Zane hadn’t tried to force Sarah to come with him to the hardware store a couple of minutes after their … whatever that was. Would fight be the right word? He didn’t know for sure. It had troubled him how sad she was. How her life sounded so different from the one he’d imagined she and Jeff would have had together. For some stupid reason, he’d always thought they would have the life he imagined he would have had with her.

He’d called Sutton, and there hadn’t been a police report in Sutton’s file. That was reason for concern. Zane had allowed for this breather from her during the day, only because her home had never been broken into during the day, but he wouldn’t allow them to be by themselves at night. He would also go with her to see clients. It was nonnegotiable.

Honestly, going to the hardware store and stopping at the store for some groceries felt like a needed break from being in her presence all day. It had unnerved him that he was in her home. That he had seen several pictures of her and Jeff and their son, Tyler, all around the house. He hadn’t tried to be invasive, but he couldn’t help it. When he’d gotten to the kid’s room, he’d had to pause and smile at the baby pictures. The kid looked just like Jeff, but he had her eyes—those fiery eyes, the ones that knew him, the ones that seemed to hate him at the moment.

As he pulled up to the home, he noticed her car. She must be back from picking up her son. He felt uncertain. How would it be to meet him? What would he be like? What would Tyler think of Zane? He got out of his truck, grabbed the groceries, and walked toward the front door. Of course, he knew all the codes and could just punch them into the garage and go in, but that kind of familiarity didn’t seem right at the moment. Hesitating at the front door, he was about to knock when he heard something.

“I’ll get you. No, I’ll get you!” It sounded faint, like play fighting. He recognized it because he had five brothers, and that’s what they still did when they were together—play-fight. Granted, it led to a lot of broken things, but they still did it.

Putting the groceries down, he went around to the side of the house and peered at the back deck. There was a dark-haired boy, with just shorts on and bare feet, playing with a lightsaber, slashing it back and forth through the air. As Zane watched the game, he noticed the kid was acting out both sides of the duel: he put his lightsaber down, spun around, snatched a different one off the ground, and slashed and jabbed at the space he’d stood in moments before. He had to turn away to muffle a laugh. It was cute. The kid was fighting himself. He grunted and thought about how the kid didn’t have a sibling. For a second, he wondered why, but quickly brushed the too-curious thought aside. He needed to focus on this mission and not on the past with this woman.

As he turned to peek again at the boy, he was astounded when he felt a bonk on the head. “Got you right where I want you, mister.”

Zane grinned and inspected the kid. He wasn’t afraid. In fact, his eyes were alight with anticipation. Zane took a couple of steps and picked up the lightsaber on the ground. “You were expecting me?” He gently poked the air with the lightsaber.

“Mom told me you would be here.” The boy grinned at him and then charged. “Die, you Sith!”

Zane sidestepped, and the boy fell flat on his face. Zane didn’t laugh, though. The boy turned onto his back, apparently gauging Zane’s reaction to decide if he would cry or not.

Gesturing for him to come back, Zane raised his lightsaber in a stance befitting a Jedi. “Come fight me like a man, Skywalker.” Truth be told, the kid had already endeared himself to Zane when Sarah had told him the story about how he’d bravely tried to protect her last night.

Tyler stood, brushing himself off, and evaluated Zane. “My mom told me you were coming and you were tough.”

This made Zane happy, though he wouldn’t admit it. “Did she now?”

Tyler held the lightsaber out and took two quick steps to him and pounded the one Zane was holding. Zane let him, liking the sparring.

“But she didn’t tell me you looked like a superhero.” With a laugh, the kid hit the lightsaber again.

Zane turned and showed off a bit, doing a roundhouse kick in the air and then taking the lightsaber and holding it to Tyler’s neck. “I don’t think superhero is the right word.” He grinned at the little boy, who up close looked more like his mother in his nose and lips. There were definitely signs of his father in the color of his hair and eyes, though.

The little boy burst into giggles, grabbing the front of the lightsaber and pushing it away.

“Hey!” Zane pointed out. “You just slashed your hand off. That weapon can kill you.”

The kid laughed harder and used his hand to smack Zane in the thigh. “Then I just put my bloody hand all over you.”

Zane didn’t know how it happened, but he found himself whooping and grabbing the kid and tickling him and picking him up and holding him over his head. “You can’t rub blood on your sworn enemy!”

The kid shrieked more, and Zane loved it. It was weird, but he’d already fallen in love with this boy.

He put him down, and Tyler picked up his lightsaber. “C’mon, Thor. Come and get me.”

“Thor, huh?” Zane picked up his lightsaber and pretended he would pounce, finding it funny the kid was already calling him that.

Tyler shrieked and ran out onto the beach.

Zane laughed at the kid’s reaction.

“Come on!” Tyler yelled. “Come on! Or are you a sissy?”

Zane laughed harder and found himself taking off his hiking boots so he could chase him in the sand.

“Zane.” Sarah’s voice interrupted his happy thoughts. “Can I talk to you?”

Turning, he saw her standing at the barely opened French door. She looked like she’d been standing there watching the entire scene. He was surprised he hadn’t noticed her.

“I’ll talk in a minute. I’m in very serious combat at the moment.” He took off, but not too soon to miss something he hadn’t seen from her all day—a real smile.