“This is good. Thanks again for cooking.” He smiled at me, a smile that could just about make me drop to my knees and give him anything he’d want from me. “It’s nice to come home to company.”

He wiped his mouth with his napkin and crumpled it into his fist. “Besides this meeting with Megan, did you do much else today?”

“Not really. I ordered a Kindle so I can do more reading. I added it to the tally of what I owe you and Heather, though.”

“Shut up.” He rolled his eyes and grabbed both of our plates. “You cooked, I’ll clean. What kind of books do you like to read?”

“Anything. Everything. Crime thrillers. Paranormal type stuff, vampires, and werewolves—that kind of thing.”

“Like Twilight?”

“Yeah.” Racier, though. Way racier. “Do you read much?”

I had yet to find a book in his home. The women’s fiction I’d been reading last night I borrowed from Sophie, along with a small stack of other books I had in my room. Women’s fiction wasn’t really my thing, though. I either liked to fall into a spicy romance book of all kinds, no limits for me, or I enjoyed getting the crap scared out of me with thrillers. Plus, when you added in vampires or werewolves, I could have the benefit of both happening.

“Nah.” Kane closed the dishwasher and grabbed a washcloth, wetting it so he could wipe down the counters. I’d been right that first day. The man was clean. Always wiping down a counter or putting a random cup in the dishwasher. “I used to read. Read a lot of self-help-type books when I was in college and after I was drafted early in my career. Those kinds that were like how to be the best type books?”

“I know what you’re talking about.”

“Then I read some investing books. That kind of stuff about how to handle money, invest, save, etc. Figured once I went from being a broke college kid to a millionaire like that”—he snapped his fingers—“I wanted to make sure I was smart enough not to waste my money.”

I let my gaze roam around his modest home, definitely modest, based on the public salary I saw he was making, at least based on a Google search that night when I was looking for a game of his to watch. “Seems you’ve been pretty careful with it.”

“Ah. Well, yeah…” He scratched his jaw, a light scruff of dark hair I knew would be gone tomorrow before he left for his game. “I moved in here after Ava left. Alix knew the previous owner was moving, so I got it for a steal.”

Right. Of course, he hadn’t lived in this house with his wife. This wasn’t a family home, it screamed bachelor pad. I was beginning to think there were two parts to Kane.

Before Ava and after Ava.

He must have read my thoughts because his voice softened, a rough scrape to it I felt in the tips of my fingers and toes. “I have to be able to talk about her, Em. We were together for a long time.”