Page 45 of Keeping the Single Dad
“It is?” His eyes clung to my face.
Fluttering gripped my chest again. Yes. That must have been why my heart had pounded all the way over here. This mattered to me. It mattered way more than I wanted it to, but it definitely mattered. Shit. Why did it matter?
Alex hung up my coat and turned back to me. He cupped my face with one huge palm. “Just be yourself. You’re great, Lana. Anyone can see that you’re great.”
My skin tingled under his touch. I couldn’t help but lean into him, like a puppy seeking affection. If I hadn’t been here to meet Brodie, I would have been dragging Alex up the stairs to the bedroom. Would Alex ask me to stay over? Did people have sex when they had a kid in the house? They must have done, otherwise nobody would have any siblings.
Alex called up the stairs. “Brodie? Are you joining us?”
“I’m still playing.” The shout rang down the stairs.
Alex shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Kids, eh? Sorry. I’ll fetch him.”
Alex strode up the stairs and disappeared around the corner. A muttered conversation drifted to my ears, then Alex appeared with his ‘mini me’ behind him. My heart pounded with every step until they planted themselves in front of me.
“Brodie, you remember Lana?”
?“Yeah.” Brodie stood at his dad’s side. His golden curls gleamed in the bright hall lights as he inclined his head to regard me. “Do you still like pirates?”
“Always.”
An excited grin lit Brodie’s face and he shuffled from side to side. The kid was fizzing with energy, as though he’d been unhooked from charge on a docking station. “You can be the pirate queen. I’ll be Blackbeard.”
Before I could reply, he darted up the stairs and skidded out of sight.
I shot Alex a glance. “What’s going on?”
Alex sighed and rocked back on his heels. “You shouldn’t have told him you know about pirates. You’re in trouble now. Swashbuckling is the key to his heart.”
Brodie raced back down the stairs two at a time so fast in his socks, it was a miracle he didn’t slide down. He thrust a plastic sword into my palm and his soft hand wrapped around mine to drag me down the hallway. “Come on, then.”
“Where are we going?”
“We’re playing pirates. When that gets boring, we’ll do the floor is lava. You can decide what to play after that. This is going to be fun.”
Chapter 24
Lana
Imovedaroundtheenormous kitchen collecting plates and tidying while Alex was upstairs putting Brodie to bed. Brodie made almost as much mess as my dad.?
“That went well.”
I turned to see Alex leaning in the doorway with a warm smile on his face. “Brodie wouldn’t stop talking about you. I didn’t think he’d ever fall asleep.”
A shaft of light from the kitchen window struck his hair. The dark gray around his temples gleamed like polished silver. His smile was as sunny and warm as his disposition. I’d never met a man so caring and even tempered, yet his huge imposing frame and rugged good-looks gave him a commanding masculinity. Every match, Alex’s team relied on him to save the game, and his son depended on him and him alone. He carried such responsibilities on his broad shoulders, and despite the grief he must have felt, he held up his burden so effortlessly.
I turned back to the sink because I didn’t want to be caught staring. I plunged another bowl into the hot soapy water. Alex crossed the kitchen, took the wet bowl from my hand and put it on the drying rack.?
“No washing up for you.” His hands, massive and strong, spun me around. “You don’t have to lift a finger here.”?
“I like to help.”?
“You’re the guest. I’m taking care of you.” He planted a kiss in the hollow of my neck. “I like taking care of you.”
I tilted my chin to his face. “You do?”
His hands locked against my spine and he gathered me into his arms. Alex was all man, but his smile was boyishly affectionate. “Yes. I do. When you’ll let me.”
