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“I have another note,” I said, running my thumb over her lower lip.

“What’s that?”

“The kitchen counter, he lifts her up and places her beside the stove.”

Ember pressed her lips together and nodded.

“It would probably be better on the kitchen island. More room. Or maybe he lifts her onto his desk instead,” I said, tapping my hand on the desktop.

Ember stared at me, fire in her eyes as her breath caught.

I pulled her from my chair in one motion, hands under her thighs, and set her on the edge of my desk. I shoved the pile of papers over, some of them falling to the floor, and then I pushed my pen holder over, spilling its contents to the ground. She gasped, grabbing me by the shoulders, her legs falling open around my hips.

“But regardless of where they do it, she’s still wearing too many clothes. I think that might be a pacing issue.”

“God, shut up about the pacing…”

I laughed against her mouth, kissing her again. Her legs locked around me, and my hands found the hem of her shirt. I was about to pull it over her head when we both froze.

Footsteps, small ones, padding down the hallway.

“Daddy?” Sophie’s voice drifted through the closed door. “Daddy, I had another bad dream and I can’t find Ember.”

Ember shoved me back so quickly I almost tripped over my chair. She was off my desk and fixing her shirt. I turned around and adjusted myself, grateful that the door was shut.

“One sec, Soph,” I called, running my hand through my hair.

I unlocked the door and pulled it open to see Sophie standing there, clutching her dinosaur.

“Can Ember read to me?”

Ember stepped up beside me, completely composed, and crouched down and brushed Sophie’s hair from her face.

“Of course, sweetheart. Which dinosaur do we want to read about?”

“The one with the long neck.”

“Brachiosaurus, that is a good choice.”

Ember took Sophie’s hand in hers and led her down the hallway. Once she was at the bottom of the stairs, she glanced over her shoulder at me and gave me a look that could have started a fire.

I stood in my study, gripping the doorframe and tried to remember how to breathe. We almost got caught.

It was after one by the time Ember came back downstairs. I heard her footsteps on the stairs and met her in the hallway. She leaned up against the wall, crossed her arms, and smiled at me.

“It took two chapters of Brachiosaurus facts to get her to fall asleep. Did you know they could eat four hundred pounds of vegetation per day?”

“I didn’t,” I said, studying her eyes.

“Well, you do now,” she said pushing herself off the wall. “Where were we?”

I stood there looking at her in the dim hallway. She wore flannel pajama pants and a plain white t-shirt. She had messily thrown her hair up into a bun.

“I need to tell you something.”

Her smile faded and wariness crept into her expression.

“Okay.”