“How are you feeling today?”

Horny, mind putting on a shirt and stop holding that baby because every time I see you two together, my ovaries explode. Can we have another baby?

“Sade, are you okay?”

I move my gaze away from his perfect chiseled torso and focus on the whisk and the bowl I’m holding.

“Sorry, I’m fine. How was your run?”

“It was great. This little man likes the new trail. You should come with us tonight.”

Kade discovered that the house sits on five acres of land. He can run freely without even leaving the lot, and so he decided to create a trail. He hopes that at some point I’ll be able to use it too. But I get tired too quickly. For now, I walk on the treadmill twice a day, but only for about ten minutes.

“To run?”

“Just for our nightly walk,” he proposes. “It’s short, and you could use a little air.”

“It would be a nice change of scenery. I might join you.”

“What are you cooking?”

“Nothing, I’m just whisking flour with water to loosen up my wrists.”

“You can do other things to loosen them up.” He waggles his eyebrows and drops that panty-melting smirk my way.

“Ah, that dirty mind, Mr. Hades. I’m not adding jerking you off as part of my daily therapy.”

“I never said that, Hummingbird. You’re the one with the dirty mind.”

“Right, because that’s not what you were thinking at all.”

“A guy can always hope.” He winks at me.

“For God’s sake, your son is listening to this nonsense.”

“There’s nothing wrong with him knowing that his old man lusts after his mother.”

“You’re not old, and you shouldn’t.”

“We might not be together, but you can’t stop me from loving you.”

“Rules. We need rules.” I close my eyes because a part of me doesn’t want them at all.

If only things between us were simple. But they’re too complicated to add sex into the mix right now. We have a kid who depends on us, and Kaden has his other children too.

“Don’t challenge me. You know what happens every time you do it.”

“I give up!” I set the bowl in the sink. “Go take a shower, Hades.”

“That’s a great idea.” He opens the fridge and pulls out a bottle of water. “By the way, Raven is dropping by with some flowers and Sinatra.”

“Ah, the master of the house is coming home.”

He smiles and takes a few gulps of water. Watching his Adam’s apple move along with his naked, sweaty torso makes me shiver with desire. It’s just a couple more days until I can have sex according to Raven. I had no idea there was a rule. Not that I plan on having sex anyway.

But I need to relieve the ache between my legs. The need keeps intensifying because I have this sex on a stick of a man flaunting his bare torso around the house every day.

“Do you think Sinatra will like Kieran?”

“I hope so. He liked him while I was pregnant,” I say, smiling at the memories of my kitty. “Sin liked to purr and rub his head against my belly. Kieran would push against my stomach at his will. They had a good relationship.”

“Good. At least I don’t have to worry about it. Where do you want me to set up his things?”

“The kitchen?” I look around. “It’s open, and he’ll enjoy the view.”

Kaden’s phone rings and he rolls his eyes before answering. “What’s up, Jax?”

“It’s not a mansion. The gate code is in the email I sent you.” He nods a couple of times, stares at the ceiling and turns red. “Are you sure?”

I walk toward him and take my sleepy baby from him.

“They found who it was? Well, I’m glad the hospital is firing her. Yeah, I’ll see you soon.”

“What happened?”

“There was a media incident while you were at the hospital.”

That’s code for someone caught me doing something I shouldn’t have. Like the time a fan caught us having sex in the parking lot of a stadium in Brussels, and he posted a blurry video on YouTube. There’s nothing to see, but the media made it into a big deal.

“Like they caught you having sex with some nurse while I was in the hospital?”

“Are we jealous?” He cocks his eyebrow.

“No, just guessing.”

“I know your faces, love. That’s your typical who am I going to kill face.”

“You can say whatever you want, but it’s not true.” I’m lying because of course, I’m jealous if he slept with someone while I’m still getting over him.

“What happened?” I humor him trying to satiate my curiosity.

“Someone wanted to make a little money off our tragedy and sold the press a bogus story.”

“What story?”

He goes into detail about the news of him being involved in a car accident while under the influence. How supposedly I died, while our son ended up in critical condition.

“You were on tour.”

“You knew where I was?” His surprised voice almost wakes up Kieran.

“It’s hard not to know when it’s all anyone is talking about,” I say, dismissing it while soothing my baby. “Don’t you think? But back to your story.”

“Do you mind walking with me upstairs? Jax will be here soon.”

We follow behind to his room. He has all the furniture from our old bedroom here. Even our pictures. Nostalgia hits me right in the middle of the chest, sending the memories of our life together from the back burner to the front of my mind. I’ve worked hard to keep them where they belong, forgotten. It’s the only way to stay emotionally away from him while he’s so physically close to me.

“You’re undressing,” I say, sitting on the unmade bed and averting my gaze to the window.

He’s going to kill me with lust.

“That’s how I shower. Naked,” he says with a mocking tone. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

“Just finish the story.” I wave my hand, still not looking at him.

If I do, I might jump him—right now.

“After the news broke, the press was going crazy about my alleged crime. The paparazzi set up camp outside the hospital which made it hard for me to come and go and for the guys to visit.”

“I had visitors.”

“Of course you did. All your friends stopped by daily, sometimes they sent me to take a nap while they were watching over you. There was a sign-in book. I can ask Jax for it.”

“I wouldn’t need it. I was just curious. So, who sold the story to the media?”

“One of the nurses. The bitch needed money.”

“We have to discuss your vocabulary in front of Kieran,” I say louder as the water is running.

A couple of minutes later the water is off, and he comes out wearing a towel around his waist. I need to ignore his muscular chest and focus on his face. He has a five o’clock shadow that I can remember created a carpet burn when he went down on me.

“And we’re feeling better.” He chuckles.

“What do you mean?” My cheeks heat up because he caught me lusting after him.

“You’re starting to censor me—again.” He puts on his jeans—no underwear.

Ugh, he’s killing me.

He puts on a black t-shirt that covers his broad shoulders and lets me see every one of his chest muscles.

He kisses the top of my head.

“I’m going to be outside talking to Jax, but text if you need anything.”

“Don’t worry about us, we have a routine to follow. Maybe some play time if he’s not too tired.”