Shit.

When I got nothing back from Brand, I looked at him and asked, “Brand, you okay?”

“I think I’ll talk to him.”

Like his Dad, something weighed heavy on his mind, he went silent in order to think about it.

And he just proved he was a smart kid and brave.

Thank God.

“You think I should talk to him just me and him or do you think Kara should be with us?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t know you guys enough to know how to answer that,” I replied honestly. “What do you think?”

“She might clam up if she’s there. She might get mad if I talk to Dad behind her back.”

“Then there’s your answer.”

He looked at me. “What?”

“If she makes the decision not to participate in the discussion, it’s her decision to make. But you should try not to make anyone mad and if you know it might happen, you should avoid doing what you’re gonna do to make them mad. There are times, but it’s rare, when it’s okay to talk behind someone’s back or break a confidence. This, just my opinion,” I shrugged, “is not one of those times.”

“I’ll talk to him when she’s there,” Brand decided.

“Good call,” I muttered.

We fell silent.

Theo’s giggle pierced the air.

“You’re really, pretty, totally cool, Sylvie,” Brand whispered into the silence.

Okay, good.

No, f**king great.

I survived that minefield.

Fucking awesome.

“You’re really, pretty, totally cool too, Brand,” I replied.

“Awesome,” he kept whispering.

I grinned.

Adam found Creed and Theo, not hard since Theo was making so much noise, and it was Adam’s turn to giggle.

Yes, this was it.

The life.

My grin turned into a smile.

* * * * *

Creed stifled the groan of his orgasm in my neck.

I held on with all four limbs as he did and I kept holding on as he stayed seated inside me and came down.

When his breathing started to even out, I whispered, “Right, I seriously liked it, in a big way, but what was that?”

It was late. A lot later than I expected to be in Creed’s bed, in his hotel room with Creed. It was also hours later than I expected to get his call and I didn’t expect his call to include him saying, “Get over here. Now. Bring the oil,” before he hung up.

I got over there as soon as I could, which, admittedly, included me driving a little bit more than my normal crazy, and I brought the oil.

The minute I arrived, I barely knocked twice before the door was opened, I was in and Creed was on me.

He didn’t speak. What he did do was do me up the ass, f**k me normally and make me come three times before he found it.

I let this happen because he was being silent and broody, except a lot hotter since he was f**king me while doing it.

Now, I wanted to know what was going on.

He lifted his head and declared, “You’re staying with me in two weeks when we go down to Phoenix. No more of this hotel bullshit.”

“Uh,” I proceeded cautiously, “not sure I’m down with that, baby. It’s too soon.”

“If Brand lays shit on you like he laid on you tonight, then it’s not too soon.”

There it was.

They had the talk.

“Tell me what’s happening,” I encouraged on an arm squeeze.

He pulled out gently and rolled off to settle on his back in the bed. Once there, he lifted both hands and swiped his face.

I rolled to my side, plastering my front to his and got up on a forearm.

“Creed, baby,” I called.

He dropped his hands, rolled toward me and got up on his elbow, head in his hand.

“You told me that shit went down and since you suggested the kids have a chat with me, they did.”

I dropped down to lie like him and prompted, “Okay.”

“So they shared their shit and I was right. Kara likes you. Rabidly. She thinks you’re the key to gettin’ me back. And, as you know, she thinks her Mom’s the reason why she lost me.”

“Right,” I said softly when he stopped speaking, so Creed started speaking again.

“I had no choice but to share that shit with Chelle. This meant I had no choice but to listen to Chelle bawlin’ her eyes out and workin’ out with her what we’re gonna do about Kara. This, for some f**kin’ reason, led to her goin’ back over, a-fuckin’-gain, how she trapped me into marriage and how I needed to be free of the burden of guilt for our marriage not workin’. Except, unlike the seven hundred f**kin’ times we went over that shit before, she wouldn’t let it go. She kept at me. For-fuckin’-ever. It was only when I said I’d let that go did she calm down. Then she started up again bawlin’, but this time it was about how happy she was for me and how you were the shit ‘cause you bein’ around meant we were workin’ all this out.”

When he stopped talking, I remarked, “None of this sounds bad, Creed. Why are you in a mood?”

“’Cause I gotta work all this shit out and I have no f**kin’ clue how to explain to my daughter that she’s got a great mother who’s a good woman she should learn from and emulate and, bein’ a girl, she needs her Mom growin’ up. Therefore, she is not movin’ in with you and me.”

“Can I suggest that giving a little might get you all a lot?”

His brows drew together. “What?”

“Creed, you see your kids four days a month. I get that your work makes that the way you have to go but you’ll have me partnering with you and living with you, so maybe you’ll have more time to be with your kids. If Chelle’s down with restructuring custody, maybe you two can do joint or you can have a day or two a week. If they’ve got a ways to go for school and you’re busy, I’ll be all over getting them to and from school but more time with you may help Kara out. If Chelle gives that to her daughter, it may help her to see her Mom in a different light. And,” I grinned, “I’m awesome and you love me but I’m not her Mom. She’s young, she may not get it for years but I figure she’ll get it eventually that Chelle is really the shit and all that will work itself out. You all just need to power through it. Girls are complicated but, if we have a brain in our heads, which Kara does, we straighten ourselves out in the end.”

His eyes drifted over my head and he stared unfocused into the room a moment before he muttered, “Chelle’d work that out with me.”