I held out my fork, watching carefully as Aubrey took the chunk of pancake from my fork. She chewed it with a grin on her mouth.

"Yummy!"

"Remember to not talk while you have food in your mouth." Killian pointed out as he sipped from his coffee. I rolled my eyes, and matched her grin with one of my own.

"You can talk as much as you want, sweetie."

"We do need to teach her some manners."

"She's only three. We can start teaching her those things next year."

"Yeah!" She backed me up, "Manners next year! More mommy!"

I ripped off another chunk of pancake and handed it over. She shoved the whole thing in her mouth, and chewed it up.

"Are you going in today at all?"

"Of course I am," I said as I started to cut up the rest of the pancake, "We have the new hires and I'm the deciding factor. When's your first meeting?"

"Nine. I was going to just take Aubrey with me and let her hang out with Max."

"Or we could drop her off at the one of the sitters that I picked out for her two months ago."

"Or I could just take her with me-"

"Or she could stay here with me." Killian and I turned right as a high pitch scream left Aubrey's lips. She pushed herself off her chair before we could react and ran across the kitchen right into Lucian's arms.

"Grampa!" Aubrey squealed even louder and threw her arms around his neck. He hugged her back, nothing but pure undying love in his eyes.

Great...

There was no doubt that in Aubrey's eyes, daddy trumped mommy. I loved my little girl, but she was a daddy's girl through and through. Still, there was that one single person in the whole wide world that did somehow manage to trump her daddy. Technically it was two, but she honestly grouped them together as one person.

The only two people that she was willing to ignore her dad for, was Lucian, and of course Lucian's other half, my uncle.

Speaking of which...

"Where's the other one?"

"Believe it or not, he stayed back," he chuckled as he joined Killian and I in the kitchen, "Well I mean, it is their anniversary this weekend."

"Crap," I had completely forgotten about their anniversary and it was the big three-zero,
"I'm a horrible niece..."

Lucian patted my hand with consolement, "No you're not. You've been busy. With my precious grandbaby sick, and you dealing with the new hires, you've probably had a lot on your mind. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure Killian doesn't help at all with the work stuff."

"No," I growled as he looked away, "He really doesn't."

"You wouldn't have to stress about it if you weren't working in the first place. Think of all the things you could do if you weren't working. Think of all the things we could do if you weren't working..."

"I am still your father." Lucian coughed, understanding his son's innuendo. I couldn't stop my blush of embarrassment, but shook it off quickly.

"Well I think Aubrey would love spending the day with you, Lucian. Which will give Killian and I that perfect day to get all of our work done." I side eyed my husband, "Which means that you can get all of the work done that you have been putting off in order to stay home with our daughter."

"She was sick."

"And the days when she isn't sick?"

"She needs her father."

"You're ridiculous."

"How is wanting to spend time with my daughter, also known as my only child, ridiculous?"

"Because you also run a multi-billion dollar business that needs your attention. Trust me Killian, I am more than happy that you are the father that you are, but you also have other things that you need to get done."

"And I do."

"Yeah, days to weeks after it should have been done in the first place."

"Well, who's going to fire me? The boss? Oh, wait," he chuckled dryly, "That's me."

"Lucian," I turned towards my father-in-law, "Can you do something about this boy."

"Nope," he grinned, "Sorry Mia, but I was the same way when he was a baby. I always wanted him around me. I would drag him to work with me and just let him play on the floor, and it was even harder for me cause I was still building my business from the bottom up."

"You two are both ridiculous." I growled as I stood up.

"Oh come on," he laughed, "You love seeing me in father mode and you know it."

"Is that what you tell yourself?" He wasn't wrong, but he didn't need to know that. "I'm going to go and finish getting ready for the day. Lucian, she is yours to do with whatever you want. She hasn't spiked a fever since it dropped yesterday morning, and Veronica said she was acting like she normally does when she was at her house last night.

Nothing was setting off red flags for me, and her appetite is completely back. Still, if you could check her temperature about midday just to be safe, that would be great. Text me when you get the results, whether it is normal or high. And if you have to take her to the hospital for whatever reason, I will make sure that I keep my phone on today. So call me. Preferably before your son, cause he will literally drop whatever he is doing to be there."

"Well I would never forgive myself if something happened, and I wasn't there."

"And if it was an emergency, then it would be understandable, but Aubrey will scrape her knee, while I am with her, and you will leave a business meeting right in the middle of it to make sure she is okay. Sometimes I feel like you don't trust me with her."

"Of course I do," he huffed, "You're her mother. But I am her father, and she needs me."

"For everything?"

"For everything."

I rolled my eyes, saying nothing else, and left the kitchen heading back towards our room. Once inside, I changed out of Killian's t-shirt and shorts, and into a simple, black, knee length dress. The sleeves went down to just above my elbows, the neckline lined up with my collarbone. I grabbed a clip from my vanity, and twisted and pinned up my hair. After adding a smidge of make-up and a simple single diamond necklace, I headed for my phone. I just started bending over to grab it when I felt Killian's hands grip my hips.

Looking back, he's grinning at me, a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"Can I help you?" I asked as I straightened back up.

"There are always ways for you to help me out, Mia." He snaked a hand around my waist and pulled me back into him.

"Your father is right down stairs!"

"So? We made Aubrey. He isn't stupid."

"We are not doing it while he is actively downstairs though."

"Come on," he groaned, "We can make it a quickie. He'll never know."

"Killian!"

"Or I mean we can make it slow." I felt him pulling up at the hem of my dress, "You know," I watched him lick his lips, "I wouldn't mind giving Aubrey a sibling."

"I have work!"

"Work can wait. Your job is to keep the boss, his family and his business safe. You have your eyes on your boss right now, so you know he is safe."

"I don't know," I growled as I shoved at his hands, "It looks like he is about to get hit upside the head here soon."

"That's hot."

"Killian!"

"Come on, Mia..."

"Killian," I took a deep breath, and then turned in his arms. He was still grinning at me, "Please let me go."

"But-"

"You have an hour in between your meetings today, right?"

"Yeah. I was going to spend it with Aubrey."

"Or," I finally managed to pull the skirt of my dress back down, "I could come grab an early lunch with you."

His grin immediately turned into a smirk. I watched as his gaze filled with heat, "How do I know that you aren't just saying that to get me to let you go?"

"Didn't your new desk just come in?"

"Yeah."

"Last time I checked, we haven't broken it in yet."

"We haven't." He shifted, making me blush.

"W-Well, since Aubrey is healthy, and that we know Lucian will be glued to her like a hawk, why don't we have a private lunch today?"

Killian grabbed my phone from my hand and suddenly made a phone call. When it answered, I heard Max on the other side, "Move my meeting at 11 to 1145. Let Marc know that we are going to have to reschedule our meeting till tomorrow." He hung up and then smiled at me. "I think an hour and a half for lunch will be plenty of time. After all," he leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips, "I will need time to eat both of my meals."

"K-Killian!" I gasped.

"Now get to work," he let go and took a step back, "I don't want you to use work as an excuse to get out of our lunch."

I rolled my eyes and then smirked at him, "If you really think I would skip those lunches, then you really must not know me."

"Oh I know you," he met me by the bedroom door, "Enough to know that you would skip just to tease me."

"I would never." I laughed and then left the room before he could say anything else. I would do it, and only because, here recently, teasing him always ends up bad for me...

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Chapter 4 completed.

Sorry for the late update, on family vacation.

Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for the next chapter!

Next update: Wednesday 4th.