My apartment felt surprisingly empty after Raye left.

I’d pulled my jeans back on, so I could walk her outside, but once I came back in, I dropped back down on the couch and just laid there, smelling her on my skin and reliving the last thirty minutes…including the conversation we’d had.

She told me I made her feel safe.

I didn’t get that.

I wasn’t entirely certain I felt safe around her. She undid things when she was around. I liked the status quo, and it got shaky when she was in the equation. Like now. Sitting there thinking about how the apartment seemed dimmer and quieter and just a little too big without her there.

It wasn’t like I had a big apartment, so how could the absence of a woman I barely knew make such a big difference? I didn’t understand it, and I wasn’t sure I liked it.

“Stop thinking about it,” I told myself.

It wasn’t like I had a lot of time to kill tonight anyway. We didn’t even have time for the pizza I’d ask her about.

My nephew Connor had a basketball game, and I tried to make it to all the games. I’d missed out on enough things with the family when I’d been behind bars. Now that I was out, I made it a rule to do what I could to make it to the events.

You could have always asked her to go with you.

Not that it would have worked. She had a job.

But even the thought that I’d consider asking her was…weird.

My family was mine. Any woman I ever slept with…well, it was just sex. Sex and my personal life didn’t mix. That was another rule.

And yet there I was thinking about asking her to go to one of the family events with me.

“Shit, son.” Rising to my feet, I collected my clothes. “You’ve gone and lost your mind.”

* * *

I was no longer in the mood for pizza, but on my way to Connor’s school in Brooklyn, I grabbed a slice and a soft drink, so I wouldn’t sit through the game hungry. The family might decide to go out to eat after the game, but I rarely joined them when they ate out. Mom always offered to buy, but I never took her up on it, and I was pinching pennies and saving as much money as I could, so I could pay down the loan.

Besides, I had to get up at the crack of dawn to open the garage. Staying out until ten or so, then getting up at four-thirty was something that just did not mix in my books.

I found my mother sitting with Connor’s parents in the bleachers, a few seats held for the rest of the family who trickled in not long after I did.

The kids had yet to take to the court, and I glanced over at Nathaniel as he wrestled Rose out of her coat. Zoe was fighting with her own, insisting to her mother that she could do it. Madison lifted her hands and gestured for her to do just that. While Zoe stubbornly fought with the zipper, Rose snuck her way over and climbed into my lap.

I breathed in the scent of sweet baby girl and smiled as she wrapped pudgy arms around my neck. “Unca Kane.”

“Hey, baby doll,” I murmured, nuzzling her hair and squeezing her into a hug.

She giggled. “I baby doll.”

“You’re my baby doll.”

“Me, too!” Zoe insisted, shoving her way into the hug. “I’m baby doll.”

My mother snapped a picture of me with two little girls on my lap, and I felt my damn cheeks grow hot as she spun her phone around, brandishing the picture like a weapon. “Look at how sweet you look,” she said, smiling proudly.

Sweet was not a word I associated with myself, and the sight of me with my arms around two little girls didn’t change that.

The arrival of Eddie and Dinah caused a ripple effect among the little kids, each one needing to go to the various adults they hadn’t seen in several days. It wasn’t until the buzzer rang signifying it was time for the game to start that everybody in the family was finally seated.

Connor’s team came out onto the court, and everybody in our section broke out in hoots and cheers, clapping as if it was the Harlem Globetrotters that had just taken the court.

Connor had his very own cheering section with the family being there.

The game started.

Eddie sat next to me, and we chatted about our weeks. He shot me a look. “I heard Austen had been helping out over at the garage. How is that going?”

I shrugged. “It’s…going. We’ll let it go at that.” I glanced around, noting my baby brother’s absence. “He’s not here tonight.”

“Yeah.” Eddie’s mouth went tight. “I noticed. Connor will, too. Connor adores that kid.”

“We’ll figure out something to tell him,” I said.

Connor scored two points and shouts went out among the crowd, all of us cheering.

As relative quiet settled back in the gym and the game progressed, my mind started to wander…right to Raye.

Would she enjoy something like this? An elementary school basketball game?

I could think of any number of women I knew who’d be bored senseless by it.

But Raye…?

I realized I was smiling when Eddie nudged me and leaned over. “What in the hell are you grinning about?”

I was grinning because I had the weird idea that Raye would like the game…and my family, too.

What in the hell did that matter? It wasn’t like I was planning on introducing her to them.

What we had was purely a physical relationship.

It wouldn’t last more than a couple of weeks, probably.

At Eddie’s questioning look, I shook my head. “Just remembering something.”

“With a smile like that, you got me wondering just what in the hell you’re remembering…or who.” A sly glint lit my brother’s eyes.

Giving him a dark look, I shook my head. “Don’t go getting any ideas. I’ve told you. I don’t do relationships.”

“Yeah. And tell me, straight on…were you or were you not thinking about a woman?” Eddie asked, his dark brows shooting up into his hairline.

“Are you a firefighter or a lawyer?” I reached for the drink I’d put between my feet and lifted it to my lips, still stalling as I tried to figure out a way around answering him. He wouldn’t go running to tell the family or anything, but he’d nag me endlessly, and I didn’t need that shit.

I didn’t even understand why I’d been thinking about Raye so much anyway.

Sure, she was a beautiful woman, and I loved having sex with her, but I’d been with a lot of beautiful women who were fun to have sex with. Sex was fun. It was something I missed while in prison, and I was determined to make up for lost time now that I was out. I’d been free for several years, and I was still making up for lost time.

But Raye…

Things felt different with her.

Next to me, Eddie laughed.

I shot him a look.

He met my gaze as he picked up the nachos he’d bought. “You go ahead and tell yourself that you don’t do relationships, brother. But you’re doing something right now, and that look right there? The only time I’ve ever seen a look like that on my brothers’ faces is when they’re thinking about a woman.”