“Industrial revolution.”

Adrian let his breath out and grinned. “Yeah. What about you? You like history?”

Their conversation wasn’t deeply emotional. It was, well, rather like the conversations he had with Rennie, only thirteen-year-old boys were definitely not as chatty as a ten-year-old girl.

They ate pizza and salad and devoured a few cupcakes.

“I just remembered I need to call a client to check on something. I’ll be right back. Adrian, that photo album you brought is on the table there.”

She ducked from the room and Miles eyed him warily.

“I thought you’d maybe like to see your family. The other side of it, I mean. Your aunts and uncles and cousins. They’re all very excited to meet you.” Adrian opened the first page to pictures of the Brown kids and smiled.

“Is that you?” Miles scooted closer to peer at the page.

“Yeah. Me, my sister Erin and our older brother Brody.” Adrian brushed a fingertip over the three of them, frozen forever, mid-cheese for the camera. Erin had a big smile, her mouth full of perfect teeth. Adrian’s grin had plenty of missing teeth, though. “It was a summer trip to . . . your grandpa’s hometown. Cleveland, Ohio.”

Miles raised one brow. “I went to Cleveland two years ago. Youth jazz band competition. It was all right. Hot though.”

“Jazz band, huh?” Adrian turned the page. “Me too.” He pointed at a picture of him in black slacks with a white dress shirt. Hair too long. Holding the guitar Brody had bribed him with. “Never went out of state though. I hear from your aunt that you play bass. Sheesh, boy, she’s already insufferable about her bass thing. You couldn’t play guitar instead?”

Miles’s laugh felt like victory to Adrian.

They continued to go through the book, page by page, as Adrian filled in a rough sketch of his life. Miles asked more questions as the time went by.

And that’s how Gillian found them when she returned nearly an hour later. Oh, she’d stood at her office door and peeked at them, had watched to be sure Miles was all right. And he was. He’d warmed up considerably to Adrian and that was a big relief.

It made her warm to see them, to see this man love her son, their son, in his own easy way. Miles had plenty of men in his life with Ryan and Cal, but this was different.

Miles licked his lips a few times, the way he did with her when he wanted to ask a question he wasn’t sure of the answer to. She sat across from them, waiting for him to speak.

“So, um, you wanna see my room? My bass?”

Adrian’s gaze cut to hers and it was so surprised and touched, she couldn’t help but smile at him.

“Yeah, I’d love that.”

Miles grinned and hopped up and they left the room, Miles chattering as he landed on a topic he loved so much.

She sat back and let out a long breath. She’d always had a vision of how her family would be. Always wanted normalcy and stability. And she’d ended up a single, unmarried mother. At first glance it looked like what her own mother had been, and that had left her shaken. But once she’d dug down a few layers, she realized there were far more differences than similarities.

She pushed from the couch and headed into the kitchen. Above her, she heard the tromping of both males and then shortly thereafter, the thud of the bass being played.

The kitchen was a mess, so it gave her something to do while Miles and Adrian were upstairs, wanting them to mix and mingle, happy they seemed to be making a success of it.

Adrian Brown was nothing like she’d imagined.

He was without a doubt the most compelling man she’d ever met. He exuded charisma without trying. His allure was that he was a refreshingly complicated man. He looked like the star he was. She sighed, thinking about his voice. Every sentence had its own sort of flow. It was, she thought with an amused and slightly horrified snort, like being hypnotized.

He could walk into any room and instantly grab everyone’s attention. His hair, so sexy and tousled. Browns with the occasional auburn hue, it hung to his shoulders, framing a face that had featured itself in no less than three mast***ation sessions since that kiss in her hallway.

It had been delicious between her fingers as he’d kissed her. She imagined what it would feel like trailing over her br**sts as he made his way to her pu**y. She squeezed her thighs together just to ease the ache.

He was long and substantial. A high, tight ass that she really wanted to take a bite of. Wanted to feel that ass against her calves as he f**ked her and she wrapped around him.

If he f**ked like he kissed, she’d have a very good time. They’d be hot, sweat slicked as they slid, skin to skin. She got a pretty good feel of what he was packing when she’d been against her hallway wall, his body pressing against hers with just the right amount of pressure.

She shivered. A dominant kiss from a laid-back man. An image of him f**king her from behind, her hair wrapped around his fist, sent a flash of desire through her so hot she found herself sweating.

Whew. She had to pause and fan her face with a towel. So totally inappropriate! Yup, she was going to have a date with her showerhead five minutes after he left.

“So, how do you feel about getting to know each other?” Adrian really liked his kid.

“How do you mean? Like tonight? Or like hanging out regular and stuff?”

“Both. I’d like us to hang out. I’d like to become part of your life and I want you to be part of mine. I want you to meet your aunts and uncles and cousins. I want to be your dad.”