush of her second orgasm subside before he brought up the scar again. He didn’t want to leave until he knew everything that had happened to her and Val.
Very gently, he threaded his fingers through her silky hair, enjoying the feel of her warm body pressed so intimately to his. “Katie, what caused Val to be born prematurely?”
He felt her inhale a deep breath against his ribs, then release it slowly. “In my seventh month, there was a complication in my pregnancy. It’s called placental abruption, and it’s where the placental lining separates from the uterus, which can ultimately deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients. It’s not completely uncommon, and if it’s caught early it can be monitored closely with bed rest, but unfortunately, by the time I had any noticeable symptoms, it was nearly a total separation and they had to take her by emergency c-section.”
“How did you know?” he asked curiously.
She absently rubbed her hand up and down his stomach, while he kneaded her scalp with his fingers. “Well . . . I was just into my seventh month, and it started with occasional abdominal pain and my back started to ache. I honestly thought it was indigestion, and since I had an appointment the next day with my doctor, I figured I’d talk to him about the issue when I saw him. Except I woke up in the middle of the night with continuous contractions and I was bleeding. A lot.”
He could only imagine how scared she’d been, all alone by herself. “I take it you called an ambulance?”
“No, I called Avery,” she said with a light laugh. “Leah was less than a year old at that time, and in my panic, I figured she’d know what was going on. I remember her saying, That’s not good, and she came right over and immediately took me to the hospital, while her husband stayed home with the baby.”
“I’m glad she was there for you,” he said quietly, knowing that she had no family she could rely on, though he truly hated that he hadn’t been able to take care of her.
“Me, too. Avery kept me calm, and as soon as a doctor came in to examine me, I was taken immediately into the OR for a c-section. Less than fifteen minutes later, Val was born, at three pounds, six ounces.”
“Wow,” he breathed, thinking of how tiny that was. She probably would have fit into the palm of his hand.
“The hard part was that I couldn’t hold her right away,” Katie went on. “She was taken directly to NICU, and the next time I saw her she was in an incubator and hooked up to a bunch of tubes. She looked so little and frail, and I was so scared that she wasn’t going to make it.”
He heard the helpless emotion in Katie’s voice, and he hugged her closer, and she let him. “Clearly, our little girl is a fighter.”
Katie nodded against his chest. “That she is. She was able to come home after almost a month in NICU.”
He couldn’t stop the regrets that eased through him. “I wish I could have been there for you and Val. It’s hard, realizing I missed out on three years of her life.” It was something he’d never be able to get back.
“I know,” she said in understanding, the empathy in her voice genuine. “I’m sorry you missed all that time with her, too.”
He didn’t like asking the next question, but if there were any lingering issues, he wanted to know. “With her being born early, have there been any . . . developmental concerns?”
She lifted her head and propped her chin on the hand she’d slid up to his chest. “For the first year, she was a little behind on her milestones, but nothing that overly concerned her pediatrician. By her second year, she was nearly caught up, and now, she’s a little ahead of where she should be, mentally and physically.”
“Ahhh, that’s my girl,” he said, unable to keep the pride from his voice.
Katie pursed her lips at him, though her eyes sparkled humorously. “I suppose next you’re going to tell me that with all that brains and beauty, she takes after the Prescott side.”
“No,” he said, though he was still smiling. “So far, I think she’s a great combination of both of us.”
“And that tantrum she had earlier?” She raised a brow. “Where does that stubbornness come from?”
He smirked, because clearly she believed it came from him. “You say that like stubbornness is a bad thing.”
“It is when it’s coming from a three-year-old in the form of a temperamental fit.”
He moved to his side so their heads were each on a pillow and they were now face-to-face. “Hey, I’d be cranky, too, if I was exhausted and coming down from a major sugar high and someone took away my favorite toy.”
She laughed and pinched him playfully on his stomach, which made his dick twitch at that bit of pleasurable pain. “Oh, my God. Already, you’re a soft touch.”
“With Val? Yeah, it’s hard not to be,” he admitted, because his daughter totally fascinated and charmed him. Grabbing Katie’s hand, he flattened her palm and guided it downward, watching as her eyes gradually darkened when she realized what he was doing. “Now her mother, on the other hand, makes me very, very hard.” He wrapped her fingers around his stiff cock, and with his hand over hers, he helped her stroke his shaft slowly, rhythmically.
Seductively holding his gaze, she squeezed his erection and skimmed her thumb over the head while licking her tongue along her bottom lip that had a very naughty, tempting curve to it.
He groaned as his imagination went wild, as she no doubt intended. He slid his free hand along the side of her neck and used his thumb to push past her lips, her teeth, and felt his cock throb when she sucked on his finger. “Jesus, that mouth of yours, Katie,” he said in a gravelly, aroused voice. “You already know that I want to do bad, dirty things to it. This isn’t helping matters any.”
“Maybe I want you to do bad, dirty things to my mouth,” she said, letting go of his erection so she could push him to his back and make good on her promise.
Starting at his chest, she kissed and licked her way down his body as she knelt between his legs, which he’d eagerly spread for her. The tips of her hair trailed along his stomach, his thighs, and dear fucking God, the hot, exquisite feel of her mouth enveloping him, inch by aching inch, had his goddamn toes curling and the muscles in his abs tightening.
He was long and thick, and it was sheer, blissful torture as she used her lips and tongue all along his shaft, making him leak pre-come and teasing him to the point that he fisted his hand in her hair so that he was now in control. Her mouth came over him again, her soft lips stroking down his shaft, and he thrust in counterpoint, meeting the back of her throat.
She moaned eagerly around his cock, which he felt all the way up his spine. She swallowed him deep and sucked him hard as he guided her head back up, then down . . . again and again, until the rapidly increasing tension in his groin demanded release and holding back any longer wasn’t an option.
Out of courtesy, he tried to lift her greedy mouth away, but she wouldn’t let him. She went down on him again, all the fucking way, those soft lips tightening around him as he instinctively pumped his hips forward and came against the back of her throat with a harsh, guttural, shuddering groan that reverberated throughout his entire body. That fantasy he’d shared with her on the phone, she totally made it a reality, and it was far hotter than his filthy mind had even imagined.
When he finally gained his bearings, she was up by him again, a satisfied grin on her face, the little vixen. “Give me a second, and I’ll totally repay the favor.”
She shook her head as she placed a kiss on his jaw. “That’s not why I did it. I wanted to. Besides, I already had my two orgasms, so I’m all good.”
Smiling back at her, he pushed his fingers into her hair and gently brought her head down to lie on his chest. Beyond relaxed, he closed his eyes again and enjoyed the perfect intimacy of being with Katie like this.
“Connor . . . ” she said softly when minutes had passed, her head lifting from his chest. “You know you can’t stay, right?”
Hearing the uncertainty in her voice, he opened his eyes and stared into hers, realizing that while he’d been able to break down one wall with Katie tonight—the physical connection—there were still many more for him to hurdle to gain her complete trust.
“I wasn’t going to stay,” he told her, because he knew she wasn’t ready for sleepovers or having to explain to her daughter why Connor had stayed the night. And honestly, he respected that, and Katie, enough to abide by those rules for now.