Her expression made me grin, but then I remembered why I felt sullen. I pointed at her relaxed body. “You’re so comfortable, I hate to ask you to leave.” My mouth twisted into a frown. “You should be able to stay as long as you want. You should be able to come and go as you want. Even if we’re not living together, my place is your place…” That thought firmly in my head, I nodded and pointed at her. “I’ve got an idea. Don’t move.”

Her mouth dropped open, but before she could ask anything, I dashed out the door and hopped down the stairs. Grabbing my keys off the half-moon table in the entryway, I worked to disconnect the house key from the ring.

I could hear Kiera getting dressed upstairs as I wrestled with the key. Damn it, I told her not to move. She came down the stairs a few moments later wearing shorts and a tank top, and I stopped unthreading the metal to stare at her. Damn. She was so beautiful. Did I have time to undress her again?

Stepping up to my side, she tilted her head as she glanced at my fingers. “What are you doing?”

Successfully removing the square key, I held it up to her. “Here, take my house key. Then you can stay and relax before work. I’ll be at Pete’s later. I’ll pick it up from you then. Or…you can just keep it…” My heart started thudding harder in my chest. Kiera having my key was one step closer to her living with me. Where she belonged.

Kiera’s lips twisted into a half-smile as she took the cool metal. I had trouble containing my grin—she took it. “Keep your key?” she said. “But how will you get into your house if I have your key?”

With a smile, I shrugged. “Why do I need to be here when you’re not?” You’re all I need in this world anyway.

Her lips pursed in amusement, but then she frowned. “You don’t have to give me your key, Kellan. What about your other keys? My…old key?”

That dark day immediately flooded my mind. Once Kiera had recovered from…her injury…the one she’d only sustained because of me…and she’d moved in with her sister, she’d given me back my house key. Not directly, of course, since we’d been avoiding each other at the time. No, she’d given it to Anna, and Anna had given it to me. At the bar. The night she’d placed that key in my palm had been a bad one for me. I couldn’t remember much of what had happened after Anna left, but I did remember that Sam had taken me home.