At least it hadn’t been until last night.

“When do we go, Zoe? Today?”

“Not quite that fast, Aaron. It’ll take us a little time to arrange things.”

“Do I get to take my X-Men?”

“Yup.”

“Do we get to have macaroni and cheese?”

“Yup.”

“Do we get to stay up until nine?”

“Nope.”

“Where do we get to go after we go to your house?” Parker wanted to know.

Zoe wasn’t sure what made her turn her head, but she was suddenly aware of the man in the doorway. His dark hair rumpled, Rafe was wearing jeans but nothing else. If he were any kind of normal human being, he’d have the courtesy to look as terrible as she felt after a sleepless night.

Instead, his eyes were a wide-awake blue, and his body looked all sexy and warm and compellingly touchable. The eyes, the body and the man disturbed her. She figured as soon as he opened his mouth, his voice would disturb her, too. Rafe talked in a slow, easy drawl that could wear a woman down like erosion. That voice had worn her down last night. He’d made it seem as though the only choice they could make was to take on the kids together.

Maybe it was their only choice, and maybe all they’d been talking about the night before was the kids. Now, though, he was staring at her in such a different way, as if…

Parker anchored both of his pudgy palms on her cheeks and firmly turned her face in his direction. “You are not answering my question, Zoe,” he said irritably.

“Pardon, honey?”

“Where are we going after your house?”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Rafe said from the doorway. “First, we thought you guys might like a vacation at both our houses. Okay?”

“Sure,” Aaron agreed. “Is Mommy going to be there?”