Page 106 of From the Start

“You can’t sleep here.”

“As a matter of fact, I can.”

“No, Kai. This isn’t a joke. I don’t invite men to sleep over when my dad is here.”

“Men?” I growl. “I’m not some random stranger. I’m the man who loves you. Who plans to spend his life with you.”

She squirms. “But my dad.”

“Told us to be quiet.”

She gasps. “What?”

I push her into her room and shut the door behind us. “Your dad said we should be quiet.”

She groans. “You spoke to my dad about having sex with me in the house?”

I chuckle, and she glares at me. I hold up my hands. “Sorry. Henry brought it up.”

She collapses on the bed and buries her face in her hands. “How am I ever going to look Dad in the eye again?”

I pry her hands away from her face. “I hate to break it to you, Slugger. But Henry knows you have sex.”

“Knowing and seeing are two different beasts.”

I kneel between her legs. “He’s going to figure out we’re having sex when I knock you up.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Knock me up?”

I shrug. “It’ll happen eventually.”

“What if I don’t want children?”

“Slugger. Slugger. Slugger.” I shake my head. “Don’t lie to me. I know you too well.”

“What do you know?”

“I know you damn near melted when you held little Stephanie for the first time today. I know you’ve missed having a family. I know you want a big family.”

“I am not having six boys.”

I chuckle. “I wouldn’t want you to but would two be so bad?”

“If they’re like you and yourbrothers, yes.”

“Having the next generation of Raider boys would be a blast.”

She crosses her arms over her chest. “You’re going to change their diapers, feed them in the middle of the night, discipline them when they get in trouble at school?”

“Depends on the trouble.”

“I’m serious, Goofy.”

“I’m serious, too. I plan to be a hands-on dad. I want to experience every moment possible with our kids.” My jaw tightens. “I am not going to be my dad.”

“You are nothing like your dad. You might be a total goofball, but you look after the people you care for.”

Her words hit me straight in the chest. They mean the world to me.