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He glances up at me when I say his name, his gray eyes curious.

“Dada,” he replies, but I know that Dada. He’s hungry.

“I’m working on it, lad. Just hang in there a few minutes before you decide to melt down completely. We’ll give you supper and then a bath and put you to bed.”

I find an Alexa in the corner and cue up Tinsley’s music since he loves it. That should appease Fen, who is crawling all over as he explores. Thankfully it’s one open room, and other than the stairs, everything seems pretty safe.

As promised, the fridge and pantry are stocked with just about everything. Fen is singing along in his baby way, and I join him as I take out pasta, a jar of sauce, and some ground beef. I start the water for the pasta and get going on a very quick meat sauce along with an easy salad since it’s already late and I’m famished.

As I go through the mindless task of making dinner, I force myself to relax. If being around her proves to be too much, I can leave whenever I want. We’re bound by nothing. During our days, Fen and I will stick to each other and faff about the island, and at night we’ll sleep separately. I can do this. Ihaveto do this.

I have too much at stake to fuck around or to fuck Keegan Fritz.

I may be used to taking what I want when I want it, but I’m also stubborn to a fault, and I will stubborn my arse out of whatever this newfound… infatuation with her is.

“Easy-peasy,” I say aloud, throwing Fen an eye as I dump the pasta from the box into the boiling pot of water. The kitchen is a good size, and all of the appliances seem relatively new and high-end. There’s even a wine refrigerator, and though I likely shouldn’t, it’s been quite possibly the longest couple of days of my life next to when I got arrested and sentenced to two months in prison or when I got a call saying there was a baby on Mum’s doorstep and it was mine, which is saying a lot.

Using a wooden spoon, I stir the meat sauce and go searching for a corkscrew to open a bottle of red wine. I have no doubt Keegan will want some. I pour us each a glass, drain the pasta, and toss it in with the sauce.

“Keegan!” I call out as I set Fen in the highchair—these people really thought of everything for him—and break up the pasta into small pieces and set them on the tray.

“Coming!” she calls down. Her soft, melodic voice tickles my ears and making the hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention. Along with something much lower. I glare balefully down at my eager appendage. “Not happening, mate. The only good wank you’re getting is from my hand.”

Only when she comes flittering down the stairs, maneuvering around the chair I have positioned to block Fen, my breath stalls in my chest. She’s changed. Her long, red hair is up in a messy bun with strands framing her face, and she’s wearing soft cotton shorts and a thin-as-all-good-fuck tank top that hugs every supple curve I’m trying not to stare at or drool over.

“Looks good,” she comments with a smile, and I can’t help but think,it sure does.

“Have a seat, I’ll?—”

“Nope. You cooked. I’ll serve and clean up. You continue to feed Fen.” She smirks, her eyes on his now empty tray. I break up more pasta for him and give him a couple of spoonfuls of the meat sauce, which he devours as fast as I can give it to him. Theboy eats like it’s his sport, and I wonder if he’ll grow to be as tall as I am.

“Poor baby, he must be so hungry.”

“I know how he feels,” comes out before I can stop it, but worse than that, my voice was low and sultry without even bothering to hide the blatant suggestion. What the bloody fuck am I doing? It just has to be the long day of travel. The insane amount of stress. The general lack of sleep over the last, well, few months, if I’m being honest. The lack of women in my bed too. That’s all this is. It has to be.

“Same,” she groans, completely missing it, thank God. “I’m starved. Here.” She fixes me a plate of pasta and salad and sets it before me at the table before doing the same for herself. We sit with food and wine and sag into quiet exhaustion. Tomorrow will be easier for all of us. I know it.

With silent,tiptoed steps, I shut the door to Fen’s room. It took him a bit longer to go down than usual, and he didn’t want me to leave him, which I had trouble doing anyway. I debated sleeping on the small bed in there, but whenever I’ve slept in a room with him, he must sense me or something because he’s restless and rouses several times throughout the night, which isn’t good for either of us.

I hold my breath, listening for him, and when the air remains still and quiet, the breath tumbles from my lungs, and I sag against the wall. Shower. Bed. Those are my only thoughts as I turn and go directly for the loo. Keegan’s door is closed, and her light is already off.

We did the dishes together—a minor argument between us, but we negotiated in the end—and after we were done, weall came up and went our separate ways. Both of us were too knackered to attempt anything like staying up or more conversation.

The washroom is a good size, and I strip out of my clothes, brush my teeth, and turn on the shower tap to scalding hot. Steam fills the room, and I step under the stream, groaning as I do. My forehead meets my forearms, which are pressed into the tiled wall, and for a moment, I simply stand here, enjoying the sensation of my muscles relaxing.

That is until one muscle down below decides to get enormously hard.

I’m in no mood for this.

I mean, Iam, but not for where my dick is trying to lead me.

He smacks my abs as if to say,come on, we need a good wank.

I grip the base of my cock in a tight fist. The faster I do this and get it done with, the better, and then I can wake up tomorrow a new man. A man who does not lust over the woman with crimson hair and pale skin and forest-green eyes who is trying tohelpme.

“You could think about someone else. A blonde, perhaps? Or a fit brunette? It doesn’t even have to be someone we’ve met. It could be totally fictitious and random.”

My dick jerks in my hand, letting me know it’s not interested in that offer.