don’t?” Ava asked.
Kenny met her tear-filled eyes. “Then you don’t. We will still love you. Everyone around here already accepts you.”
A lone tear streaked down her cheek. “But I want my mom and dad to accept me—to love me.”
Kenny moved around the bed and pulled Ava into a hug. He knew that deep sorrow. He held her as she cried.
“It’s not fair.”
Kenny agreed it wasn’t, but Ava had no idea the luck she had. Morgan had found her and loved her instantly and brought her to a place that would give her love and understanding. But she wasn’t ready to hear that just yet. He let her cry her fill until she did nothing but sit there. He laid Ava down and placed a kiss to her forehead.
“We will always be here for you,” Kenny said.
Ava blinked away tears and turned away from him. She grabbed a pillow and hugged it to herself. Kenny made it to the door when he heard the soft words from Ava.
“Thank you.”
Anytime. He would always be there for her. In the short time they had known each other, he’d easily grown attached to Ava.
Morgan folded some laundry to take his mind off everything. Ava was clearly not okay. Kenny said it would take her some time, but Morgan felt helpless. He had no idea how to help his niece.
A heavy sigh escaped him.
“I feel your unease through the bond. What’s the matter?” Kenny asked.
It was strange to share emotions so freely, but just as Kenny could feel Morgan, it was the same vice versa. Morgan could feel that Kenny was worried about him.
“Just thinking about how I want to help Ava.”
Kenny made his way over to the bed and picked up some clothes and started to help fold. He was ten times better at it than Morgan, but it was Morgan’s way of helping out.
“You are helping her by just being here for her.”
Morgan nibbled on his bottom lip, and his hands fell to his lap. “But is that all I can do?”
Kenny cupped his face, and Morgan stared up at his mate. With his dark brown skin, high cheekbones, goatee, and liquid-silver eye color, Kenny was too beautiful for words.
“Piglet, you being here is everything. Not many people have a person in their corner. But Ava has you without a doubt.”
“And you.”
Kenny nodded. “Yes, but Ava has yet to realize that.”
Morgan thought differently. Ava always seemed calm around Kenny. It was like she looked up to him.
Kenny bent over and did the one thing that was on both of their minds. They kissed. Morgan moaned, unable to deny the way Kenny made his body and soul react. The man had him completely, utterly under his spell.
Kenny pulled back, and Morgan found himself chasing after his mate’s mouth.
“Let’s finish this, and then we need to get downstairs. Our guests will be arriving soon. And as beta of Bliss Pride, I need to be down there.”
Morgan wanted to argue, but he nodded instead and grabbed more stuff to fold. They made quick work of the basket, and the last thing was a fitted sheet. They both grabbed it at the same time. In the past Morgan would have happily rolled the stupid sheet up and tossed it into a random drawer. But being with Kenny, he’d picked up some tricks on how to work with the tricky sheet.
Morgan smiled at Kenny. He moved close and placed a hand in the middle of Kenny’s broad chest. He pushed just slightly, and Kenny sat down. He gave Morgan a quizzical look, but Morgan just took the sheet.
He started to fold it just how Kenny had done it plenty of times. Morgan made sure to smooth out the wrinkles as he made the fitted sheet his bitch. Morgan was so concentrated on getting the fitted sheet to fold perfectly, but he felt the trickle of sexual desire as it came through the bond. Morgan stopped short and glanced up through his lashes at Kenny.
Kenny stared at him intently, his legs slightly spread, the outline of his cock visible through his dark jeans. A moan slipped from between Morgan’s lips as he completely forgot about the fitted sheet and was all too focused on his mate.
“Finish,” Kenny said huskily.
Morgan’s cock twitched at the sound of his voice. He had to redo a fold once or twice, but it wasn’t his fault. Kenny was flooding the bond with his desire, and Morgan was barely holding on—he wanted so badly to