Page 62 of Fierce-Michael

If he said he wanted her to meet his son tonight, she’d be cool with it. But she wasn’t going to ask.

She’d rushed into relationships in the past and they failed as much as the ones that were a slow burn.

She wasn’t sure what she had with Michael. Definitely not a slow burn in the passion department. Not even emotionally. Not on her end.

She knew what she felt for him and didn’t see that changing any time soon.

But the last thing she wanted to do was put any kind of pressure on him.

“That works,” he said. “I’m not sure how Ty is going to be. I have to start slow and let him know what is going on first. Then we can see if he wants to meet you.”

“If?” she asked. She wasn’t aware that it was all going to fall into the hands of a four-year-old.

“When,” he said. “That came out wrong.”

“Okay. Not trying to tell you what to do, just didn’t know if Ty was the one making the decisions.”

He got up and went to the kitchen. They’d been sitting on the couch after she came in.

She followed and would help him with dinner. She wasn’t sure if she just insulted him or not and hated that she felt on edge about things when she hadn’t before with a man.

“He’s not,” Michael said. “I am, but keeping him in mind. Is that going to be a problem?”

“Let’s stop and rewind,” she said. “I don’t want to fight and I don’t think we should. I’m not sure where things took a bad turn and maybe my question came off wrong.”

She wanted to nip this in the bud now. She didn’t like fighting with anyone.

Kelly didn’t like making anyone sad or upset either.

The guilt would be too much on her shoulders.

“We aren’t fighting,” he said. “I got up to start dinner. Did you think I was mad?”

“Maybe,” she said. “What is going on with us? I don’t normally think that way about your move. But you did sigh. Sighing is normally a sign of frustration.”

“It is,” he said. “But not with you. Maybe it’s more with my life.”

“Want to explain that?” she asked. He took out a few chicken cutlets, bacon, cheese and rolls. “What do you want me to make?”

“The bacon if you don’t mind and I’ll take care of the chicken. Thought we could have chicken sandwiches and I’ve got leftover potato salad from my mother’s on Sunday.”

“That sounds good to me,” she said.

She found a pan and put it on the stove, then opened the package of bacon to get that cooking.

“The frustration with my life was the conversation I had with Alex earlier and then Cade. It just made me realize that I put everyone first other than myself.”

“We have that in common,” she said.

“I would have never guessed that,” he said.

“What does that mean?” she asked, bumping her hip with his. No reason to not keep it playful so he didn’t know she was the one getting frustrated.

“It means that Cade pointed out something I already knew about you. That you’re always happy and bubbly and like to have everyone be that way around you too. That you want to make people smile. The question is, are you doing things to make me happy over what makesyouhappy?”

She turned to look at him. “I’ve been guilty of those things in the past,” she said. “But not now. Really. When we are in bed together I’m just as happy as you are.”

He laughed and closed one eye at her. “Now you’re trying to be cute.”