Page 20 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
There was no other explanation for it.
Ethan was a little down on his luck right now, but he was still a fit and handsome alpha, and as much as I would have liked to think so, I wasn’t the reason for his hormone surge.
Ethan blinked, and all at once, his scent weakened as he realized what he was doing and got a hold of himself. “I have to apologize, I… That was unintentional. I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable.”
“It's okay. You didn't mean it.” I rubbed my face, trying to get my own hormones back under control.
Ethan's pheromones had mostly vanished from the air I breathed, but that didn't mean the man across from me wasn't attractive anymore. I would have had to lose a lot more than my sense of smell to feel that way.
Especially when Ethan's gaze lingered on me for reasons I couldn't fathom. “What's your favorite color?” he asked suddenly, surprising me.
Why would he want to know that? “I'm not sure I have one. I guess I like purple,” I said eventually.
“The color of lavender fields, you know?” We’d had lavender growing at the edge of our yard when I was a kid. The bright flowers had attracted all the butterflies in the neighborhood, and each one had reminded me of my crush.
Ethan nodded thoughtfully. I still didn't know what he wanted with that information, but I wasn't so worried about that. I was more worried about the direction my thoughts were going the longer I held his gaze. I had to stand up and break eye contact. “I gotta get home,” I said, rising from my chair and abandoning the cup of coffee Ethan had poured for me. “Same time tomorrow?”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
“Great,” I repeated mindlessly as I walked off. Everything would be great, even if I never felt Ethan's lips on mine or his hands on my naked body.
I just had to keep believing that.
7
E T H A N
I couldn't believe I'd acted like a teenager around Rhys, throwing my pheromones everywhere until the poor guy had been forced to ask me to stop. No wonder he'd fled the house soon after.
Well done, Ethan, I told myself.
I'd warned my son not to scare the new manny away, but now it looked like I was doing a fine job of it all by myself. And after telling everyone all day that I wasn't interested in Rhys. Apparently, my subconscious felt differently.
But I wasn't going to let myself be ruled by baser instincts, was I? No, it had just been too long since I'd seen any action. Laura leaving me had done a number on my sex life for sure.
I didn't have much time to contemplate my dilemma, though, as Caleb came padding into the kitchen on naked feet, rubbing sleep from his eyes with his small fists.
“Did you have a good day?” I asked, a smile stealing onto my face. Whatever Laura had taken from me, she'd left me with a gift too. As long as the boys and I stuck together, we would be fine.
Caleb opened his eyes and grinned. “You're home!”
“Yup.”
Caleb ran to me with his arms wide open and I scooped him up easily. Sometimes I joked that lifting him every day was what kept me in shape. “I heard you had some mac & cheese with Rhys today.”
“Clara's mac & cheese is better.”
I had to laugh at the petulant way my son stated his critique. He'd liked Clara. It was really too bad she hadn't lasted longer than two months before Nathan unleashed the crickets on her. Ihadto find a way to make Rhys stick around for longer than that—which meant I had to keep my hormones in check around him from now on, no matter how cute he was.
“I'm sure we can teach Rhys to make good mac & cheese. Will you give him another chance?”
“Okay,” Caleb agreed softly and without much enthusiasm. “I want you home.”
“I know, sweetheart.” I smoothed his hair which stuck out at odd angles from sleeping on the couch. “I have to work to buy mac & cheese and cookies and all the things you like, though. You understand that, don't you?”
Caleb shook his head vigorously. “Mommy was home. I want Mommy back.”
Ouch.
