“I’d become a nurse,” I said. I’d always loved listening to my mom tell us stories from the hospital she worked at. She was an ER nurse and loved her job.
“Huh,” Talon said, taking a sip of his coffee.
“What does that mean? You don’t think I could be a nurse?”
He leaned back, eyes wide. “That’s not what I meant at all. You would be a great nurse. I just didn’t think it would be what you would want to do.”
Intrigued, I stopped typing and looked at him. “Why?”
“Ace said you love cooking and your food is the best he’s ever eaten. And he said you’re into that baking show on TV. Just thought you’d be interested in becoming a chef or something like that.”
His comment startled me. Not only did Sebastian talk about me, but he also seemed to know about my secret obsession. Guess he hadn’t been ignoring me as much as I thought.
“I enjoy cooking but don’t want to do it for a living. It would suck the fun out of it. I’m not passionate enough,” I said, having found my voice.
“Talon, what the fuck are you doing?” Blade called out from the hallway that led to his office.
I narrowed my eyes at him and huffed out a breath. “Stop using the F-word.”
“Sorry, Nora,” Blade called out and looked at Talon, jerking his head toward the hallway, the universal sign to get over there.
Talon got up with a groan. “I better go. Nice chatting with you, Nora.”
“Tell Blade I’m putting a swear jar on the bar,” I said.
“Good luck with that,” Talon said, grinning. He walked to where Blade had disappeared into his office, closing the door once he was inside.
I finished work an hour later. Grim was in the kitchen feeding the kids. He was incredible with them, and for once I had time to get ready without rushing around. When Sebastian showed up just before we had to leave, I was waiting for him instead of trying to find my wayward possessions.
The kids were in their pajamas, and Grim said he would hang out with them and then put them to bed. I hadn’t thought about what I would do when I was at the club. Neither Stella nor Malena could come to the compound to watch my kids, so Grim offering to watch them not only during the day but also at night was saving my bacon.
And since they’d taken to him so well during the day, I felt somewhat confident leaving them with him. Besides, there were at least ten other people in the compound. And what it all came down to was that I didn’t really have a choice. Just like with everything else in my life lately.
“You sure you’re okay to put them to bed? I can just call Smitty and ask to start later,” I said, eyeing the kids while they fought it out over what book they wanted to read.
“They’ll be fine. I’ll stay with them until they’re asleep, and then I’ll hang out downstairs,” he said for the tenth time, his deep baritone calming me down. “And I have the baby monitor and know how to turn it on.”
I went up on my tippy toes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
It almost looked like he blushed under his beard. “It’s no problem. I’d be here anyway. Might as well do something useful.”
I squeezed his arm and went to the kids to say goodnight. “Okay babies, I’m off to work.”
Lena leaned up, and I peppered her cheek with little kisses, making her giggle. Luca was next, but as soon as I made contact with his cheek, he put his hands up to ward me off.
“No, not there. Take the kiss off,” he wailed, pointing at the spot where I’d kissed him.
This wasn’t the first time we’d been through this, so I pretended to take my kiss off his cheek and made a throwing motion to the other side of the room, getting rid of it.
“Other cheek?” I asked.
He nodded and leaned to the side, letting me press a quick kiss there.
“Sleep tight,” I said and then walked up to Sebastian, who was standing in the door, watching us with a soft expression.
We walked outside hand in hand, and for the first time I didn’t feel like throwing up at the thought of going to Pepper’s.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Why is your face so splotchy?” Elle asked, taking in my appearance when I came into the dressing room.
I cringed when I looked in the mirror, the red spots looking worse in the bright light. “I forgot my lotion at home and used Lena’s diaper rash cream instead. Which somehow gave me a rash,” I replied and sat down at my change table.
I was at the club earlier than I had ever been, and I only counted to one hundred before going inside, the usual anxiety at going to work almost nonexistent. Sebastian had stood outside with me, his steady presence and warm touches calming me more than anything else ever could.
He didn’t ask questions, just waited with me until I was ready. After walking me to the door of the changing room, he kissed me and went off to do whatever it was he did at the club.
I’d only noticed the rash a few minutes before I left the compound, when it was still only a slight red tinge. I didn’t think much of it since a diaper rash cream was supposed to help with rashes, wasn’t it? Turned out that wasn’t the case for faces. Who would have thought?
“Whoa,” she said, stopping next to my chair. “You didn’t sleep at home?”
“We stayed at the clubhouse,” I said, looking around my small
