Lynn covered her eyes. And then uncovered them, because she didn’t want to stop looking at him. God, this was ridiculous. “Stop it.”
“Nope.” He kissed her again, then murmured into his mouth, “I want to wake up with you every morning for the rest of my life.”
“Ack!” She started giggling. “I can’t believe all those awful love songs are true. I always thought all those sappy lines were just made-up drivel. But it isn’t! I really do want to be with you more than anything, and I want you to hold my hand as we walk under the moonlight and gaze into each other’s eyes and all of that crazy nonsense.”
“Mmm, tell me more.”
Lynn laughed helplessly into the warm masculine scent of his skin and thought that she was luckier than she’d ever dreamed of being.
***
In the morning, there were practicalities to address.
But, Lynn realized, suddenly even those were different, were easier. Because Ken was there to help. Even just talking things over with him made everything seem more manageable.
“They’re going to have to stay here,” Lynn said to him first thing, after they’d both gotten up and grabbed a shower, but before going down for breakfast. “I don’t think Stella has a job right now, and she makes sure Eva concentrates on school rather than making money, so there’s no way they can afford to get their own place. So they have to stay here.”
“But?” Ken pulled a shirt over his head and emerged with his hair messed up, looking at her questioningly.
Lynn had to smile at the sight of him. She reached up, and he obligingly ducked his head to let her smooth his hair back down. Just touching him made her calmer, somehow.
“But I’m afraid of what might happen if Todd convinces that wolf pack to start hassling her here. This place isn’t a fortress, it’s just an old house. They could vandalize the place, they could break in…” She shuddered.
Ken caught her hand. “I think that’s a legitimate worry,” he said seriously, “and I’m not going to tell you to just relax about it.”
Now it was her turn to say, “But?” to his leading tone.
“But I think that we can make it much less likely that they’ll cause any trouble, with a bit of tactical work,” Ken said with a smile.
Just hearing his confidence, even without any real idea of what he might be planning, made the tension in Lynn’s shoulders start to melt away. “Okay,” she said, with a deep breath. “All right. Good.”
“Good,” he repeated. “Okay, what else?”
Lynn bit her lip. “This one is stupid.”
“I will bet you good money that it isn’t,” Ken said. He was still holding her hand, and he squeezed it tight. “Tell me.”
Lynn sighed. “Stella and I haven’t managed to live under the same roof without making each other miserable since we were little kids,” she admitted. “If they stay here, she and I are going to fight, and that’s going to be hard on Eva, and I don’t—” She made herself finish. “I don’t want you to see me being all petty and irritable like I always am with her.”
“Okay,” Ken said slowly. “That one’s harder to get tactical about.”
Lynn smiled ruefully. “Tell me about it.”
“But,” he said pointedly, “maybe someone with an outsider’s perspective can help a little bit?”
“Please,” she said. “If you have any suggestions or advice, offer them now, before we go down to breakfast and the cycle of aggression begins anew.”
He grinned. “Well, I think I saw the rumblings of it in the car last night.”
Lynn sat down on the bed and ru
bbed her hands over her face. “Right. Yes. So you’ve already seen me be petty and irritable.” She’d almost forgotten, after…everything else that had happened last night. She and Stella had fallen into their old patterns right away.
“So, I have a small suggestion just from what I heard,” Ken said cautiously. “And I might be way off base, so don’t hesitate to tell me that I’m butting in and thinking I know best.”
Lynn looked up at him and smiled. “Great. I won’t.”
“What if,” he said, “you pretended that Stella wasn’t going to make any mistakes?”