“That is a predicament,” she said and tried to hide her smile. “Maybe I can get you a real cookie before your bedtime, as Corey does.”
“Will you share your cookies with me, too?” King asked the boy.
Corey nodded. “Yes. I’ll always share with you and Mommy and Jill.”
King laughed. “Good to know. Why don’t you kiss your mommy and let Jill take you back upstairs? Your mommy and I will be up in a bit to check on you.”
Corey squeezed King and put a sloppy kiss on his cheek, making him laugh before the boy fell into Cat’s lap and kissed all over her face, leaving bits of cookie behind and smudging her makeup, but all she did was laugh.
He faced his parents after Jill had left the room and saw confusion on his father’s face and disdain on his mother’s expression.
When Cat stiffened, he put a hand on her leg. “What’s the problem, Mother?”
“I can’t believe you let the boy touch you and kiss you like that.”
“Why?”
“He was dirty.”
“He had his bath, Mrs. Richardson. All he had was some crumbs. It doesn’t make a child dirty,” Cat said.
His mother shivered. “It’s not proper.”
“Mother, if you’re in our house, you respect our children and us.”
“You’re going to have more than one?” his mother asked as if horrified.
“Yes, we hope to have at least five,” Cat said.
“That’s preposterous.”
Cat chuckled. “No, what’s preposterous is that there are people out in our world who have no idea what it is to be human with human emotions like happiness, amusement, and love.”
His mother gasped, and he tried not to grin. “If you ever want to be welcome in our home, you’ll keep your opinions to yourself. Do you think you can do that?” he asked his mother.
“Don’t take that tone with me. I’m your mother.”
“No, you might have given birth to me, but you were no mother.”
His mother stood and looked down at her husband. “Take me home, Gerald. I don’t have to stand and listen to this.”
His father sighed and stood. “Thank you for dinner. It was wonderful.” He turned to Cat. “And you are truly beautiful inside and out. I hope my son knows how lucky he is.”
King tightened his arm around her waist. “Oh, I definitely know that.”
“Good. I will be back, but I don’t know about your mother.”
“That’s okay, Father. It will be nice to see you.”
“Gerald, come along,” Elaina shouted from the front door.
They closed the door behind his parents, and King turned to her.
She caught the look on his face and took a step back. “Wait,” she said and held her hands out.
“No. I have the urge to be deep inside of my little.”
“But—” She bit down on her lip to keep from laughing. “I think I’m busy right now.”
One of his brows lifted as he took another step toward her. “Oh, really. You’re going to tell your daddy no?”
“Well.” She giggled and kept moving back. She looked up at the stairs and then back at him, turned, and tried to run.
He knew she’d do that and was on her and had her draped over his shoulder before she took the second step. He laughed when she screamed and took the stairs two at a time.
“Now you’re in trouble,” he said with a growl. He tossed her onto their bed, locked the door, and then stood and looked down at her.
“Jesus, woman. You’re so beautiful, and I love you so much.”
He smiled at the tears that filled her eyes and told himself he needed to tell her that more often because she was everything to him, and he was never going to lose her.