"I did know that. You're almost done with school, right?"

"Yeah. I'll be in second grade next year. Too bad Hannah will be too."

"Who's Hannah?"

"This stupid girl in my class. She's mean."

"To you?"

"Yeah. Sometimes to other girls, too. But mostly to me. She says my mom came to this town because she did something bad."

I clench my jaw at the thought of Chloe getting teased at school. "Sounds like Hannah doesn't know what she's talking about."

"I know. She's always saying stuff like that." She's silent as she picks up a twig and pokes the ground. "She said that her parents said you were in jail because you're no good."

"Did she?" I ask. Heat rushes through me. The kid moves to a new town with her mother, gets teased by a stupid girl about her mom's past, and now takes shit because of me? That's real fucking great.

"Yeah."

"Jail is where bad guys go. Like robbers."

"Well, just so you know, I've never been to jail."

Chloe nods, still looking at the ground. "I know. You're not a bad guy. Or a robber."

"People say stupid shit sometimes," I say angrily. Shit. "Don't tell your mother I said that word."

"You have to give me a quarter for saying a bad word."

"I know."

"In second grade, I'm not going to let anyone push me around. Second graders are brave."

"Did one of the kids at school push you?"

Chloe shrugs. "Alex. He's Hannah's boyfriend."

"In first grade? Why does this kid have a boyfriend?"

"I don't know," Chloe says, exasperated. "He's a boy and he's her friend and he just does what she tells him to do. On the playground, he pushed me off the climbing wall. Mrs. S was looking the other way, and Ellie told her that I fell but Mrs. S said to go play. Then he tripped me at recess on purpose. And kicked dirt in my face. Hannah and Molly and Alex just laughed." Chloe rolls over, kicks out her leg and hikes her pant leg over her knee. "I just got a scrape. Don't tell mom. She'll just worry. And she'll talk to Mrs. S again."

My blood is pumping in my ears. "Your mom doesn't know that these kids are hurting you?"

"No."

"So these little shits are pushing you around on the playground for fun?" I ask in disbelief. "Okay, I owe you another quarter for that one."

"They're just mean. At recess, I've been staying against the wall because I don't want to go where they are. But it's okay. Ellie stays with me."

"Next time that Alex kid or Hannah gets near you and tries any of that shit three quarters it is you need to punch them, good and hard."

Chloe's eyes go wide. "Mom says you shouldn't hit. Ever."

Oh, hell. Am I giving bad advice? Fuck it, those kids are hurting her, she should know how to defend herself. "It's not hitting. It's called defending yourself."

"I don't know how."

"Let me see you make a fist."

"Really?" Chloe sits up straight.

"I'll teach you how to throw a punch."

38.

Lily "He should be a permanent fixture around this place," Opal declares as she pushes her way into the kitchen.

"I assume you're talking about Killian?" Killian has been here every day from morning until we close. I'm letting him help out, despite all of my earlier vows to never rehire him.

Oh well. I also said I'd never screw him. So I'm eating a little humble pie.

That's not all I'm eating.

My face flushes hot thinking about being on my knees and taking him into my mouth. And Killian between my legs, devouring me in the office after the morning rush is over. Nights in my bed after Chloe is asleep with Killian inside me, filling me up. We've been sneaking around like a couple of teenagers who can't keep their hands off each other stolen moments in the office, in Killian's truck, in my bed.

Other images flash in my head, too.

Killian sitting at the kitchen table, his legs kicked out, leaning back in his chair the way he does, laughing as Chloe tells a nonsensical story about a bear and a chicken wearing a tutu and an invisible dog while I roll pizza dough on the counter.

Killian stretched out on his stomach on my living room floor, getting his ass handed to him by Chloe in a matching card game. Chloe cackling maniacally and shrieking when she beat him.

Killian leaning over and whispering during movie night. "I don't get it. So the mermaid lost her voice. Why doesn't she just write a note? Or get one of those little dry erase boards and some markers?"

Opal's voice interrupts my thoughts. "Of course I'm talking about Killian." Opal hangs her apron up on the hook on the wall. "I'm not just talking about him only being a permanent fixture in the store either."

I groan. "You're as subtle as my mother."

"I'm going to enjoy meeting your parents. Aren't they coming out to pick up Chloe soon?"

"After school gets out. She's going to stay with them for a week or two before summer camp starts."

"She'll love summer camp. Mary and Theo came down for two weeks for camp last summer and they gave my daughter grief about not being able to stay for the entire time."

"This is the first time she's going to visit my parents on her own," I tell her. "My mother may not quite remember what it was like to have a seven-year-old around."

"They make you feel young again. At least, that's what my grandkids do."

"Maybe my child is defective," I joke. "She makes me feel old and haggard and tired."

"That's not Chloe doing that," Opal retorts. "That's all the hanky-panky you and the Saint boy have been up to that's wearing you out."

"I'm pretty sure that hanky-panky is supposed to have the opposite effect. It's supposed to make me look younger."

Opal raises her eyebrows. "Maybe you've been doing it wrong."

"I have not been doing it wrong." I toss a towel at her and it sends a plume of flour through the air.

"Who's been doing what wrong?" Killian comes through the kitchen door.

"No one's doing anything wrong," I protest.

Opal raises her eyebrows. "I'm going home. Don't forget, the delivery guy comes today."

Killian smirks and I blush. I wait until after Opal leaves to say, "I can't make eye contact with the delivery guy anymore."

Killian snorts and smacks me on the ass. "He'd better not be making eye contact with you. Or looking at you anywhere. Better yet, he should just walk down here backwards with the delivery."

"You're a possessive Neanderthal."

"You're right." He slides his hand to the nape of my neck, pulling me against him and running his hand over the back of my skirt before yanking it up my thigh as he kisses me hard on the lips. My body warms to him immediately, heat flooding my core as his hand squeezes my ass cheek. I imagine him taking me right here, right now. He's apparently thinking the same thing, since he pulls away from me, his hands still holding me against his growing hardness. "There's no one out front, you know."

I laugh, my hand on his chest. "The front door is unlocked."

"I'll lock it," he says, his voice thick.

I glance at the clock. "And I have to go get Chloe."

Killian looks behind me. "You have twenty minutes before school gets out. And the elementary school is fifteen minutes away. Plenty of time."

"Are you offering me a whole five minutes of sex? God, that is so hot."

"It'll be the best five minutes of your life, woman." He grins at me, and I laugh as his fingers find their place between my legs. "Don't even lie. Efficient sex makes you totally wet."

The knock on the door interrupts him and I laugh as Killian scowls. "Delivery guy," I whisper.

"I'm really going to have to kill him."

I kiss him on the cheek. "I'm going to get Chloe. But I'll take a rain-check on the efficient you-know-what."

Chloe squeezes my hand tightly, shy in the midst of the chaos of people arriving at Killian's cabin Killian's brother Luke, his fiance, Autumn and her child, Olivia, as well as Silas and Tempest and Elias and River.

River Andrews the River Andrews puts her arms around me and says she's heard so much about me. After she walks away, I turn to Killian and squeal, trying unsuccessfully to keep my voice down. "She's heard so much about me. River Andrews, the movie star, has heard so much about me??"

"She's been in a couple of movies, I guess." Killian shrugs. "I haven't seen any of them."

"You can't be serious. Do you live under a rock?"

"Luke said it's all like, chick flicks and stuff." He grimaces as he speaks the words. "Ugh. You're not going to force me to watch them now, are you?"

I don't get to answer before Chloe interrupts. "Killian, will the deer come over tonight?"

"Probably not with so many people out on the deck."

"Aww. What will they eat for dinner, then?"

"They're pretty good about managing to find their own dinner," Killian replies. "Speaking of which, Autumn says Luke has outdone himself tonight with the grilling. Ribs, chicken, the whole nine yards."

"Can I have a cupcake?" Chloe asks.

"Not before dinner," I tell her.

"Did you bring cupcakes?" Silas walks up to us. "Tempest said that she had your cake at Amy Porter's wedding reception. Her eyes were rolling back in her head talking about it."

Silas's wife settles in next to him, wrapping her arm around his waist. "I don't know what it was, but I thought I'd died and gone to heaven."

"It was champagne cake," I tell her. "With strawberry champagne buttercream frosting."

"If you somehow lose your mind and marry this guy, this does mean we get free cupcakes forever, right?" Silas asks.

My face warms and I think it must go bright red. Tempest's eyes go wide and she elbows Silas. "Silas!"

"What did I say?" he asks. "It was a legitimate question."

"Are you getting married, mom?" Chloe pulls at my hand.

"What? No. No one's getting married," I explain as Tempest drags Silas off by the arm. I look at Killian and raise my eyebrows. "Please chime in?"

Killian shuffles uncomfortably. "Uh um huh." He scratches his head.

My head is swimming. I'm not ready to be even mentioning the M word. Especially not in front of my child. And my boyfriend's family. Hell, I just got used to the word boyfriend.

Elias interrupts, yelling from a few feet away. "No way. You guys are getting married?"

"No!" I exclaim, looking at Chloe. "I like Killian, but "

Chloe interrupts. "Hannah said that if a boy is staying at your house, you have to be married."

"Hannah is a mouthy little sh"

I cut Killian off. "Killian!"

A loud whistle cuts through the air and we all turn to look at Luke. "Dinner's ready!"