Page 53 of Love Songs

I grinned when I saw the young girl who could only be Dallas’s daughter.

“So . . . You’re Conor,” she said with a blinding smile and mischievous blue eyes as electric as her dad’s. “The hot firefighter.”

Ohh, she was a little troublemaker, this one. I liked her already.

“Jay . . .” Dallas groaned, flashing me an apologetic look as a light blush bloomed into his cheeks.

He was adorable. She was adorable. And I might’ve fallen a little in love just then.

“The one and only,” I reached my hand out to shake hers, but she tugged me forward and gave me a hug. “And you must be Jaylin.”

She let me go and grinned. “The one and only.”

“Oh my god. I think introducing you two is a mistake,” Dallas teased as he opened the door wider and waved me inside.

The three of us stood there for an extended beat, grinning while looking at each other. All I wanted to do was pull Dallasinto my arms, press him up against the wall, and kiss him breathless, but I didn’t think that was proper in front of his teenage daughter. Not when she was staring at us with her gaze bouncing back-and-forth between me and her dad, and her smile growing wider.

Until Jaylin snorted and broke the moment.

Dallas seemed to jerk out of his daze with a chuckle. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Wouldn’t be anywhere else,” I said honestly.

We fell into another silent lull of awe that Jaylin broke yet again.

“So,” she dragged out, her gaze settling on Dallas, and the corners of her peach-pink lips curled into a grin. “I’m hungry.”

“You two haven’t eaten yet?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. I hadn’t had dinner either, just nibbled on some snacks at the pub, but that was only because I’d been too amped up to eat while waiting for Dallas to arrive.

“No.” Dallas shook his head. “We had some pastries from Mabel’s Bistro when we got into town earlier, but nothing since lunch.”

I bit back a frown at learning they’d been down the road from Lucy’s Pub while I was there and wondered why he hadn’t texted me then.

“Well then,” I beamed at Jaylin, quashing my wounded ego. “Let’s get you fed.”

Dinner was a whole lot more relaxing than I’d thought it would be. Jaylin was charming and regaled me with stories of her school friends, what it was like having a famous rock star for a dad, and the horse she rode in upstate New York, where she stayed when Dallas toured. She didn’t mention her mom, and I didn’t want to pry. Loss was hard. I’d sure as hell seen a lot on the job, felt some of it personally, too, and everyone dealt with it in their own ways.

When Jaylin yawned, Dallas chuckled and said, “Well, I guess it’s time to get this one to bed.”

Jaylin snorted. “It’s not even that late.”

I glanced at my watch, shocked to see that it was close to ten in the evening. How had the time flown by that fast?

“It is for growing young girls,” Dallas said, and Jaylin rolled her eyes at him.

We walked together to the lobby, the three of us side by side while my stomach roiled with a tendril of dread that this was it. I didn’t want to say goodnight. I didn’t want to go home. Didn’t want to leave Dallas.

We stopped, and that charged silence wrapped around us once again.

“I’m not going to crash out if you two kiss or something,” Jaylin giggled.

With a roll of his eyes at his daughter, Dallas stepped forward and pulled me into his arms. I held him tight in my embrace, reveling at the feel of his body pressed against mine, and I swear my entire being sighed in relief from his touch.

“Give us twenty minutes and come up,” he whispered into my ear. His warm breath sent a shiver down my spine.

I gripped him tighter, nodded once, and stepped back.

“It was nice to meet you, Jaylin,” I said, receiving another bear-like hug from her.

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