He bent at the knees and gathered her gently in his arms. Even in sleep, she turned to him so trustingly. Even in sleep, she reached out for him.

“Eli? Where are we going?” She asked the question even as she wound her arms around his neck.

He kissed the top of her head. “To bed, angel.”

He carried her to the guest bedroom, placing her on top of the comforter so he could pull her nightshirt over her head. His own clothes followed and then he had her under the covers, tucked against him. The bed in this room was smaller than his and for the first time, Eli was glad. Nothing could feel as natural as having the right to undress her and tuck her against his side.

He didn’t want to let her go.

USUALLY KAY WAS a pretty patient person, but as one week passed and then another, she finally broke down and begged Eli to get her out of the house. She’d caught up on all the back episodes of her favorite television shows, and she’d written several new songs. It had been time very well spent, but it still felt like she was stuck in some sort of time capsule, frozen while everyone else lived their lives unaware.

Eli had decided taking them along when he went to his company’s headquarters wasn’t too risky. He’d been absent longer than usual and there was apparently a ton of paperwork waiting on his signature. His phone rang incessantly, and she could always tell when it was Carly.

It was the only time he left the room to take his phone calls.

Kay pushed the negative thoughts out of her mind, determined to enjoy her first outing in weeks. Alexander Security Incorporated was housed in a moderately sized building in central Fairfax County. Kay leaned closer to the window to take it all in. She felt a huge swell of pride for the company Eli had built from the ground up. Especially since she knew he viewed his work as atonement for the mistakes of his past.

“I’m really sorry about this. Human Resources only needs me to meet a new employee and sign some documents. It shouldn’t take long. I wanted to get you guys out of the house, but I’d hoped to find something more fun than this.”

“Trust me, I’ll take it. We’ve been in the house so long I’m starting to forget what the outside looks like.”

“I thought I was doing a pretty good job of keeping you busy,” Eli said, reaching a hand over to caress her knee.

Kay grabbed his hand before it could reach its intended destination and squeezed it, satisfied when he gave her a lascivious look. “As much as I’m enjoying your distractions, we have to come up for air sometime. Plus, I want to see where you work. You’ve spent so much time following me around at my job, so turnabout is only fair.”

He grinned and put his hands back on the wheel. They pulled into an underground parking garage and followed it around, going lower and lower until Eli pulled into a parking space marked with red lines.

“I guess there are some perks to being the boss, huh?”

Eli grinned and got out. This time she knew enough to wait until he rounded the car and opened her door for her.

“There’re a few benefits, yes.”

She lifted Hope carefully into her arms, deciding to leave the car seat behind. They rode the elevator up to the fifteenth floor where he held the door so she could precede him. Directly in front of them was a gleaming glass-and-chrome receptionist’s desk.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Alexander.” The receptionist seemed startled to see them.

“Afternoon, Marcy.” Eli nodded and then turned to the right.

Kay followed him, conscious of the older woman’s curious stare. They passed cubicles and small offices. Most of them were empty, but they passed quite a few people in the hallways who spoke to Eli or nodded.

“This is my office.”

He closed the door behind them and led her over to this desk. It was a massive piece of wood with two black leather chairs in front. Kay sat down and shucked off her coat.

“I need to go down to the HR department. They just hired someone new and for management-level employees, I like to introduce myself right away since they’ll be reporting directly to me.”

“Well, you can go do whatever you need to do. I don’t mind waiting. Actually, if there’s anything you need me to do, just let me know. I want to be useful. In case you didn’t know, I’m pretty good at keeping Alexander men on task. Just ask Nick.”

Eli chuckled, his deep baritone washing over her, rumbling through her and leaving a trail of goose bumps in its wake. “I believe you.” He gestured toward a stack of files on his desk. “If you’re determined to help, there is something you can do. I need these to be put in alphabetical order so they can be filed. Also, I need you to pull out the ones that have incident reports because I need to sign off on those.”

Kay looked down at Hope, who was regarding the new surroundings with interest. “I should have brought her car seat after all. I guess I’ll have to hold her on my lap.”

“She can come with me. What do you say, princess? You want to take a ride?” He held out his arms and Hope immediately leaned forward.

“How quickly she deserts me for a handsome face.” Kay winked at him.

Eli held Hope protectively against his shoulder. “She knows I’m a sucker for that smile and she can get away with anything.”

Kay’s heart flipped over when he looked down at Hope so affectionately. Hope had been up late again the prior night but amazingly, Eli didn’t look as though he’d stayed up rocking a cranky baby. He looked like he belonged in a fashion magazine. She’d never seen him in a suit before and the result was shockingly arousing. Eli looked up and caught her staring, so she covered it with a cough.