Page 34 of Of Course, Cutie

“A friend’s daughter? You have friends with kids? Since when, Charlie?”

I shrugged and headed back down the stairs. “Since now.” I wasn’t lying to Bea. I told her exactly where I was going. I just didn’t give her a name. I knew my sister. She’d go ape-shit-drama-queen on me in three seconds flat.

“Who’s the friend? Have I met them?”

“Charlie, are you leaving?” My mom wandered out of the kitchen where she’d been busy putting away leftovers.

Inwardly, I groaned. Outwardly, I smiled. “Just dropping a gift off to a friend. I’ll be back in a few hours. Don’t do the dishes, mom. They’ve got my name all over them.”

“Which friend? Didn’t you see Matteo this morning?”

Sophia saved me by taking that exact moment to cry and try to squirm out of Bea’s arms.

Thanks, spawn.

I slipped out the door as my mother and sister’s attention turned to Sophia.

16

Burke

I burned the shit out of dinner because I was wondering what Charlie’s nipples looked like. Fuck, I was insane for giving in. Maybe I wouldn’t. I still had time to back out. Charlie wasn’t even here yet.

“Daddy!” Tess groaned. “You burned the rolls and the mac and cheese!”

I laughed. “I sure did, sweetheart. Let’s order pizza.”

“Thank. God.”

I blinked in surprise at my daughter. “Where’d that attitude come from?”

“What’s attitude?”

“It’s when you’re not being very nice to your dad.” I gave Tess a pointed look while I pulled out my laptop to order pizza.

The doorbell rang, and Tess ran to open it. “Charlie!” Tess squealed and threw her arms around our guest. Charlie looked beautiful in a pair of tight black jeans and an over-sized red sweater. I wanted to rip them off of her. Her shiny, light brown hair looked wavy and soft. I wanted to pull it.

“Hi, Tess! Merry Christmas!” Charlie leaned down to wrap my daughter in a warm embrace. She kissed the top of Tess’s head and held out a gift bag to her. “I got you a present!”

Tess grinned, grabbed the bag from Charlie’s hand, and then raced over to the couch to open it.

“Tess, what do we say?” I called after my daughter.

“Thank you!” Tess was already throwing tissue paper on the floor.

I could feel Charlie’s eyes on me, and it made my heart race. I turned my gaze to her. “Hey, cutie.”

“Hey.” She bit her lip and stepped into my kitchen. Her gorgeous blue eyes scanned the mess that used to be dinner, and she burst out laughing. “Burke, did you burn all the food?”

Tess yelled over from the living room, “Yes! We ordered pizza! You should have come earlier to stop him from burning stuff.” She joined us in the kitchen with a purple teddy bear wearing a sparkly pink dress tucked under her arm and something small clutched in her left hand. “Look, daddy!” Tess held up the bear with a smile. “It’s so cute! I’m going to name it Pinky.”

Charlie laughed. “Pinky? What about Purpley?”

Tess laughed and shook her head. “You’re trying to make me like purple better, but it’s not gonna happen, sis.”

Charlie laughed again and pulled Tess in for a hug. “Did you just call me sis?”

“Yup. My mom says that’s what girls call their friends.”

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