Page 61 of Mortdale

Recital?

He winced just a little. “She dances.”

To prove to me as such, she hopped off his lap with a piece of toast still all crumbled in her fist. Twirling and twisting nonsensically until she almost got me nauseous. She finished it all off with wide-spread arms, wobbling on her feet and with toast all over the floor.

I clapped.

Stinking adorable. Also just stinky. But adorable. In a stinky way. Like skunks. Sort of.

She fled off to show Christof her dance moves, nearly taking him down with the vase and the marble plinth it had been perched upon.

“Tell me you’re investing in her education,” I murmured to him. “Who keeps encouraging her in these artistic pursuits?”

He pressed his fisted hand to his mouth, watching me cut through the eggs Theodora lowered before me.

“Is it safe for her?” I asked, trying to ignore his piercing attention. “This recital she’s obliterating with her dancing skills, I mean.” I chewed a little slower. “Thinking about it, I think she might injure anyone coming in close contact with her. The question should be ‘are they all safe with her being there?’ But most importantly,” I said, leaning in. “Are we?”

He leaned back in his chair, spreading comfortably in it as he twirled his cigarette tin between his fingers. “My sister was in the theatre. Music, dance, acting, she did it all. I want Piper to know her mother outside of the stories I tell her. To connect with Cassandra the way I knew she would’ve loved to connect with her daughter.”

I could see why Cassandra wanted to keep him safe. I could see why she’d trusted him with the most precious thing she had. The only thing I couldn’t see was why she thought of me as a threat to him.

“Permission to let me burn in Hell.”

I nearly choked on toast when he tapped a finger on my chin and got up.

“You’re leaving again?” I asked, standing after him.

“I’ll be back to pick you and Piper up for the recital.”

“What is happening with the exarch’s proposal?”

“Still unapproved. They will be voting on it next month. We’re in the middle of an outbreak. They don’t have much of a choice.”

“When are you sleeping and resting in all of this?” I asked, not realising I’d grabbed his arm until his attention dropped there. “You’re gone for days.”

“Doing you a favour, aren’t I? So you don’t have to hide around the house every time I step in your vicinity.”

My hand slipped off his arm, laying limply on my side. He’d noticed? Had I been that obvious?

Little Piper and I stood side by side, watching Christof help Logan put his weapons and jacket on. The latter, for some reason, kept glancing between his niece and I. Multiple times.

He lowered to a crouch, bringing his face forward and letting her kiss both his cheeks. And then it was her turn. I’d noticed that the uncle and niece always stuck to their specific routines.

The little sticky gremlin pointed a non-jammy finger at me. “You kiss Boo now.”

My teeth sank into the tip of my tongue to hold myself from smiling. Lifting my brows up, I waited, excited to see him completely pissed off. Except, he wasn’t exactly pissed off. I didn’t know what it was, but his pupils nearly vanished into the sea of gold when he looked up at me, and his jaw was set so tight I thought it might snap.

Piper seemed to grow impatient. “Bear!”

“She doesn’t want a kiss, Bunny,” he said, standing and fixing his tie.

“Oh, I very much do.” And oh, I was going to be so sick, but the stunned look on his face was so satisfying.

“On the mouth,” Piper said, nearly biting all her fingers off from shyness.

I fixed his collar, running my fingers up and down the lapels of his jacket. “Come on, big guy. We’ve done it before. You didn’t burst into flames the first time.”

My amusement about his distress was short-lived as his hand slid to the back of my head, holding me there for a moment before he pressed a kiss on my lips. It wasn’t quick. It wasn’t rushed. It was soft and wet and lingering just like our first.