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She nodded and grinned “That works but get ready for late-night calls for egg salad sandwiches and ice cream sundaes”

She meant it as a joke, but he took a mental note He couldn’t be what Asher was to Re salad sandwiches and bring her ice cream sundaes

Feeling like he had taken at least a small step forith her, he helped her off the table She all but slid down his body, dragging her round breasts down his chest They both knew thewith him, like she always played with him Teased him, tormented hi Her cheeks flushed deep in color, and the asmed blasted across his mind She nibbled her bottom lip, and he recalled how those pouty lips tasted and felt, especially when they slid across the hardest part of hih, he forced himself to take a full step back in fear of what he’d do next if he didn’t

She ser, and held up her bandaged hand “Thanks for fixing this” He was saved by sudden loud voices from the main bar area “That must be the Cavalry”

Sheafter her, “Kinsley”

“Yeah?” she asked, turning back to him

“You’re not alone anymore in this,” he told her “I’m here”

Her brows drew together, the heat gone from her pretty eyes “You mean that?”

“I mean that”

She inhaled slowly and blew it out even slower, regarding hi as you continue to want that, then okay, but let me be entirely clear You’re in this because you want to be, and if that changes, you need to ets here I knohat it’s like to have a parent jump in and out of your life I won’t have that Do you understand me?”

The air sucked out of the room “Yes, ma’am”

Chapter 5

Everything felt different when Kinsley returned to the main bar She hoped Rhett meant what he said, but she knew better than to blindly believe him He couldn’t commit to anyone, maybe not even his own child One day at a time That was the only way she couldout who had destroyed her bar Glass crunched beneath her winter boots as she stopped in theher eyes had betrayed her Sure, she had insurance to cover sole ite had been ruined

Back when she was a child, her dad would bring her into the pub where all the cops went after their shift to let go of their day before going hoae the io when they needed that feeling of hohteen years old that she wanted to own such a place, so she’d gone to college to get her business degree And now, here she stood, in the o, life had been nore and challenge

Boone waited near the front door with two guys Kinsley had met before They were the forensic unit The roo to s her up Maybe that would help her wake up frohtmare