All familiar characters belong to Janet.

"I'm just having some fun with her," Kane said. "My parents had only boys, so I never had a sister to play with. I thought I'd give Steph a shot at the job."

"Really? What are the benefits of being an honorary Kane Cole sibling?" She asked.

"You get a lifetime of protection ..."

"I have that now with Ranger and all my guys here."

I nodded as Tank grunted an affirmative.

"My grandparents own a small vineyard in Tuscany. I can hook you and your Fancy Wine Guy up with stuff better than you'd find here."

"Try again. I'm still breastfeeding so alcohol isn't high on my priority list."

"Shit. I forgot all about that. Harper likes her Merlot, she's not going to be happy when she realizes she's been cut off."

He blew out a mock frustrated sigh. The ass is thoroughly enjoying himself ... and so is Stephanie. It's terrifying to imagine these two related, but they did bond instantly while she was calming him down after he'd whipped out a knife and was ready to go for round two at the bar even with the police on scene.

"I can make bread from scratch and pretty much anything else if given access to a kitchen, though I don't want to brag," he told her.

Tank snorted at the obvious lie, which had Olive rewarding him with a laugh.

"How about doughnuts?" Steph asked, upping the ante.

"Jelly doughnuts are my specialty. I make a killer raspberry jam, though I can make whatever kind you want."

"Sold. Let's get busy finding this a-hole and then we can eat doughnuts and break bread that you're gonna bake us over baby-name books. I'm not sure why, but we kept all of ours."

"Deal. You help me find, and then get rid of, this guy and I'll give you anything you want."

Steph's blue eyes went first to Olivia as our daughter smiled besottedly at Tank, and then my wife looked back at me.

"Thanks for the offer," she told him, still staring at me, "but I already have everything I could ever want or need."