Page 22 of Dating the DILF
“You should definitely stay,” Gray backs me up, although my guess is, he has his own ulterior motives. “We have pizza coming and it’s just four friends hanging out as far as Nugget is concerned. It’s not a big deal.” He shrugs.
“Excuse us one moment.” Charlie pulls Adelaide back out into the hallway and they launch into a whispered conversation full of animated expressions and energetic hand flailing. Finally, Charlie nods her head and makes her way back to me.
She stops in front of me while I lean against the doorframe and looks up at me apprehensively.
“I’m not much of a kid person, so please don’t hold it against me if she hates me.” She chews on her bottom lip. “I thought I’d have more time to prepare for this.”
I glance over my shoulder to make sure Lulu is still distracted and take a step forward, so we’re shielded by the door.
“Lulu loves everyone, trust me, you don’t have anything to worry about.” I take her hand and pull her to me, leaning down until my mouth is a breath away from hers. “I had a really great time today and this is a pretty damn amazing coincidence. We would be stupid not to take advantage of it.” My mouth presses softly against hers and I sweep my tongue along her bottom lip. When her lips part and her tongue slides along mine, my cock jerks against my jeans, an uncomfortable reminder that I need to be careful tonight in front of Lulu. The smallest touch from Charlie seems to overwhelm me. It’s too much and not enough all at once.
A gruff clearing of a throat breaks the moment and I look up to see the pizza guy standing there, shifting uncomfortably.
“Uh, delivery for Grayson?”
Gray pushes past us, making sure to brush against Adelaide on the way. She glares at his back and I decide that I’m a little afraid of her.
“Ignore those two. I keep telling him, she’s your sister, man, you can’t kiss her like that in public.” He rolls his eyes in mock annoyance and slips some cash to the slack-jawed delivery guy, before ushering us all inside the apartment.
“You’re a freak,” I mutter, flitting my eyes across to Charlie to make sure he hasn’t scared her off. Luckily for Gray, she is wearing a small smile and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. Maybe his bad joke was enough to break the tension?
We all follow Gray into the small living room where he drops the pizzas on the coffee table alongside a pile of paper plates.
“Dig in,” he instructs. “I’ll get some sodas.”
“Water for Lulu,” I remind him.
“For duck’s sake!”
We all turn and stare wide-eyed at my daughter. My perfect, angelic baby girl who apparently has cracked the curse word code at the tender age of two and three quarters.
“Tallulah!” I scold at the same time Gray offers her a high-five and says, “Nice!”
“What?” I seethe.
“What?” he repeats innocently. “Last week I heard her say…” He lowers his voice to a whisper. “The F-word. So, I taught her a more socially acceptable version. You should be thanking me.”
A snort comes from across the table and I look up to find Charlie and Adelaide desperately trying to disguise their laughter.
I shake my head and try my best to hide my own amusement. I swear to God, half of parenting is covering up how funny you find their behavior.
Turning to Lulu, I get her attention. “Kid, don’t ever listen to anything your uncle Gray tells you, understand?”
She considers me thoughtfully and I can see the cogs of her brain turning. “Unstand. Can I have soda?”
“No.”
Lulu throws herself dramatically on the floor, groaning.
“Lu, sit up so you can meet our friends.” The mention of friends has her sitting straight up and taking notice of Charlie and Adelaide for the first time. I introduce them both to her and she gets up and wanders around the table to stand in front of them.
I can’t help but hold my breath. I know what I said but if she doesn’t like Charlie that would make things considerably harder on us. And from the reaction I got from Adelaide before, I would say we already have that against us.
Lulu ignores Adelaide and locks eyes with Charlie, who is staring at her wide-eyed and as still as a statue. She looks too scared to breathe and I cover my mouth to hide a grin.
“You’re pretty.”
“Thank you.”
