In the morning, she’s there before I even have to want her to be. Eyes still closed, I reach over and pull Jayne closer to me. Her soft body presses into the crook of mine, and we fit together like two puzzle pieces.

“Hi,” she murmurs sleepily.

I bury my face in her hair. She smells of sugar, me, and everything right in the world.

“What time is it?” Jayne asks.

“Who cares?” I whisper back. “You need to be at work or something?”

Jayne giggles, her butt pushing against me. Electricity shoots through me, and in a millisecond, I’m hard.

Jayne lets out a noise that’s a mix between a satisfied sigh and a groan.

“But what about you? Don’t you always go into the office on Saturday morning?”

“Yeah,” I admit, and then pause, thinking about it some.

My arms are wrapped tightly around her waist, and she fits so perfectly against me…I’d be an idiot to walk away from this.

“The good thing about running your own company,” I say slowly, after some consideration, “Is that you can take a day off whenever you want.” I smile and then add, “Kind of.”

“Kind of?” Jayne turns to look at me, and I see her profile and hair tangled from sleep.

“I’ll be putting in extra on Monday, but it’ll be worth it.”

“Worth it so you can do what?” she asks. I don’t know if she meant the question to be seductive or not, but it’s just that.

“How about I show you?”

I don’t give her a chance to answer. I’m on top of her, our hips pressing together and my lips taking hers.

I make the kiss slow, but don’t hold back on the pressure. Jayne tilts her face up toward mine, moaning softly into my mouth as I push my hands under her shirt. The fact that she’s wearing my clothes makes me even crazier.

In a strange way, it’s like those clothes mean I’ve claimed her. She’s mine.

I haven’t wanted a woman to be mine in a long time. And not in this way. This is something different.

Jayne drags her lips away from mine, and when she speaks, her breath washes against my cheek. “You should lock the door.”

“I’m one step ahead of you,” I answer in between kisses on her neck. “I did it last night.”

“Oh, really?” Jayne grins up at me. The morning light is casting an ethereal glow on her face. For a second, I’m dumbstruck.

Leaning back from her, I sit up so I can better take her in. Messy hair. Pink cheeks. A few freckles across her nose that I never noticed before, but that the bright light now brings out.

“What?” Jayne questions.

“You look damn good right now; that’s what.”

Jayne laughs as she presses her hands to her face. “You don’t have to say that.”

“It’s true.” I grin. “Not that you don’t always look good.”

A jiggling on the doorknob makes us both look over.

“Daddy!” Mia calls. “It’s Mia!”

Jayne’s eyes go wide; at the same time, she puts her fingers to her lips to suppress a laugh.

“Who else would it be?” I whisper to Jayne, painfully aware of the need still pounding in my veins.

Looks like I’m going to have to wait a little longer to meet my needs.

“Let me in,” Mia says.

It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I climb off of Jayne.

“Go get dressed, honey. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“But—”

“Go get dressed,” I repeat firmly. “And then we can make pancakes.”

Her gasp is so loud it can be heard through the door. “Yay!” she squeals, running down the hallway.

Jayne is quickly getting out of bed. “I guess this is my chance to slip out. Did you, um…am I coming into work today?”

She gives me an uncomfortable look over her shoulder.

My chest constricts. Fuck, this just got awkward.

“You mean you’ll go downstairs, wait in your car for a few minutes, and then come inside like you’ve just shown up?” I clarify.

Jayne’s eyes dart around as she thinks about it. “Yeah?”

My mouth is dry. “I’m taking the day off,” I slowly say.

She nods and tucks hair behind her ear, going to grab her clothes. “Right.”

“But you should stay. If you want.”

“Oh.” Jayne freezes with her clothes in her lap.

“Not as Mia’s nanny. As a friend.”

How do I explain to her that I can’t stand to have her leave? That I want her to spend the whole day with us? It doesn’t matter if we’re naked in bed together or making breakfast—although I’m hoping to get a chance to engage in that first activity before the day is over.

I want to spend time with Jayne. It’s that simple.

But I can’t really explain that feeling to her, because I can’t explain it to myself.

There haven’t been many women that I wanted around after the initial rush was over. Mia’s mom was one of them, and that relationship was definitely not perfect. We wouldn’t have stayed together for those few years if we hadn’t have had a baby.

I did it for Mia. That’s the truth. And it blew up in my face. Hayden loved Mia, and maybe she loved me in her own way, but even love hadn’t been enough.

After I stood at my partner’s funeral with my bereaved two-year-old child in my arms, I promised myself things would be different. I wouldn’t let myself get suckered into a relationship simply because it was exciting. I wouldn’t put my heart or Mia’s heart on the line.

But that doesn’t change the way I see Jayne. She’s not like the other women I’ve been with. She doesn’t want anything from me other than my company. She likes Mia. She likes me. Things are simple.

And that makes me want her in a way I can’t comprehend.

Jayne is still looking at me, making no move to change. I allow my gaze to linger on her body.

“You look good in my clothes.”

She smiles. “I think you already said that.”

“Because it’s damn true,” I breathe. Then, before I can lose courage, I add, “Stay. We’ll have breakfast and then do something together. We can go to the park or the aquarium or something.”

“Mia’s been asking about the aquarium all week.” She’s still smiling. “But I didn’t take her because she said she was going with you.”

I nodded. “And I’ll take her. But I want you to come with, too.”

Jayne bites slowly on her bottom lip. “Okay.”

“Okay,” I affirm, nodding. “It’s a date.”

Her cheeks turn pink. “With a six-year-old chaperoning us.”

“Right,” I laugh.

My heart pounds, and my whole body is burning again. I resist reaching out and touching her, though, because if I start doing that, I won’t be able to stop.

“Daddy!” Mia’s knocking on the door again. “I’m dressed.”

Jayne is dressing whiplash quick, and I can’t help but watch her out of the corner of my eye. Still, no touching. That would get me into trouble.

“Go brush your teeth,” I tell Mia.

She sighs impatiently. “Okay.”

Her footsteps thump away down the hall.

“Now?” Jayne asks.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go downstairs and pretend like I’ve been working on breakfast for hours.”

“Good idea,” I chuckle. As we walk to the door, I can’t stop myself from lightly squeezing her hip and landing a kiss on her mouth. Her scent, her taste, the feel of her skin…it’s intoxicating.

“That’s dangerous,” she whispers against my lips.

“You’re telling me.”

She scurries quietly down the hallway while I wait outside of my door for Mia. Luckily, my daughter is obsessed when it comes to getting her teeth clean. She’ll stand on the little step stool in her bathroom and stare into the mirror as she brushes each tooth over three times, always afraid she’s missed a spot.

“I’m ready,” Mia announces after another minute. She flies down the hall and bangs into my legs, where she clings to my waist and looks up at me with a smiling face.

“Would you like to go to the aquarium after breakfast?” I ask.

Her eyes widen. “For real?”

“Yes,” I chuckle at her choice of slang. “For real.”

“Yeah!” Grabbing my hand, she pulls me to the gate at the top of the stairs. “I don’t need this anymore, Daddy. I’m bigger now. I never go down. I know I could fall.”

“Let’s keep it up.”

“No,” she whines as we walk down the stairs hand-in-hand. “Why?”

“Okay,” I concede. “Maybe we’ll take it down. We’ll see.”

“Who’s that?” Mia asks as we enter the hallway. She’s referring to the sounds coming from the kitchen: the fridge opening, dishes clinking. “Ray?” she calls.

“Go see.”

She runs ahead of me, and I can hear her gasp even though I’m still walking down the hall.

“Jayne!” she squeals. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

I enter the kitchen and find the two of them hugging.

“I came to see you,” Jayne says as she straightens up. She catches my eye over Mia’s head, and my temperature rockets.

“Is Jayne coming to see the fish?” Mia asks, turning to me.

“I don’t know.” I cross my arms and try not to smile, but I’m a shitty actor. “Would you like to come, Jayne?”

“That sounds wonderful.” She grins back. “Now, how about we make some pancakes?”

Mia takes a seat at the table. “How did you know that’s what Daddy and I want?”

“I don’t know,” Jayne answers, giving me a wink as she pulls eggs from the fridge. “I guess we’re just in sync like that.”

“Yeah, we are,” I breathe, unable to take my eyes off of her.