She picks up a stack of pictures from the box while I read through piles of foster paperwork. “Put them back,” I warn her.

“What? You don’t want me seeing you as a kid?” Leaning away from me, it’s clear she’s trying to play a little game with me.

I reach across her body and easily snatch the pictures, but she tries to wriggle free, sending the pictures flying across the room. “Look at you without a beard!” she wails as she holds onto one picture of me from high school.

A laugh escapes my lips as I wrap a hand around her waist and press her down to the floor, snatching the photo from her hands. “Nice try, princess.”

She leans up and presses a kiss to my lips, and even though we’re hidden by the desk between us, I know Ryder can hear everything. We can’t do this now, but having Savannah’s body beneath me makes me want to say, ‘fuck it’ and take her right here.

“What the fuck,” Ryder barks on the other side of the office. Savannah giggles, wide-eyed kissing me again. I’ve never seen her this tipsy, and I kind of love it. She’s even more adventurous and flirty.

“Murph, what the fuck is this?” The hard tension in Ryder’s voice makes me stop and climb up to see his face. This isn’t about me kissing Savannah, that much is clear.

“What’s your problem?” I ask. He’s holding a photo in his hands, one that came from Savannah’s hand. I see my face on the front, from when I was about five. It was one of my last memories of being with my birth family. My dad came to something at my school, and my mom snapped a photo. They had it printed and kept it with my things because it was so fucking rare to have my dad show up for anything for me. I can still remember what a big fucking deal it was.

“Who is this?” he asks through gritted teeth.

“That’s me, Ryder. What’s your problem?”

“Not you, asshole. Who is with you?”

My blood runs cold. Why is he starting this shit with me right now? Ryder and I haven’t fought in days. He doesn’t push my buttons and I don’t push his. So why is he pushing them now?

“That’s my fucking dad, Ryder. Why do you care? You surprised that I actually had parents or something? They were assholes who couldn’t get their shit together and let me grow up in the system. So what?”

“So what? So, that’s my goddamn dad, Murph.”