Kian (Undercover Billionaire, #1)(64)
Roxie cracked the bathroom door open and called out to Kian. “Do you think you could help Lily with her jammies and tuck her in? I have a terrible headache, and I’m going to take a bath. You can see yourself out after,” she said.
There was dead silence for a few seconds, and she wondered if he was going to refuse. He’d told her he wanted to know his daughter’s nighttime routine, and this was the perfect way to be immerged into it.
“Yes, I’ve got it,” he called back. She couldn’t tell from his tone what he thought about her request, but she was too emotionally wrecked to focus on it. She closed and locked the bathroom door, then turned on the night-light so it was dark, and then she filled the tub.
She sat there for well over an hour, adding hot water when it began to cool. When she heard no more sound coming from the house, she decided it was safe to come out. She knew she was going to have to face Kian again soon, but at least it wasn’t going to be tonight.
She deserved a small reprieve because she hadn’t allowed herself to let everything sink in over the past couple of months, and now it seemed to be doing so with the force of a perfect storm.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kian couldn’t help but smile as he stretched out on Roxie’s bed. If she seriously thought he was so easy to dismiss, then she truly had forgotten all about him in their years apart. That thought didn’t bode so well for him.
He hadn’t forgotten a single thing about her—not the way her body felt, not the sound of her laughter, or the way her cheeks would give her away every single time. He had been in love with her, and he was coming to the conclusion that no matter how hard he’d tried to forget her, he still was in love with her.
He truly had no idea how she felt about him, though. Kian didn’t like this uncertainty, but he had never been a person to run from his problems. When he’d found her and Lily all cozy in the barn with the vet, he’d wanted to punch Evan in the face, then put Roxie over his shoulder and smack her ass a few times before taking her home and proving to her over and over again who she belonged to.
The second he’d had Lily in his arms, he’d calmed down. Of course Evan wouldn’t try anything with his woman. That would never happen. But it was much easier to be rational when he wasn’t filled with jealousy. He’d waited at that damn bakery for a half hour before realizing she wasn’t showing up. It hadn’t taken much investigative work to figure out where she was.
He’d been jealous all the way out there, and, well, it had piqued. But tonight had been ideal for him. He’d been able to have dinner with the two most important ladies in his life, and then he’d gotten to read a story to his daughter before tucking her into bed. She’d fallen asleep almost instantly.
Now, he’d been waiting in Roxie’s room for a half hour. He was glad she was taking her time. It allowed him to calm himself and to think. Roxie was scared. He wasn’t sure of what exactly, but she was scared.
When that happened, she tended to want to run. Kian just had to be strong enough for the both of them to not allow her to do that. He could certainly hold the burden of their problems on his wide shoulders. He’d be more than willing to do so. He just had to know what they were, first.
She should trust him a little bit by now. He had the power to take Lily anytime he wanted, and he hadn’t attempted to do that. He didn’t want Lily not to have Roxie. He wanted them all to be a family. He just wasn’t sure how to make it happen. He didn’t want to come on too strong and cause her to run again, but he didn’t want to move too slowly, either.
He wished life could be just a little bit simpler at times. But then where would the fun be in that? He heard the bathroom door open, and his heart skipped a beat. The lamp was on the lowest setting, and the moment she walked into the bedroom, she’d know she wasn’t alone. His eyes were fixed on the door.
Kian’s breath was literally stolen from his body when she stepped into the room. Her head was down as she ruffled a towel through her long, dark tresses, her freshly bathed scent drifting to him, making him hard as a boulder.
His arousal poked up through his boxers, which were all he was wearing, and his stomach twitched. He curled his fingers into fists to keep from launching himself through the air toward her.
She had nothing on but a skimpy towel that was barely covering the top of her thighs, and her generous cleavage was about to spill out as she leaned forward. She still hadn’t noticed him when she moved forward and sat on the edge of the bed, her head down as she scrubbed the top of her head.
Her smell was intoxicating, and though Kian had hoped the two of them would be making love this night, it hadn’t been his main objective when he’d gotten comfortable on her bed. He’d wanted the two of them to talk first. He wasn’t sure he had the willpower to make that happen now, though, not when she was so unwittingly tempting him.
“Damn,” he growled, startling her, and she twisted. The action caused the towel around her body to open and fall away, revealing the undeniable beauty of her flesh.
Within seconds, he had her beneath him, and his lips were on hers. His hunger was nearly uncontrollable as he plunged his tongue into her mouth, his hands smoothing down her sides. She whimpered against him as she reached for him, her own need catching fire as quickly as his.
“I wanted to talk,” he said as he wrenched his lips from hers, then dived into the crook of her neck and sucked her sweet skin. “But then you came in here looking like this, and I’ve lost my mind.”