the program again. “At work.” That seemed like a safe reply.
Her brows shot up. “You’re a Doll?”
“Ah, no. Not one of them.” Jesus, even I could hear the disdain in my voice for them. “He and my brother have a working relationship, and I met Bane through him.”
She hitched a hand onto her hip. “Younger or older?”
“Younger,” I reply with a grin.
“Hells yes. Little brothers are such a headache, right?”
A smile pulled at my lips. I liked Bianca. Where Bane was gruff, she was friendly. Where he was aloof, she was open. She smiled a lot more too. “My brother could win awards with the headaches he’s caused me.”
She snorted and got back to chopping. “I don’t know… Bane caused his fair share for me, too.”
“Oh?”
“To say he was wild when he was a kid is an understatement. He was always getting into trouble, but do you know what? He was always there when I needed him, too. He may be younger, but he’s protective of me.”
“I can see that trait in him,” I reply. I looked up when I heard Bane walk back into the room, a little girl cradled in his arms. Fuck, my ovaries may have just exploded because seeing him with a baby made my womb ache. He walked over to us, a smirk on his face. I was trying really hard to connect the man I thought I knew to the man I know, and to the man I was being shown now.
Bianca put down the knife, wiped her hands, and rounded the counter. “There’s my beautiful girl,” she cooed to her daughter.
“She’s gotten big,” Bane commented, staring down at the swaddled bundle.
“You would know that if you visited more often,” Bianca volleyed back, and I got the distinct impression this was an old argument.
“You know how busy I am.”
She stroked the baby’s head. “I know.”
Bane looked up and locked eyes with me. There was such warmth in them. “This is the other female love of my life,” he said. “Valentine.”
Wiping my hands, I walked toward him and peeked inside the blankets. The baby girl blinked up at me with dark blue eyes, eyes that were very aware of her surroundings. She had a shock of dark hair and the most perfect nose and cupid mouth.
“She’s beautiful,” I murmured.
“Yeah, she is,” Bane rumbled in reply, and I looked up to find him staring at me. Flushing, I walked back to my salad-tossing station.
“How old is she?”
“Four months,” Bianca replied.
“And where does she get her dark hair from, your side or her daddy’s?”
“James has blond hair, too, as does all his family, so I think she’ll probably have the same hair as Bane.”
Bane smiled at that.
“Why don’t you two go and sit down. I can take it from here.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Absolutely.” She made a shooing gesture with her hands. I followed Bane to a set of four armchairs grouped around a glass table. Bane sat in one with Valentine still cradled in his arms while I sat opposite him. As soon as he was comfortable, though, Valentine began to fuss.
“I have to feed her,” Bianca said, coming over and taking her daughter. Gesturing to her kitchen, she said, “Just leave that. We’ve still got time.”
She left us together, and Bane patted his knee. Hauling myself out of my chair, I lowered myself onto his knee.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked, rubbing his thumb over my bottom lip.
“You.”
“Why?”
“You keep surprising me.”
“Don’t tell me you had me pegged as a drug dealer and peddler of pussy only. I have many layers.”
I played with the hair at the base of his skull. “I’m starting to see that.”
The playfulness bled from his eyes, scorching lust filling its space. “Fuck, Wren, this is fucking torture.”
“I know,” I whispered.
He groaned as he repositioned himself. “I can’t handle not knowing. It’s fucking driving me crazy. You’re driving me to distraction, to the point where I can’t even think straight anymore.” He caressed my cheek, the side of my neck, the swoop of my collarbones. My heart rate increased two-fold at his reverent touch, at his desperate words.
“Please tell me you’ll have an answer by the end of the night.”
I nodded. “Yes.”
Frowning, he dropped his hand to my waist. “Yes, you’ll have an answer or yes, you’ll be mine?”
Be his.
Fuck, that sounded amazing…
… except he hadn’t mentioned the deal.
It seemed like it was as far from his mind as it was from mine.
“I don’t know if I could walk away after