It seemed impossible that only a week had passed.

It seemed impossible that a week really had passed.

I hadn’t seen or heard from Chad.

Kane had told me he hadn’t seen or heard from Calie…and neither had Austen.

Maybe things were going to actually settle down, and I could enjoy this new time with my…boyfriend.

Wow.

I was still having a hard time believing it. Kane and I had what we considered was a talk. A big one. Neither of us had ever been in a serious relationship before, a fact that baffled me when it came to Kane, but he’d told me that he’d never really considered himself relationship material.

You changed all of that, Raye, he’d said.

I still found myself grinning whenever I thought about it.

But Kane had gone and changed everything for me, too.

That was the amazing thing. We’d gone and changed things for each other. And today, he wanted me to meet his family.

He’d already told me that his dad died when he was a kid, but he wanted me to meet his mom, brothers, and sisters – well, one of his sisters. The other was back at school at M.I.T., a fact I found a little intimidating, although I wasn’t going to tell him. Not yet anyway.

But his other sister and the rest of his brothers, their families, he wanted me to meet them and his mother.

Which explained why I was standing in front of the mirror at ten a.m. on a Sunday morning, fussing with my hair and getting ready. I normally didn’t even crawl out of bed before ten on a Sunday, and here I was with my makeup already on and debating between a gray sweater that made my eyes look bluer and a blue sweater that made my eyes look lighter.

I went with the blue sweater. It featured a V-neck that I thought would appeal to Kane, although it wasn’t at all revealing.

I decided I’d picked right not even five minutes later when I answered the door, and he looked at me with a gleam in his eyes and a smile on his face.

“You look gorgeous,” Kane said, a low growl in his voice as he stepped inside. He pulled me up against him, and I giggled as he rubbed his face against my exposed neck. “Way too good for me to waste on taking over to meet my family. Let’s get naked instead.”

“That means I’m wasting it on you too, goofy,” I said, pulling away before he messed up my lipstick.

His lids drooped low as he stared at me. “It’s not a waste. I’d appreciate it more than they would.”

“Stay,” I said, holding a hand up as he advanced on me.

He did, but not without a surly look…and a sexy one that ended up sending pangs right square to the core of me.

Huffing, I turned on my heel. “You wait here,” I told him over my shoulder as I headed to grab my boots.

If he ended up following me, we’d be late getting over to his mother’s, something I didn’t want to do the first time I met her.

* * *

I’m not going to have a panic attack.

I’m not going to have a panic attack.

“Will you relax?” Kane murmured, leaning in to whisper the words in my ear as we trudged up the final flight of stairs. “You’re so nervous, you’re making me nervous.”

“I’m sorry,” I squeaked out. “I just…what if they don’t like me?”

“The only person you need to worry about is Dinah, and half the time she doesn’t like me,” he said, as brutally honest as he always was. He pulled me to a stop once we reached the top of the stairs, tugging me over to the wall.

I leaned up against it, and he partially caged me in, leaning over me with one arm barring me in.

I didn’t feel trapped with him doing this. I felt…protected.

He cupped my face with his free hand and rubbed his thumb over my lower lip.

“Why doesn’t Dinah like you?” I asked, irritated by that idea. I knew who Dinah was – the oldest girl, just a little younger than him. She’d made far different choices than he had, and he’d never made any attempt to hide how proud he was of her – or any of his siblings.

He’d made mistakes. I’d never deny that. But he’d overcome them and was trying to do better. That should count for something.

“Because I fucked up. She won’t ever forget that.”

I huffed out a breath, already deciding that maybe I wouldn’t like Dinah.

I wasn’t very good at hiding how I felt because Kane’s face lit with a grin. “You’ll like her just fine,” he told me.

I raised my chin. “Not if she doesn’t like you.”

“It’s not that she doesn’t like me,” he said, hedging. “She just…I think she worries about the kind of example I might set for the younger kids in the family. I mean, hell. Look at Austen.”

“Austen is old enough to make his own choices,” I said tartly.

Kane opened his mouth, maybe to argue, but in the end, he just closed it and shook his head. “It’s going to be fine,” he muttered. But I don’t know if he was saying it to me…or to himself.

* * *

I fell in love.

Several times over.

The first time was with his brother, Eddie, who kissed my hand and told me I better be careful and not break his brother’s heart.

The second time was with Kane’s brother-in-law, Justin – Dinah’s husband. “I knew somebody would get him, sooner or later,” he said with a huge grin. “It was just a matter of time.”

The third time was with two twin little girls, Rose and Zoe, who took one look at me and instantly held up their arms, demanding to be hugged.

But the fourth and most important time happened when Kane led me to the kitchen and said, “Mom?”

A slim woman with graying brown hair turned away from the stove.

She looked at him, then her gaze fell on me.

Her eyes widened slightly, then to my horror, they filled with tears.

I wanted to hide, but even as I was considering the option, she rushed toward me and caught me up in a hug. “You’re Raye,” she said simply. “Kane’s told me so much about you.”

It was the first time I’d ever felt such simple, non-demanding warmth.

Without thinking, I curled my arms around her and hugged her back.

“Hi,” I said through the emotion clogging my throat.

She laughed and pulled back, staring up at me. “You want to help me with lunch?”

* * *

I met Dinah maybe halfway through lunch.

She’d been there all along, but according to a comment I’d heard from Eddie’s boyfriend, Rick, she’d gone to lay down and didn’t get up to join us until seconds were being passed.

The moment she appeared in the doorway, Eva Jonson got up to fetch the plate she’d set aside for her oldest daughter, and when she brought it back, Dinah frowned down at it.

“No meatloaf?”

“You wouldn’t eat it anyway,” Eva said, waving a dismissive hand.

I didn’t think much of the comment until later, when Eva leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Are you going to tell us, Dinah?”

Dinah looked at her mother, a perplexed expression on her face. “Tell you what?”

Eva laughed as she sat back. “You took an hour-long nap in the middle of the day, and you’ve bolted from the table twice. I think you know what I’m talking about.”

“Oh, fine…” Dinah rolled her eyes while her husband leaned over and covered her hand with his. Her announcement of “I’m pregnant,” was almost drowned out by hoots and hollers as everybody else in the room figured out what Eva was getting at, and Dinah was soon enveloped by people wanting to hug her and ask questions.

I stayed where I was.

Surprisingly, so did Kane.

“Aren’t you going to rush over and hug her?”

He shrugged, a faint smile playing on his lips. “She’s getting plenty of hugs right now. I’ll catch her later.” He slanted a look at me. “You don’t seem too ready to bolt for the door. My family not scared you off yet?”

“Nah,” I said lightly. I wasn’t about to tell him that I was about as enamored with his family as I was with him. That might scare him off. “This isn’t so bad.”

The grin on his face told me that he’d seen some of what I was trying to hide.

It was okay, though. I realized it as his gaze softened, and he leaned over to press a kiss to my temple, hugging me tight. I was surrounded by the scent of him, the feel and strength of him, and I let myself sink into his embrace.

“None of that now,” a playful voice said.

I looked up to see Eddie wagging a finger at us. His gaze locked with mine and he winked at me. “Leading my brother astray, I see how it is,” he said.

I blushed while Kane swatted out with a hand, connecting with the back of his brother’s head.

Eddie took it with good-natured humor, settling back in his seat next to Kane while eying the rest of the family, most of whom were across the table. “Looks like just about all of us are settling down, huh?”

Kane’s arm came around my shoulders, and he tugged me in tight. “Looks like.”

I leaned into him and let myself think about what Eddie had said.

Settling down.

That kind of meant…home, right?

I realized I was smiling.

Home.

Here. Not this place, exactly. But here in New York. With Kane, even. Maybe we were moving fast, and maybe I was the only one who was thinking like this, but I didn’t think so.

For the first time in forever, maybe the first time ever, I felt like I had a home, like I had a place where I belonged.