Page 48 of Filthy Rich Temptation
‘But Sades?—’
‘People drink, Theo. I drink. You drink. Doesn’t mean we hurt people.’
‘I couldn’t. I would never…’ His eyes burn into mine. The muscle in his jaw tics. He starts to lift a hand between us but stops, fingers curling into his palm. ‘You’re safe with me. You’ll always be safe. I swear it.’
‘I know.’
I take a breath and give him a smile, though all I want is to take that hand – now forgotten by his side – and put it on me. The only question is where. What part of me do I want him to touch the most?
It’s a damned stupid question, but one my heart and head are happy to toss around as I say, ‘Besides, Danny never needed a drink to hurt me. It was just the man he was. Drunk or sober, it didn’t change a thing.’
Wrong thing to say. His cheeks and eyes darken, his mouth twists. ‘If I ever lay eyes on that piece of?—’
‘Uncle Feo!’
He breaks off as Lottie comes racing between us, tablet clutched in her hands, her grin so wide and innocent and true. ‘Mummy’s making pancakes!’
He takes a step back, offers me a faint smile before letting it split his face in two for my daughter – hangover, be damned.
‘So I see! Ain’t we the lucky ones?’
Without hesitation, he swoops her into his arms, pulling an excited squeal from her little lungs.
‘How about you and I set the table while Mummy works her magic here?’
He gifts me another of those smiles – private, toe-curlingly deep – then whirls away, Lottie and her cartoon-blaring tablet still in his arms. The sight is so perfect, so arresting, it takes the sharp scent of burning pancake to snap me out of it.
‘Shit!’
‘Mummy!’ Theo calls back as Lottie peeks over his shoulder, giggling.
‘Mummy just said sh?—’
He presses his index finger over her lips. ‘P!’
He enunciates the letter, just like he had out on the lake, and nowI’mgiggling. I can’t help it. This man – the way he gets to me. Gets me, too. It’s addictive, and I’m helpless to fight it.
Maybe I shouldn’t even try.
Maybe I should just roll with it, knowing what it is – the present.
And what it can never be – our future.
* * *
Theo
Lottie loves getting involved.
If the grown-ups are doing it, she wants in, and laying the table is no exception. It’s honestly hilarious, and I quickly learn that the safest approach is to demonstrate, then spectate… unless I fancy getting scolded.
Which, for the record, I haven’t been in almost thirty years. And let me tell you, being scolded by a three-year-old? Whole new level.
Mum would have a field day witnessing this tiny dictator in action.
Actually, Mum would have a field day with this scene, full stop.
It takes twice as long, but it’s totally worth it. When she’s finally done – her tiny toes gripping the chair as she leans over the table to place the maple syrup down with a flourish – she beams up at me.
