“That’s f**ked up, baby.”

“I know,” I whisper.

There is nothing else to say. Kenton now knows some of my past—really, the worst of it—and I wonder what he’s thinking about as he holds me until I cry myself to sleep.

I wake up feeling cocooned in warmth. It takes a few seconds for last night to come back to me and to remember that I willingly climbed into bed with Kenton. I can only imagine what he thinks of me now. I try to lift my head, hoping I can sneak away from him, but his giant hand is wrapped around my hair, holding me in place. Between that and his leg over mine, I can’t move at all.

“You’re not sneaking out on me.” His voice is gravelly with sleep, and I close my eyes, trying to think of what I need to say.

“I’m sorry about laying all that stuff on you last night.” I hide my face in his chest.

“I’m glad you came to me. I’m sorry about your son. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through.” He takes a breath, pulling me closer to him. “If you want, I can find him for you.”

“What?” I ask, caught off guard.

“It’s what I do, baby,” he says completely seriously, and my heart does a double thump at the sweet offer.

“It was a closed adoption,” I whisper, tears filling my eyes again.

“Doesn’t matter.” He shrugs.

“What do you mean?”

“I have ways of finding people. You say the word and I’ll find your boy for you.”

The building tears begin to fall as I think about finding my son. Then I wonder what I would even do with the information. Would it hurt more knowing where he is? Could I even handle it?

“I don’t know,” I mumble. “I would like to know if he’s happy, but I don’t know if I could handle seeing him or knowing where he is.”

“I get that.” He gives me a gentle squeeze. “You don’t need to decide right now. The offer has no time limit on it.”

“Thank you.” I unconsciously rub my face against his chest, breathing in his unique smell. His warmth and smell have me wanting to get even closer to him.

His hand in my hair pulls my head back as the leg he has over mine moves to between my legs. His eyes search my face for a long moment before his face lowers and his mouth gently touches mine.

“I can’t get enough of your mouth,” he says against my lips, kissing me again. The hand I’m resting between us starts to inch towards his torso, but I stop myself. “Touch me,” he says, grabbing my hand and pulling it to his chest.

His skin is so warm, and the light scattering of hair he has on his chest prickles against my fingers. His hand on top of mine moves to my hip then down the curve of my ass, pulling my hips closer to his. I can feel his erection hard and long between us. I start to breathe heavily; I feel like I can’t get enough oxygen into my lungs. My hand on his chest travels up to his hair at the back of his head, running it through my fingers as his mouth travels from mine, down my cheek, and then across my neck, the scruff on his jaw scraping against my sensitive skin.

“Jesus, you smell good,” he rumbles against my throat as his tongue touches me there. I tilt my head farther back, pressing my thighs together, trying to alleviate the ache that is building between my legs. “Shit,” he groans.

My eyes open and I look at his face, wondering why he’s stopping, and then I hear his phone ringing.

“Don’t lose that look,” he orders as he quickly twists his upper body away from mine before turning back over, holding his phone in his hand. His eyebrows go together and he shakes his head, sliding his finger across the screen. “This better be f**king good,” he growls, looking at me. His eyes narrow on me when I hear Justin’s voice say something about pulling the stick out of his ass, making me smile. “Do not f**king encourage him,” he says, shaking his head when I laugh harder after hearing Justin yell through the speaker that Kenton stole me away from him and he’s going to find a way to win me back.

“Did you call for a f**king reason, or are you just callin’ to piss me off?”

I can’t hear Justin’s response, but I can tell that Kenton doesn’t like it by the look that comes over his face as he listens.

“Fuck,” he clips, dropping his head. “Yeah, I’ll be there soon.” He pulls the phone away from his ear before dropping it to the bed next to my head. “I gotta head out.”

“Okay.” I bite my lip, wondering what I’m supposed to do. This whole thing feels surreal to me. I don’t know if I want to kiss him again or run away and pretend like nothing happened.

“You gonna be okay?”

His question hits my chest and I feel my face go soft at his concern for me. “I’ll be okay,” I assure him quietly.

“You workin’ tonight?”

“Yeah. I feel bad about what happened last night and leaving early. I don’t want them to think I’m flighty. I really like working there,” I say, absently rubbing the sheet between my fingers.

“Did you talk to Tara last night?” I nod yes and his fingers run over my cheek. “You’re good then. That bitch is crazy. She would never let them think less of you.”

“Don’t call her a bitch,” I say defensively.

“I mean ‘bitch’ in the nicest way possible.” He smiles, dropping his face towards mine.

As soon as our lips touch, his hand goes to the back of my head, holding me to him while controlling the kiss. When he pulls his mouth from mine, I can’t help the whimper that escapes.

“When’s your next day off?” he asks through heavily panted breaths.

“The day after tomorrow,” I reply just as breathlessly.

“I’m taking you out.”

“Like a date?”

“Exactly like a date.”

“Um…” I say, not knowing how to respond.

“It’s not up for debate. We’re going out.”

“Excuse me?” I narrow my eyes. “You need to ask me if I would like to go out with you.” No way am I going to let him boss me around.

He rolls until I’m on my back and one of his legs is between mine. His hands capture mine, bringing them above my head. Then he bends his head and whispers into my ear, “Autumn, will you have dinner with me?”

“Maybe.” I smile when he growls against the skin of my neck.

“Please?” he asks, his tongue snaking out to touch my sensitive flesh.