“I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I, ah, I’m Rhym.”

As they shook, he nodded at the vacant chair. “You mind if I sit down?”

“Oh, please. I’m sorry. Wait, I already said that. Jeez.”

To her credit, she didn’t ogle him unnecessarily or come on to him. And the fact that she was also nervous made him feel a little better.

“Are you going to get something?” she asked.

“No. I’m fine. Would you like another . . . what is that?”

“It’s a latte. And no, thank you, this is plenty.” There was a pause and she opened a little notebook. “So . . . I, um . . . listen, I’ve got to be honest. I’ve never been in the presence of a Brother before.”

He smiled, being careful to conceal his fangs because they were in mixed company. “I’m just like everyone else.”

“Not even close,” she muttered under her breath. “So, I, ah, I have some questions for you? If that’s okay? I know Mary’s talked to you about all this.”

Rhage crossed his arms and leaned on the table. “Yes, she has. And listen, if I could just . . .”

He looked down at the wood grain under his elbows and tried to figure out what he was attempting to say. As the chatter around them and the ins and outs of the front door and the seething of the coffee machines droned on, he started to worry that he’d been quiet too long.

Rhage looked at the social worker. “Bottom line is, I’m prepared to lay down my life for that little girl. I’m ready to get up at high noon for her if she has a daymare. I’m ready to feed her and clothe her, and show her how to drive. I’m also prepared to hold her close when she gets her heart broken for the first time, and present her to her mate if she finds someone she wants. I want to help her get a good education, and follow whatever dreams she has, and be there to pick her up when she stumbles. I understand that it’s not going to be all puppies and unicorns, and there’s going to be conflict, and maybe even anger . . . but none of that will change my commitment. I knew my Mary was the one I was supposed to be with the moment I met her, and I knew the other night, with the same clarity, that Bitty is my kid. If you’ll let me have the chance to be her father.”

He sat back and held his arms out. “Now, ask me everything.”

Rhym smiled a little. And then a lot. “Well, let’s start at the beginning, shall we?”

Rhage smiled back. Which yeah, was what happened when you got the very clear sense that you had just hit one out of the park.

“Let’s do that,” he said with a sense of profound relief.

SIXTY-SIX

Jo Early could not stop staring.

Then again, she wasn’t the only one in the coffee shop whose lattes were left unattended and cooling as they tried not to look at the guy. He’d come in alone, sucking up most, if not all, of the oxygen in the building, and then proceeded over to a back table to sit with a nice-looking, if unremarkable, woman.

All things considered, he should have been with a Miss America type: He was huge, just incredibly tall, but also built big, as if he were a professional athlete of the football, not basketball variety. His hair was blond, but it seemed to be actually that shade, no roots showing, no professional streak job growing out, just thick and healthy and . . . blond.

His eyes, though, were the big thing. His eyes were totally a thing. Even from across the crowded coffee shop, they glowed with a color blue that was something you’d see in the Bahamas by the ocean, the color so iridescent, so clear, so resonantly teal that you had to wonder whether it was contacts, because how in the hell could that be found in nature?

And P.S., the clothes weren’t bad at all. Nope. He was wearing all black, from a silk shirt and very well-cut and well-tailored slacks, to a jacket that had lapels like something a suit would have, but a loose body like an overcoat.

The shoes were spectacular, too.

It was as if a movie star had wandered into I’ve Bean Waitin’, and for a moment, Jo wondered if maybe she’d seen him on the big screen . . . ?

As her cell phone went off, she was grateful for the distraction. This hyper-focus of hers kept up and she was going to see that handsome face every time she closed her eyelids. Not that that would have been any great sacrifice.

When she saw who it was, she rolled her eyes, but accepted the call anyway. “Dougie, what’s up. No. No, you may not. What—no! Look, I told you, I’m leaving my job, I’m not going to be able to lend you money for a while. . . . Well, then ask one of them. No. No. Okay . . . fine, but only the Fig Newtons. I come back and you’ve eaten my Milanos and you and I are going to have words. And would you go out and get employed, for godsakes?”

As she hung up, a dry voice said, “I agree with you about the cookies.”

Recoiling, she put her hand over her heart. “Jeez, Bill, you scared me.”

“What’s this about leaving Bryant’s?” he said as he sat down with his latte and did that scarf unwindy thing he did. “You quit?”

“It’s nothing.” Well, other than the fact that her boss was a manipulator and she had allowed herself to be his pawn. “Really.”

Oh, but b.t.dub, Bryant thinks we’re boning, she tacked on in her head.

“Listen,” Bill murmured as he leaned in and pushed those glasses up higher on his nose. “First of all, I’m sorry I’m late. And second of all, I have to ask. With parents like yours, I really can’t believe . . . I mean, the money thing . . .”