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I raised my fist to knock, hoping it was the latter.
“Morning, Duke,” MJ singsonged, and I turned to face her. She was dressed in hot-pink scrubs as she pushed a large computer cart down the hallway toward me.
“Hey, MJ.” I nodded. “You seen Red?”
Her face twisted in shock. “Who? Oh my god, we lost one again, didn’t we?”
I gave her a bored look, and she fizzled into a fit of giggles. She leaned on the cart as she laughed. I did always have a tiny soft spot for MJ—not that I’d ever admit that to anyone.
“I don’t know, Duke, that joke never gets old.” With an exaggerated sigh she rested her chin in her hand. “He tagged along with Fred, our maintenance man. They’re over in the new Haven Pines neighborhood. Slapping up some paint, I think.”
I nodded. “Good. That’s good for him.”
Physical labor always seemed to make my dad feel better. Clear out some of the cobwebs in his mind.
MJ gestured toward the radio on her hip. “Want me to call Fred for you?”
I shook my head. “Nah, I don’t want to throw him if he’s having a good day.”
“He’s having a great day.” She smiled. “I’m hopeful about this clinical trial. It seems to be working well.”
I wanted to hope, I did, but I also knew the reality of Dad’s diagnosis.
“So...” MJ began clicking the keyboard of her computer, but her eyes flicked to me. “I hear you need a spy on the inside.”
She waggled her eyebrows in my direction, and I rolled my eyes at her. “I see you’ve talked to Sylvie.”
She straightened and beamed at me. “Of course I did. She’s my only sister. And look, I know you’re doing this for her, so I love you for that. If you need me to butter up the brutes in my family, I’ll do my best.”
“I’d settle for them not making things harder for Sylvie.”
She winked playfully as she pointed at me. “I knew there was a big old softie in there.”
“I am not soft,” I gritted out.
She straightened and shimmied her shoulders. “Oh really?”
I sighed and started to walk. “Goodbye, MJ.”
Her cackling laugh echoed in the hallway, and she giggled again when she was shushed by a resident. Making an alliance with another King was probably a huge fucking mistake, but I would do it for Sylvie.
With paperwork doneand not much to do in the field, I settled into a recliner with an old paperback. I needed anything to distract myself from the fact that Sylvie had let it slip that she was heading upstairs for a warm soak in my bathtub.
I fought the mental image of the tops of her breasts peeking out above the waterline, surrounded by luscious bubbles.
Goddamn, pregnancy had made her tits round and full, and I wanted to touch them. Taste them.
I had set my intentions to date Sylvie, help us get to know each other and actually see if we might be able to figure this co-parenting thing out. Maybe Savannah would hold less of an appeal if she knew she wouldn’t have to do this alone—that there would be somebody here who cared about her and would do anything in his power to take care of the both of them.
I was surprised when Sylvie trudged down the stairs and into the living room in loose pajamas and a pout.
I looked up from my book as her shoulders slumped. “I got hot. Then I felt all sweaty and couldn’t relax. I’m just...” She raised her hands and dropped them, letting them slap petulantly on the outsides of her thighs. “Uncomfortable.”
I pulled my glasses down my nose and set them on top of the book on the side table. She was adorable and perfect, and I hated that there wasn’t anything I could do to make her feel better when so many changes were going on in her own body.
“I’ve got an idea.” I stood and moved toward the couch and gestured at it with my hand. “Sit tight.”
She surveyed me with pursed lips but plopped herself in the corner of the couch with a huff. I stifled a chuckle and ran upstairs to grab some lotion out of my bathroom.
