Page 60 of The Maverick's Homecoming

“Yep. Most of the time. But not right now.”

“Will they be lonely?” After sliding the elastic band off the tail of that braid, he snapped it onto his wrist.

She gazed up at him, eyes bright as stars. “Nope. They have each other. They like sleeping in my bed, but they’re just fine on their own, too.”

He smoothed her unbound hair back over her shoulder. It fell almost to her waist. He longed to say what was in his heart. But no. Not yet.

Instead, he whispered, “You are so beautiful,” and lowered his mouth to hers.

* * *

Kenzie woke Saturday morning to a chorus of meows from the other side of her bedroom door. Finn was sound asleep next to her. Carefully, trying not to wake him, she pushed back the covers, slid her feet to the floor and put on her robe.

The meows got more insistent as she padded to the door and pulled it open a crack. That was all it took. Ed slithered in first with Tom right behind him.

“Shh,” she said, as if they would care, let alone listen.

They raced to the bed and climbed it in an instant, landing on the side where she’d slept. Stopping simultaneously, they stared at the other person in her bed.

They knew Finn. After all, he provided their day care. For a second or two, they seemed to study the sleeping man. Then both kittens started purring. They moved in close to Finn. Ed batted Finn’s cheek gently with a tiny paw. Tom climbed right on top of him and sat down. Kenzie stifled a laugh as Finn opened his eyes to find Tom perched on his chest.

“Mornin’ ,Tomás.” Finn scooped up the little guy and set him down on the mattress. Then he rolled to his side and petted Ed. “How you doin’, Eduardo?”

Still in her robe, Kenzie lifted the covers and slid back into the bed. Tom’s purr got louder as she stroked a hand from his head to the tip of his shiny black tail. “Sorry they woke you.”

Finn gave her a lazy grin. “Don’t be sorry. I’m not. They’re so damn cute.”

For a while, they hung out in bed with the kittens, who wrestled with their hands and chewed on their fingers. Kenzie was scratching Ed behind the ears and he was purring away when she glanced up and caught Finn watching her.

“What?”

“Nothing. Just…it’s so good, being here with you.”

His words pleased her.

Maybe too much.

Was she getting in too deep with him? Probably.

But he was right. Itwasgood—better even than back in high school, when she’d loved him wildly, needed him desperately. She might be seriously pregnant with occasional heartburn and ankles that now had a tendency to swell. Didn’t matter.

Finn still had that uncanny ability to look in her eyes and make her feel like the most beautiful woman on earth. Sometimes, when he kissed her, when he put his big hands on her and whispered her name, her poor heart felt full to bursting. With Finn now, it was the same as all those years ago.

Only better. Deeper. More grounded somehow.

She cared about him and she wanted him constantly. They truly were friends. As for falling in love with him all over again…

No. That wasn’t going to happen. Her heart just wasn’t up for that.

He was watching her. “What?” he asked as Tom yawned and stretched between them. The little black cat purred even louder as Ed bent his gray-striped head and started grooming Tom’s ear.

“Oh, nothing,” she lied. “How ’bout some breakfast?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

* * *

Finn had just finished his scrambled eggs when his phone rang.