Kaiden walked back toward the couches with a twin on each arm and the distinct feeling that he was being escorted rather than doing the escorting.
The lounge hadn't changed, but the energy had. Vespera and her professionals occupied the far corner in full operational mode, Alice orbiting her mother with a tray of cookies that was slowly being depleted. The couches still faced each other across the low table, and his girls were exactly where he'd left them.
Bastet saw him first.
Her golden eyes tracked him from the moment he rounded the table, and the instant he lowered himself onto the couch, she was in his lap. Head on his left thigh, both hands curled around his knee, body going horizontal with a speed that suggested she'd been counting the seconds since he'd stood up.
"Master." Her voice was sweet. "Your hand, back to its rightful place. Please."
