“She’s been their nanny for a while?”

“Two years. But she’s starting her master’s next fall, so I’m going to have to look for someone else. She’s Zachary’s cousin.”

“He’s the partner in Sloane & Partners?”

“One of them, yes. Anthony is the other. I went to law school with them.”

“Were they brainiacs like you?”

“Someone looked me up.”

She gave me a cute smile as we moved through the semidark living room. We weren’t making much progress because I was keeping her flush against me, kissing her neck and shoulders, occasionally her lips too.

“I did it after you looked me up. You finished college earlier than anyone else. While working odd jobs, right?”

“What can I say? I never needed more sleep than five hours a night.”

“I’m grouchy if I don’t get eight.”

“Noted.”

“Also, I’m grouchy if you make noise in the morning.”

“Also noted. I drove my roommates at Harvard insane with my sleep schedule.”

She chuckled. “I can imagine. You went there for law school, right?”

“Yes. Got my undergraduate degree from UCLA and went to Harvard for law school.”

“You know, we could have met at Harvard. Landon and I had scholarships, but we gave them up when we had to come back to LA to look after the little ones.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“It all worked out, but we had to be... flexible, you know?”

“Yeah, I do. It’s why I decided to open up my own law firm. I wanted to call the shots.”

“You’re hot when you call the shots. What made you come back to LA after you finished law school?”

“Got the best job offer here, and I like the city.”

I felt her smile against my cheek just as we reached the staircase, and I kissed her against the banister. I was so starved for this woman that I knew we wouldn’t make it to the bedroom. Val parted her lips instantly for me, driving me crazy. My hands were on her waist, and she pressed her elbows lightly over my fingers, as if telling me not to let go. As if. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t ever be able to let go.

I’d gone for so long without affection aside from my family that I honestly had gotten good at ignoring that bone-deep loneliness. But now that Val was in my life, I felt that absence like a physical emptiness that ached. And I knew that only Val could fill it.

But she had a rough few years behind her. She deserved an uncomplicated relationship, one where the other person didn’t have as much baggage and responsibilities as I did.

She gasped when I bit lightly at her shoulder.