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“Beats me. He’d been gone for three years, then without a heads-up, he came home with a two-week-old baby. You ever see the movie Three Men and a Baby? It’s an oldie.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Stream it sometime and you’ll see exactly what it was like for us with a newborn baby in the house. We were clueless.”
“From the little time I’ve been around her, she doesn’t seem any worse for the wear having three men raise her.”
“She’s an awesome kid. Just don’t get between her and her pickles, though. She’ll get vicious.” The first coffee pod finished brewing, and he popped in another one. “Cream and two sugars, right?”
“How do you know that?”
“I’m a cop. It’s my job to be observant.” He winked, then added the cream and sugar to her cup.
He needed to stop doing things like knowing how she preferred her coffee and winking at her. And going barefoot? Why she found that sexy was puzzling.
After his cup filled up, he gave her one of his panty-melting smiles—another thing he needed to stop doing. “Grab your coffee. We’re going up to my quarters on the second floor.” He picked up his cup and the plate with the cupcakes.
He was taking her to his bedroom? “Um, can’t we stay down here?”
“I thought you wanted a tour.” He walked out of the kitchen, and after a few seconds of internal debate, she followed him. Odd that she trusted him, considering she didn’t really know him. Or maybe she did, more than she’d realized. Otherwise she wouldn’t be trailing after him.
“Parker and Everly have their rooms down here,” he said when they reached the first of the twin stairs leading up. He lifted the hand holding his cup toward a hallway. “Down that hall. Our quarters are off-limits to each other, so I can’t take you on a tour of their rooms.” He leaned his mouth near her ear, as if he was about to tell her a secret. “I’m not against sneaking you in, though, if you want. You just can’t rat me out if I do.”
“Let’s save our sneak invasion on Parker and Everly’s rooms for another time. Just so you know, if you’re taking me to your bedroom, I’ll go back to the kitchen to drink my coffee and eat my cupcake.”
“Well, there goes my wicked intentions.” He comically waggled his eyebrows. “But I have other rooms for you to choose from. Put your coffee on the stairs a minute.” He set the plate and his coffee down. “There are two rooms down here you’ll want to see before we go up.”
She set her cup next to his, then followed him across the foyer. “This is a beautiful library, or is it a living room?”
“A combination of both.”
The floors were a dark wood and the walls a sage green. Thin streaks of pale green snaked through the white marble fireplace. The furniture pieces were upholstered in a green, yellow, and white print. An entire back wall was custom-built bookcases filled with books.
“Who’s the reader in the family?” She walked over and scanned the titles. They were an eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction.
“My aunt was.”
The edge in his voice caught her attention. “She seems to have had a wide-ranging taste in books.”
“She was a voracious reader.” He walked to one of the shelves and put his hand on an empty spot. “We weren’t allowed to touch her books. After she passed, Kade and I decided we’d read every damn off-limit book, whether it interested us or not. I’ve gotten this far. The books that go here are upstairs.” He pointed to another empty space. “Kade has the ones that go there on base with him.”
“Why would a book lover ban children from learning to love books?”
“Because she resented our being dumped on her.”
“Dumped? Your parents—”
“Mother. She liked to party, and three boys were apparently too much of a burden for a party girl. I was nine when she brought us to her sister’s house. Said she’d be back in a few days. That was the last anyone saw of her.”
“What about your father?”
“He split before Parker was born.” He took her hand. “Come. I have one more downstairs room to show you.”
Well, that was a heartbreaking story. She wanted to know more, but he was obviously done talking about it. That was for the best, though. Her heart hurt for the little boys no one wanted, and she didn’t need it softening toward him. And this thing he had about holding her hand, she liked that entirely too much.
“The media room,” he said.
“Wow! It’s like stepping into one of those old movie houses.” She pulled her hand away from his and moved to the middle of the room. Turning in a circle, she took everything in. The walls were painted dark gold, and panels of red velvet drapes hung from the ceiling about every ten feet. Also hanging from the ceiling were four ornate crystal chandeliers. Instead of rows of typical theater seats, there were three rows of plush black leather recliners.
