I never expected to ever find true happiness, not after what had happened to me. In my heart, I honestly allowed myself to believe that all men possessed the pure evilness that Zane did. The need to conquer and then destroy.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Zane is one of many that I’m sure has that evilness inside of them, but he doesn’t define all men. He doesn’t define my man.

Each day with Drew shows me just how truly loving and caring he is. He never makes me feel as if I’m disposable. He makes me shine. The love he shows me is so powerful, it takes my breath away.

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Drew regains my attention as he steps out of his large walk-in closet, tightening his tie. “Because I could call my mother and have her—”

I sit up in bed, shaking my head, causing him to end his sentence without finishing.

“I love the idea of spending the day with Dawson,” I assure him. “We can hang out, watch movies, play games, and then have dinner ready for you when you get home.” I smile at the thought. “Makes for the perfect day actually.”

It’s something I think I could honestly get used to.

Drew moves closer to the bed, a smile on his lips as he adoringly watches me. Placing one of my knees against the mattress, he crawls on the bed and moves further toward me. Naughty thoughts immediately fill my head, seeing him predatorily linger in his dark gray Armani suit, his hair styled in that sexy way I like. Tossed around, as if he just woke up, demanding my fingers to reach up and slowly run through it, tugging on the ends. It is something I have done often in the heat of the passionate moments we’ve shared.

I lie back just as he brings his body over mine.

“You are incredible,” he whispers. “Life before you is something I never want to go back to, something I never again want to experience.”

Hearing those words from him, or any words of love from Drew, is still so very hard to take without growing emotional. Daily, he floors me, sweeps me off my feet, and makes me feel weakened by his words.

“You’ll never lose me,” I promise him as I reach up and place my hand against his cheek. “I love you,” I say just before his lips press to mine, “so much.”

“Love doesn’t even begin to describe the depths of my feelings for you,” he says, kissing my jaw. “You are a part of my soul, sweetheart, part of me.”

Again, my heart melts with the power of his words, and I feel like I’m the luckiest woman in the world to be given the gift of this man.

“You make it next to impossible to leave you, knowing I have clients demanding hours of my time. You and Dawson, here at home, waiting for me, will be a distraction, my heart wishing I were here with you.”

“I promise, we’ll miss you, too,” I tell him. “Just hurry home to us.”

His lips brush over mine once again. “I love the sound of that,” he confesses.

I do, too.

Home—it’s something I never thought I would ever truly have again.

* * *

Dawson’s giggles are the best sound ever. It means he’s happy.

“My mom never does this.”

Dawson’s words stop me in my tracks, leaving me unsure of how to respond.

“She always makes me go to weird fashion shows and these hair places. I hate it, and Meme makes me sit and play games on the iPad, thinking that it’s entertaining.”

“Meme?”

Dawson rolls his eyes, “Mom’s assistant.”

“Your mom just has a really busy life,” I fumble a bit as I try to think of what else to say. “She has people counting on her to make a lot of really important decisions. I know she loves your time together though.” The lie burns because it’s something I don’t know.

In fact, Jennifer sounds to me like she’s a selfish woman who doesn’t realize how incredible her son is. She also doesn’t understand what a man she had in Drew, but her loss is my gain, and for that, I’m thankful. In Dawson’s case though, it only saddens me. A mother should always put her child first.

“My dad is busy, too,” Dawson replies, “but it never stops him from doing things with me.”

“Yeah,” I say, stalling once again in yet another attempt to fix this situation.

Drew always puts Dawson first without hesitation. It’s one of the things that made me fall for Drew. He’s selfless, an amazing father, and nothing like the man I originally pinned him as.

“You have such a good dad,” I finally say. It was all I could think of. “Why don’t we play a game?”

Yes, I completely skipped over the Jennifer subject, and, yes, I feel like an ass for it, but I didn’t have a choice. A conversation involving Drew’s ex should be handled by Drew.

“Can we play the Pie Face Game?” Dawson’s eyes grow wide with excitement.

Somehow, the idea of being bombed with whipped cream isn’t something I find appealing, but I can’t deny him.

“We sure can,” I say, trying my best to mimic his enthusiasm.

Dawson sets up the game and help him a little. He tells me that he can do it so I let him.

Five minutes in, I’ve already been hammered twice, and I even find that I have the sticky goop in my hair and my nose. Dawson, of course, finds this humorous due to the fact that he has yet to be splattered with the Cool Whip.

“What do you say, we use this whipped cream for something other than decoration for my face?” I smile as I use the towel to clean my nose. “I say, we make chocolate chip pancakes for lunch and add Cool Whip and sprinkles, too.”

Again, his eyes grow wide. “Breakfast for lunch?”

“Yeah.”

I can’t get over the pure joy in his eyes. You would think I’d just told him I was whisking him away to Disneyland or something.

He doesn’t even take the time to answer me before sliding off the kitchen chair and sprinting toward the refrigerator. “Lots and lots of chocolate chips and sprinkles.”

I laugh, moving after him.

I allow him to add the chips to the batter and don’t even complain when he adds half of the bag. It will be our little secret. Even when he adds half of the container of sprinkles to the top of the pancake pile and covers them with so many sprinkles you can barely see the pancakes below, again, I say nothing.

With a pile of pancakes on one plate, we each grab a spoon and start digging in.

It’s the best thing ever.

The day gets away from us as we move on from one great idea to the next. When Dawson breaks out the Nerf guns, I’m game for a round of battle because Dawson and I are both very competitive. Within seconds, we each have a mountain of pillows, couch cushions, and anything else we can find scattered around the living room in various places to use as secure locations, so we can have shelter from the other.

“You are going down, dude,” I say as I peek through the crack between the couch cushions turned upright. “I’m coming for you.”

“No way, Reagan,” he says. “This victory is mine.”

I rise up, shoot a dart, and miss him only by an inch before I freeze in place. Dawson takes the opportunity to reciprocate, and one single dart makes contact and bounces off my forehead just before he breaks out in laughter.

“I got you,” he says, throwing his arm in the air.

Yet, through his obvious excitement, I can only focus on the woman standing in the entryway, staring at me like I’m Satan.

“Isn’t this the cutest thing?” The words are more of a sneer as they fall from Jennifer’s lips. The look on her face matches her tone. “It isn’t enough that you’ve somehow weaseled your way into Drew’s life, convincing him you’re some kind of godsend, but you’ve made my son feel as if you are, too. How adorably sweet and conniving of you.”

I can feel my heart race as I attempt to hold back the words lingering on the tip of my tongue. Bitch being one of them because she’s a real piece of work. But Dawson doesn’t need to witness this or hear his mother and I go back and forth.

“Hey, buddy, why don’t you go to your room for a minute?” I hope Dawson will run off and allow us some adult time.

Jennifer has other ideas.

“Stay here, Dawson,” she barks. Her sharp tone even makes me jump in surprise. “You don’t have the right to send him away. I am his mother.”

“I just thought you and I could talk,” I say, still trying my best to remain cool. “Some things, I just don’t think he needs to hear.”

“What? Like the woman his father is seeing is a gold-digging whore.” She crosses her arms over her chest and gives me a look, as if to say, Take that. “You might have Drew fooled, somehow hypnotizing him into believing you are some amazing catch, but I know your type.”

“My type?” I say, unable to hold my own anger at bay any longer. “The one who actually cares about Dawson’s happiness much more than my own, you mean?”

“How dare you.” She drops her hands and steps closer to me. “You don’t know me, and you sure as hell don’t know about my relationship with my son.”

“Relationship is a stretch, don’t you think?”

This woman is going too far.

“You barely see him, and when you do, you pawn him off on your assistant or anyone else you can find. He barely knows you.”

“You bitch,” Jennifer says, taking a step toward me.

“What the hell is going on here?”

We both freeze at the sound of Drew’s booming voice as it echoes through the apartment.

Anger evident on his face, he rushes forward and shields Dawson with his own body.

My heart sinks as the reality of the situation hits me, and I see the look of fear in Dawson’s eyes as he holds on to Drew’s side.