Nate chuckled. “She’s very intense when she’s working.”

Something eased inside me. My chest felt looser, and not wanting to second-guess that, I moved forward. I slid onto one of the barstools. I was also trying hard not to only watch his chest.

Or his back.

Or how his muscles seemed to be endless and smooth, and how he moved so lithely through the kitchen.

Nope. That wasn’t drool at the corner of my mouth.

Still, I pressed my lips together, brushing my mouth with the back of my hand.

He caught the motion, his eyebrows dipping together. He paused, his eyes going back to my mouth, lingering. Darkening.

I was pulling myself out of this lust-filled spell, but he yanked me back down, with just that one look.

Then, as if he couldn’t help himself, he yanked his gaze away and turned to the fridge.

Reaching in, he pulled out some salad. “Are you joining us for dinner?”

His voice was hoarse.

I needed a second, because that look from him unearthed a wash of yearning in me—yearning that I hated feeling. A slight gurgle left me, and I looked to him and he had stopped, once more. That sound seemed to ripple through him as well.

The lust was still there for him. I saw it waving like wind slowly moving through a bonfire. The flame swaying back and forth. He didn’t bank it.

I couldn’t bank mine either.

Then, abruptly he put the salad on the counter before me.

“I—”

He said, cutting in, “Because that’d be nice since we do all live together.”

The back of my neck got all hot. Why was I reacting to that, too?

I crossed my arms in front of me but hugged the counter. “I can do that.”

“Good. We gotta get to know one another, whether you want that or not.”

He turned back for a bowl, and I almost sagged back in my chair.

Get to know each other. What did he mean by that?

Not…

No way.

Not what I was thinking, that’s for sure. Ricci was in my mind. Hell. Ricci was in my body because my stomach was doing those same damn somersaults right now.

I groaned internally because I couldn’t blame Ricci.

This was all on me.

Nate was gorgeous, and wealthy, and young. He was Nova’s father, and I was living with him. I was single. He was single—was he single? He hadn’t said anything about a girlfriend, and as far as I knew, he hadn’t been meeting up with anyone. Hell, maybe he had a similar relationship with another woman like he’d had with Valerie.

Because he wasn’t here all the time.

He could’ve been meeting a woman. What did I know?

“Are you single?” I blurted out the question and made myself hold firm when he looked at me.

He raised one eyebrow. “I assumed your PI would’ve included that information in his report.”

I shrugged, telling myself my cheeks weren’t hot or flushing as I looked away. “He didn’t, but I just thought I should ask. Because of Nova, I mean.”

Nova, who was starting to wander into the other room.

I moved off the barstool and went over, gently herding her back to the kitchen.

He hadn’t answered. “Are you?”

Pausing, Nate stared at me for a moment, a long moment.

An emotion was there, simmering just beneath the surface.

I was staring back, the back of my neck heating again.

My throat dried.

He hadn't answered the question.

“I’m single.”

I could’ve sagged from the relief.

“Oh.” I looked down, still herding Nova forward.

“You?”

“What?” My head jerked up at his soft question. He was staring at me. Oh. Right. “No. I’m not—that’s not me.”

“What’s not you? Being single?” He put a few slices of bread on a pan, laying it out. There was a bowl of melted butter next to it with garlic seasoning beside that. “Or don’t you do relationships? Or just sex?”

He was teasing me.

God. My throat was suddenly so parched.

“Relationships.”

He flashed me a side grin. “Sex?”

“Why are we talking about this?” I felt like I was a shy and clumsy junior high school girl all over. I groaned. “I bet you were popular in high school.”

Both his eyebrows shot up at that. “I can guess how you jump from one thought to the next sometimes, but not that one. You lost me.”

I pressed my mouth tight. I wasn’t explaining that jump either.

I said instead, “You were, weren’t you?”

“You weren’t?” he countered, a small sparkle in his eyes.

My whole body was warm, and my organs were all melting as he was coating me with a blanket inside my body. It was nice and not at all normal for me. “No. I wasn’t.”

“Daddy Duke didn’t let you party with the delinquents?”

I barked out a laugh. Nova looked content to go through her emptied bottles and cups again, so I sat down to help block her in. I started stretching once I was down there, and I bent forward, my forehead going to my knees. I took a deep breath in, resting my arms behind me on the floor. My fingers moved to grip my shirt’s sleeves, knotting them, and I took that one moment to center myself.