The keys are in my pocket,” I whisper as we reach the door to the apartment. At any other time, the sensation of Sam’s fingers fishing around inside my khakis would lead to something even more interesting, but the dead weight of a sleeping six-year-old in my arms is like a bucket of, well I wouldn’t go so far to say, cold water, because nothing is cold when Sam is around.

Sam balances the massive stuffed elephant I won for her in one arm and unlocks the door.

I catch a glimpse of her eyes while they sweep over the apartment as we walk through.

Maddie stirs, but remains fast asleep as I carry her in. It’s been a long day. Though the sun isn’t even halfway set, I’m sure she’ll sleep through the night.

“Do you need help?” Sam whispers.

“Sure, thanks.” I carry my daughter to the bathroom, where I sit her on the vanity beside the sink. She lifts her head, but barely, and Sam seems to understand what to do without being asked. She wets a washcloth and runs it over Maddie’s face, wiping away the last remnants of ice cream and another head-sized cotton candy she still, somehow, managed to convince me to buy for her. The kid is like a hypnotist. Before I knew it, I was handing over the money and she was holding another cloud of spun sugar.

Without hesitating, Sam also removes Maddie’s sandals and washes her dust-streaked feet. I hate to admit to myself that I wouldn’t have thought of it, as much as it clearly needed to be done. There are still so many things I don’t know, and don’t know that I don’t know. Years of practice, I’ve missed out on. I wonder how this comes so naturally to her.

It would feel so right, doing this with her all the time. The two of us taking care of my daughter, working as a team.

I carry Maddie to the spare guest bedroom. Her room is still a work in progress and it still smells of paint. We sit on the bed with me propping Maddie up while Sam gently and quickly changes her into a nightgown. We don’t exchange a word, merely pointing and nodding to communicate. Not that it matters. Something tells me a sixty-piece brass band could parade through the apartment and my kid wouldn’t budge.

But there’s a certain solemnity and closeness in the way we’re working together. We’re on the same wavelength, acting as two parts of a whole. The way a couple who’s been together for years might work as a team while putting their child to bed after a long, exciting day. Both of us are tired, too. Maddie ran us ragged. We exchange a small smile before I tuck her in and plant a kiss on her forehead. The sort of secret smile adults exchange when a child they both care about is happy. As if Maddie doesn’t belong to Regina and I, but Sam and I.

I know Sam does care for Maddie. She was endlessly energetic today, allowing herself to be dragged from one place to another without so much as a word of protest.

“You were good to her today,” I murmur as we walk up to the kitchen.

“It was easy. She’s adorable.” Sam shrugs and leans against the counter.

“Something to drink?” I ask, bending in front of the fridge. Anything to keep her around a little while longer. We managed to spend a perfect afternoon together. Not a word about work, or us, or anything that might cause the bubble around us to burst.

“Water, please. It’s so hot out there.”

“You held up like a champ,” I tell her, grinning as I hand over the bottle.

Our fingers brush together and she looks down, a blush coloring her cheeks.

I’ll do anything to hold her here, with me, in this moment.

“So did you.”

“You made her happy,” I murmur, all pretense of flirting or messing around put aside. “Thank you for that. You don’t know what it means to me.”

“How many years since your divorce?”

Even the thought of the divorce makes me grimace. “Two years, but it feels as if she’s been away from me for much longer. I guess the two of us are trying to get to know each other. It would be difficult enough under ordinary circumstances, but the way things are at work…”

She nods slowly. “I can’t imagine, but you do seem to be handling it well. She’s adjusting and seems to like being with you.”

“That makes one person, anyway,” I mutter, flashing a wry grin.

“Not everybody is as susceptible to your charms, I guess. Some people have taste,” she teases.

“Are you casting aspersions on my daughter’s taste?” I say with a mock stern expression.

“Not at all. The poor thing has no choice. You don’t get to choose your family.” She barely holds back a giggle.

It must be the day we’ve spent together, but there’s a freshness to the energy between us. The tension from yesterday is no longer sizzling between us, probably because we’ve shared a good day. A wonderful day. The sort of day that leaves a person feeling good afterward. Satisfied. With the impression that life is actually pretty good.

“Thanks,” I say

“You make her happy,” she replies, meeting my gaze with her own frank, unwavering one. “She needs that.” She bites her lip while she decides whether to say what is in her mind, then goes ahead and says it, “I don’t think she’s had a lot of happiness in her life.”

I scowl at the reminder. “How can you tell?”

Her shrug speaks volumes, as does the way she looks over my shoulder at something far away. “I just can. Call it experience.”

I study her.

She’s wounded. Somebody ignored her when she was young. Maybe that’s why she feels such a kinship with Maddie—two similar souls recognizing each other.

“Then you obviously know how to make her happy.” I grin, trying to lighten the mood.

“You seem to be doing a pretty go job of making her happy.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. I think she’s lucky to have a father like you. Indulgent, patient.”

I grin. “It won’t kill you spend some adjectives.”

She rolls her eyes so hard she could have checked out her own ass. “Okay. Rude, arrogant, overbearing, dominating, bad-tempered—”

I hold up a hand. “Hold up, I was thinking more in the line of sexy, brilliant, smart, funny, honest, unlike anyone you’ve ever been with.”

She licks her lips and my eyes widen. Fuck, she looks so goddamn hot. My cock starts thickening, lengthening out. The air in the room changes and my blood starts pumping.

“You don’t need me to tell you those things. You know you are.” Her voice is a throaty whisper.

Suddenly, I can’t stop myself. I have to taste her sweet, full mouth again. I step forward and grab her waist.

The heat of her body seeps through our clothes and makes me feel almost high. Her chest heaves. “Lincoln,” she gasps.

I can feel her body trembling as I swoop down on her mouth. She kisses me back as if she has been waiting a lifetime for my kiss. The little moan of surrender she makes in my mouth is the most arousing thing that has ever happened to me. So fucking arousing, I’m rock hard for her.

But it gets better.

The kiss deepens, my tongue going in to search for hers, tangling, hooking and pulling it into my own mouth. And sucking the hell out of it. She melts against me. Just as she did in the lab. She’s so willing, so ready, so needy. I want to fulfill that need, to meet it with my own and satisfy us both. She brings out the animal in me, the part of any man that wants to take, possess, and make a woman pass out in ecstasy because of him. My hands take another tour of her body in its light cotton dress, stroking and fondling her lush curves.

She lets her head fall back with a sigh, giving me room to run my lips over her throat. Her pulse pounds away beneath her smooth skin, giving away her excitement. I’m fairly sure my heart is racing just as fast, maybe faster. How can I help it? She is so goddamn delicious. When she lets out a soft moan, I feel the reverberation against my lips and smile.

Yeah, she’s mine.

She gasps when I cup her firm, full ass with both hands, kneading, then lifting her onto the counter. Her legs hook around my hips automatically, drawing me closer to the center of her heat. My entire body stirs with every sigh, every stroke of her long fingers through my hair. She moans into my mouth when I cup her breasts, playing with the round globes as my mouth finds its way down to join my hands in pleasuring her.

“Yes, yes,” she whispers, arching her back with her hands flat on the counter to support her.

If there anything sexier than a beautiful woman, her mouth hanging open, lost in sensation, I have never seen it. I’m so hard, I’m fairly sure I’ll burst out of my shorts in another minute or two. “I need you,” I gasp, grinding against her, sensing her heat through our clothes.

She throws her arms around my neck, whimpering softly as I lower my shorts, then pull her panties to the side. She’s so wet, so hot and ready, whispering in my ear, encouraging me, urging me to take her.

I slide in, hard and sure, and she lets out a shaky cry.

“Yes … yes … Sam, yes …” I growl in her ear with every thrust, every time our bodies slam together, her breasts are bouncing in time. She leans back on her hands again, her eyes closed, meeting my thrusts with her own. I take in the sight of her, beautiful and wanton, passionate and hot, clenching ever tighter around my length until she’s locked down around me and we’re both shuddering in release.

I collapse against her, panting for air, finally lowering my hand from her mouth. She gasps, pressing her mouth to my neck to stifle the little breathless cries coming from her as she recovers. We’re both sweaty, the scent of perspiration and sex hangs heavy in the air around us. I haven’t had enough. I want to carry her off to the shower and take her all over again with the water beating down on us…

“Oh, my God,” she whispers and pushes me away—not hard, but firmly. Determinedly. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. That was just wrong. I’m—I’m just sorry.” She slides from the counter, not meeting my eyes and picks up the purse she discarded on the floor when we first arrived.

“You don’t have to—”

“Tell Maddie I had a good time today, okay? I’m glad we spent the day together,” she mutters, racing for the door.

“Right.” Keeping my voice quiet for Maddie’s sake while not grabbing her arm and forcing her to stop—is almost a supreme test of my willpower.

“I’ll see you at work.” She ducks out, being careful to close the door quietly.

The apartment becomes deathly quiet and still. Suddenly—I get it. It is so blindingly clear that I’m surprised it took me this long to realize it.

I thought I just felt unbelievably attracted to this woman, but in fact, she has infiltrated my mind, body, and soul.