Kay had only had a loving grandfather on her side, and understandably, he'd shielded her from the shitty fuckup that was the world.
But one thing Kay had to understand. She had him on her side now. He had her back. She no longer had only a retired, ailing 80-year-old, she had Nick Mancino and the entire ASI team, who were all smart and tough. And, for that matter, all the Mancinos.
She wasn't alone.
"Arms up," he said quietly, and she obediently put her arms up. He slipped on the yoga top without bothering about a bra. Because it would be fussy having to put a bra on her and because, well … because he was a horn dog. Her breasts were so incredibly beautiful and they would be showcased with only that silky top on. Just like he slid the pants on without panties, because the thought of that warm, wet, soft little sex just a second away from his hands and his dick …
Fuck.
Good thing he'd put on jeans and a tee, and that the jeans were new and stiff, because his dick was stiff, too. Hard as rock.
After last night and in the shower, he shouldn't be hard as a rock. He wasn't twenty and perpetually horny anymore. He knew how to control himself. A hard-on-a painful hard-on-wasn't appropriate or even politically correct right now. His dick didn't give a fuck, unfortunately. It felt ready for sex anytime Kay Hudson was available, and having had her only made him want more, soon. She wasn't out of his system.
At all.
He sighed when she looked up at him. Goddamn, she was beautiful. But right now, she looked so lost and sad, his heart warred with his dick and his heart won.
There was a first time for everything.
"Food's waiting," he said, as he moved around behind her. "You hungry?"
She waited a beat. "You know," she said, sounding surprised. "I am. I am hungry. There's food here, right? That's what you said. Those military rations? What do they call them?"
Nick picked up a wide-toothed comb and lifted her damp hair out of the back of her top. "MREs?" he asked, amused. MREs were the most disgusting meals available and they gummed you up like nobody's business. He'd lived off MREs for ten days once and had only taken a dump twice. Awful. "No, we have something better than MREs. Isabel set up the provisions."
"Devereaux?" Kay twisted her head to look up at him. She had a slight smile on her face. Yeah, Isabel's cooking would do that. He gently ran the comb through her tangles until they smoothed out.
"Yeah. Isabel Devereaux. Soon to be Isabel Harris. Joe's been champing at the bit to marry her for a while now. So yes, Isabel set up the food stores and is getting ready to start up a big hydroponics farm for fresh vegetables. Okay, there you go. All done."
He'd untangled her beautiful hair, braided it, and tied the braid off with a piece of gauze.
Kay looked at herself in the mirror, turning this way and that to see the braid. Nick was really happy with his policy of not having her wear underwear because the material stretched over her breasts lovingly. He made a manful effort to keep his eyes on hers and not look down.
"That's a good job you did, and you didn't hurt me combing it out. How do you have experience braiding women's hair?"
"Two little sisters who had to get ready to go to school every morning and my mom had to be at school before them. She was a teacher. So my brothers and I were on Braid Patrol. We had records. We could get our sisters up, washed, dressed, feed them breakfast and get them out the door to the school bus in 28 minutes. I timed it."
Kay smiled. "You come from a big family."
"The biggest," he said. "And the best."
She gave a small sigh. "For almost as long as I can remember, it's only been Grandpa and me."
"Yeah. Good old Al."
Kay smiled. "He did a good job, though. He was always around and was always good to me. It was only a few years ago that someone told me that he was being groomed for the directorship when he … inherited me, I guess would be a good word. When I asked him, he just smiled and shrugged and said it was water under the bridge."
True. Goodkind had refused all postings, even if they meant promotion, to stay in the DC area. He'd have made a kickass director, but instead he'd opted to be a kickass substitute parent.
"It's true, isn't it?" Kay asked, looking directly into his eyes.
She was way too smart to lie to. Nick nodded.
She sighed. "And to think he was so encouraging about my career, even when it took me away from him."
Goodkind hadn't traveled after becoming Kay's caregiver, but she had. She'd studied in Cambridge and Paris and had worked for the WHO, where she'd been posted to Singapore and Gambia. Nick had done his homework and had quietly grilled Goodkind, who'd answered all of his questions with a sardonic smile.