“Love you too, Snooks,” I breathed.

He rested his forehead on mine a second before he lifted a bit away. “Grade the back for now, build the fence. Cost won’t be too high, we figure somethin’ out about stayin’ at your pad and change our minds and hafta tear the fence down to build a garage. Yeah?”

I nodded.

“No answer now,” he said. “But want you thinkin’ on it. When you got an answer, you give it to me straight up, no worries about my reaction. But you built somethin’ beautiful here, babe.” He jerked his head toward my house. “If you’re gonna have a problem lettin’ that go—”

“Logan,” I interrupted him. “The only problem I’ll have is if I don’t have you wherever it is I am.” I pressed closer and dipped my voice quieter. “Like I said. It’s just a house. Do I love it?” I asked, then answered myself. “Yes. But it’s an it. You’re you. You’re back so that means my home is where you are. It’s that simple and that’s your answer. I don’t have to think about it for even a second.”

I got done with my speech and got another kiss. This was longer, hotter, harder and it spoke of gratitude and a lot of other things, lots of them, and they were all good.

Unfortunately, when he broke it that time, I had to share, “I’ve got a meeting, Snook’ums.”

“Right,” he muttered, staring at my mole.

“Low,” I called.

He looked to my eyes.

“Sort out the back. Get your RV here. All that’s you. Really come home,” I ordered.

“Fuck,” he growled. “You don’t quit the sweet, you ain’t gonna be late for your meeting. You’re not gonna make it.”

I grinned. “Okay, then let me go so I don’t lose a client and perhaps my ability to pay for more staff so I can have more time for you.”

“I let you go, gotta watch your ass in that skirt walkin’ up to your studio,” he returned.

I grinned again but on the inside.

“You really do have sex on the brain,” I noted.

“Think you missed it, Millie, but haven’t fucked you yet today.”

I hadn’t missed it.

“I think that means tonight’s gonna be fun,” I replied.

He shook his head but did it with lips curled up.

“Are you gonna let me go?” I asked.

“No,” he answered, even as he did what he said he wasn’t going to do. “Never. Not ever, babe.” His eyes warmed. “But I’ll let you go to your meeting.”

Now he was being sweet.

“No fair. Now I wanna jump you.”

His eyes stayed warm but his smile was cocky.

This could go on all day. And in order to be able to jump him whenever I felt like it (eventually), I needed Justine on board.

Which meant I needed my client.

So I reached to his thermal, grabbed a fistful, and pulled him to me. I got up on toes to press my lips hard to his and then shifted away.

“Later, Snooks,” I whispered.

“Later, baby,” he whispered back.

I grinned at him and let him go.

Then I walked away. Even in a hurry, I did it slow so I could give him a show because I knew my man was watching and I was his old lady.

We gave like that.

We gave anything we could.

*  *  *

It was that evening and I was walking on clouds because it was going great.

Logan had picked the girls up from dance practice on Tuesday and taken them out to dinner, just him and them. Other than that, it had been only phone calls.

But having them there now, I noticed that since our weekend, something had changed.

They’d arrived at my house that night, Logan picking them up from their mother’s, and although Zadie was a bit moody and uncommunicative, Cleo was not.

There had been barriers before between Cleo and me. She’d been the way she was with me solely to get the approval of her father.

I knew this now because those barriers were eroding.

Through chitchat while cooking, horsing about, and eating beef Stroganoff at my bar, Cleo introduced me to the real Cleo.

And she was a love.

Sure, she adored her father and wanted his approval.

But when it wasn’t something she was working at, when it was just a natural part of her, coupling that with Logan’s reaction to it, it was sweet to the point it was downright cute.

So cute it gave a happy glow that I was beside myself with glee I got to bask in it.

Though it was more.

She was unreservedly delighted when I let her give fresh food to the cats. When I asked about dance, she’d timidly (then with my encouragement and compliments, not so timidly) showed me some of the moves they were rehearsing for their routine, so damned adorable doing this in my kitchen, I felt even more glow warming me to my bones.

And she didn’t hide how much she liked my house and the studio when I took them on a guided tour of both after the dinner dishes were done, saying to me shyly while standing in the guestroom, “It’ll be fun when we get to sleep over, Millie.”

More glow.

Further adding to this goodness, it seemed that as all this went on, Zadie was studying it, watching Cleo come out of her shell and my reaction to it. And I hoped, in watching, that she’d find she’d want to start building something like that with me too.

Now things were winding down. We were going to hang in front of the TV with a batch of cupcakes from Tessa’s Bakery that I’d picked up on the way back from my meeting. We were going to do something normal that a family would do at the end of the day before Logan had to take them back to their mom’s.