once in a while, too. Remind herself that someone would always be hunting her and she would forever have a cloud of uncertainty about her mental health floating around everywhere she went.
She would never be able to stay in one place for long or fully unpack or settle down. She would never live in an actual house like this one, something she owned instead of rented. None of that was in the cards for her. She would not burden anyone with those problems, least of all Deacon and his niece and nephew.
“Come on,” Deacon murmured. “Let’s go to bed. I want to get started early so that everything is put together while we still have daylight.” He took her hand and led her from the room, flipping off the lights as they left.
It was early, far too early to fall asleep, but Raeann knew sleep wasn’t something Deacon intended for a while. The man was about to show her once again how much he adored her. And she was powerless to stop him. She would not. She wanted to fill her mind with memories, no matter how unwise it might have been.
Chapter 21
Deacon was a mixture of happy and nervous as he entered his parents’ home the next morning, his hand on the small of Raeann’s back. He’d been touching her nearly constantly in one way or another ever since he’d led her to bed last night. He’d removed her clothes as if she were a porcelain doll and made slow love to her until she was moaning, begging, and calling out his name.
He didn’t know what else to do to convince her but tear down every argument she had by making it too hard to deny him. He wasn’t playing fair, but he’d been upfront about that from the beginning.
He knew she often shut down her doubts and lived in the moment. He loved the look on her face when she was totally with him, when she wasn’t thinking about her mom or her potential for mental illness or the batshit crazy people harassing her.
Unfortunately, he didn’t know how to fix any of those concerns except to convince her he didn’t care. And he understood why she did care. He got it. If he were in her shoes, he’d probably feel the same way about the entire package. But dammit, he was in love with her, and he simply didn’t give a fuck about what baggage she brought to the relationship.
Today was important in his mind. Today she would be forced to interact with Katia and Teddy again. If she fell under their spell like he suspected she would, he prayed she would be unable to deny him.
As soon as they stepped inside, Katia came running, as usual. That girl had bionic ears. She always knew when the front door opened and beat everyone to greet her uncle. “Unca Dea,” she shouted, making him smile at the way she pronounced his name.
He swooped her off the floor, his usual way of greeting her, and wrapped his arms around her as she hugged his neck tightly.
Raeann smiled warmly as she tucked the tips of her fingers in the front of her jeans.
Katia leaned back and cupped Deacon’s face with her chubby little hands. “Gigi says today we are moving to your house. It’s going to be an advencature.”
Deacon chuckled. “An adventure.”
Katia frowned. “That’s what I said.”
Deacon kissed her nose. “Can you say hi to my friend Raeann?” Deacon asked Katia. “She’s going to help me move your things today.”
Katia squirmed to free herself and turned to Raeann when her feet hit the floor. “Rain is a funny name.”
Raeann laughed. “I guess it is.”
Deacon didn’t even try to correct Katia. For some reason, it was cute how she pronounced it rain.
His mom showed up in the entryway next. She set a hand on Deacon’s arm and rose up on her toes to kiss his cheek before turning to Raeann. “So nice to see you again. Thank you for helping.”
“You too, ma’am. I don’t mind helping at all.”
His mother waved a hand through the air. “Please, call me Marcy.”
Raeann smiled as they followed his mother toward Katia’s bedroom. Katia ran circles around them, jumping up and down in between. “Gigi packed some of my toys in boxes.”
Deacon smoothed a hand over her soft curls. “Maybe Raeann will help you finish packing your smaller things while I take your bed apart.”
Katia grabbed Raeann’s hand and dragged her the rest of the way to