Dressed in soft sweats and a tank top, I emerged back into the main part of the house. The smell of hot carbs told me that Devan had found my frozen pizza stash. I hadn’t had time to go grocery shopping for me in ages.

The man in question was standing in the kitchen, making a box of Rice-A-Roni. He looked odd cooking in the kitchen, standing in the place my mother had made almost every meal I’d ever had growing up. It was an almost painful reminder that everything was different now.

Feeling my eyes, he looked up from studying the directions on the back. “I didn’t realize anyone ate this shi—stuff.” I shrugged, not about to tell him that I hadn’t really had the will to cook anything for myself in months. Probably not what he wanted to hear from the woman who had custody of his nephew.

“It’s been a long couple of weeks. I need to get to the store.” I sighed. “Devan, about what I said last night…”

His body froze, his spine going rigid. I could almost see him forcing himself to relax. “I’m not going to hold you to something you said when you were almost delirious with exhaustion, Nova.”

I almost smiled at his disgruntled voice, and shook my head. “I meant it. I’ll go back with you, and we’ll make this work. But there’ll be rules…” I trailed off, because the smile he gave me was heartstopping. Literally, I felt like I’d swallowed my tongue. The dark-eyed moodiness completely transformed, making him look way younger.

He sucked in a deep breath, bouncing slightly on the spot. “I promise you won’t regret it, Nova. It’ll be better for both of you.” He looked at me like I’d given him a gift, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Happy, I guess. Apprehensive, maybe?

“There’ll be rules. And I want to see all that contract stuff that Rigby promised me. And only for three months, just to see. If it doesn’t work, I’m coming back here, so I want it in writing that you guys will let me and Huey return if it doesn’t work for us all.”

Devan nodded. “Whatever you need to feel safe, we’ll give it to you.”

I chewed my lip. “And I don’t want the money. Put it in a trust for Huey or something, but I don’t want it. I don’t want you guys to think you can buy me,” I said firmly. I was turning down twenty-five million dollars, and the opportunist in the back of my brain was screaming that I was an idiot. I should take the money. Set myself up for life.