Chapter Ten
Cat closed the door behind her and leaned against it. God, being around him was so damn hard, and with the way it sounded, he wanted to be around often. She wondered how she was going to be able to handle that.
Fatigue was pulling her down quickly, so she decided to put everything off until the next day. After a quick shower and checking on Corey, she closed her eyes and slept.
She felt like she’d just closed her eyes when Corey woke her the next morning. He climbed up onto her bed and started jumping on the mattress beside her, which startled her.
She laughed and started to tickle him and pretend to bite his toes, sending him into a frantic bout of laughing.
Her gaze jerked to the door when someone knocked, and then King walked in.
“Good morning,” he said. He leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms over his chest.
She remembered from when they were together, she’d told herself how handsome he was and how she’d never get tired of looking at him. That didn’t seem to have changed.
Cat cleared her throat. “Good morning,” she said and pulled her gaze away from him.
“It sounded like you were having a party.”
“Kind of,” she said, trying to hold Corey down, but he wasn’t ready to stop.
“Toes,” Corey yelled.
“What did he say?” King asked.
“Um … he wants the toe monster to come.”
King tilted his head to the side. “That sounds interesting. What exactly does the monster do?”
Cat looked down a Corey, saw his expectant face, and didn’t want to disappoint him. “Well, the toe monster loves to nibble on little people’s toes,” she said in a gravelly voice, trying to sound like a monster.
Corey squealed when she lifted his feet up, growled, and started to nip at his toes. She couldn’t help laughing at the joy in the boy’s expressions. Something so simple could make him feel this happy.
When she looked up to King, she saw the raw emotions on his face. It was something she’d never seen before, and it kind of reminded her of envy or jealousy, and she didn’t understand it.
“Are you two hungry?” he asked.
Cat hung on to Corey’s hands as he stood and started jumping. “Yes. He’s always hungry, but don’t you have to get to the office or something?”
“No, I’m talking off for a few days.”
Her eyes widened. He’d never done that.
King walked to the bed. “Is it okay if I take him?”
“Um … yes, but he’ll need to use the bathroom.”
“What do I need to do?” he asked.
“He knows how to do it. Just raise the lid. If he gets stubborn, there’s a cup of Cheerios on the counter. Drop a few of them into the toilet, and he’ll use his pee for target practice.”
King threw his head back and laughed. “That’s a great idea.”
He held his hands out to Corey. “Come on, Corey. Let’s go pee.”
She watched Corey hop across the mattress and jump into King’s arms like he’d done it a hundred times. She looked away from the stark emotion on the man’s face before he turned and walked away.
She scrambled out of bed and hurriedly pulled on some jeans, threw her nightgown on the dresser, and pulled on her bra and the first t-shirt she came to.