Cassie picked up Kevin and his daughter at their loft near the harbor. The scent of ocean mixed with fish guts and diesel followed her up the stairs. She’d always loved that smell; to her it meant adventure.

The door swung open before she could even knock. A slim girl with a sheet of black hair tucked into a haphazard ponytail looked at her warily. She wore a red top that said, “It’s Okay, Pluto, I’m Not a Planet Either.”

“Are you Cassie?” she asked.

“Yes, and you must be Holly. It’s nice to meet you.” She put out her hand, but Holly ignored it.

“Before you come in, you should know this isn’t going anywhere. I feel it’s only fair to inform you of that ahead of time.” She spoke with a rapid-fire smart-girl cadence.

Cassie frowned, confused. “We have to go somewhere if you want to see the town.”

“Not us. You and my dad. Not going anywhere. So if you’re thinking of this tour as a way to get in good with him,” she looked over her shoulder and lowered her voice, “you’re wasting your time. Just wanted you to know that.”

Cassie had to laugh. “Thanks for the heads up. I’ll cancel the home-cooked meal I was planning for you guys. And those cookies I stayed up all night baking, well, I guess I’ll eat them myself while sobbing my eyes out and watching reruns of The 100.”

Holly stared at her, her mouth falling open. “I love The 100.”

“Kickass show, right?”

“Come in. Dad’s almost ready.” She opened the door wider and Cassie stepped inside. The space was both warm and cavernous, with touches of brick and hardwood. It surprised her a bit—Kevin gave the impression of being a guy’s guy, while this apartment spoke of someone sophisticated. Sunlight streamed through big picture windows that overlooked the harbor. A telescope was set on a tripod, aimed toward the sky.

“Do I need to watch out for other ways you scare off visitors? Water balloons, trip wires, minor explosives?”

The girl’s eyes widened in admiration. “That is an awesome idea. But no. I find a verbal warning is usually enough to get the point across.”

“What point?” Kevin strolled in, drying his hands on a towel.

He smiled at her, that dimple flashing, as if just for her. Her heart stuttered at his sheer yumminess. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt that clung to his muscles. He wasn’t especially tall, like Will, or outrageously ripped, like Tobias, but he was utterly, completely at home in his own body. The confidence with which he moved told her that. It also sparked a few fantasies about the things he could probably do with that body.

Which she immediately suppressed, because she didn’t need Holly to tell her this wasn’t going anywhere. She and Kevin had decided that all on their own.

“Oh, Holly was just warning me to keep my claws off you,” Cassie said lightly, sending a complicit smile at the girl to show she had no hard feelings.

Kevin grabbed a leather jacket from a pile of outerwear on a chair next to the door. “Holly, didn’t we talk about this already? You don’t have to play guard dog.”

“Someone has to.” Holly smiled impishly. “Nothing personal, Cassie. But you should see the way women act around my dad. Honestly, it’s embarrassing.”

Was Kevin blushing? It sure looked like it. Cassie debated whether she knew him well enough to tease him, then decided, what the hell? “Is it a little something like this?” She clasped her hands under her chin and blinked her eyes adoringly at him.

“Or maybe like this?” She performed Jim Carrey’s move from The Mask, in which her imaginary heart bounced back and forth from her chest as if attached to the end of a rubber band.

Holly clapped her hands in delight. “You look like a cartoon character!”

“Why, thank you,” she purred in a Betty Boop voice. “Everyone loves cartoons, right?”

Kevin was laughing, his head tilted back, hands in his jacket pockets. “Especially when they look as cute as you do right now.”

Holly put her hands on her hips and looked at them both with suspicion. Kevin slung his arm over his daughter’s shoulder and squeezed. “Relax, kid. Cassie and I work together. She’s also Ben’s sister. That’s off-limits times two. Honestly, you act like all I do is chase women around. What’s Cassie going to think of me? You’re making me look bad.”

“Good,” said Holly stubbornly. “The badder the better.”

Cassie wondered what the story was here, and if it would be appropriate to ask Kevin about it. She knew that most kids weren’t crazy about the idea of their parents getting involved with someone new, but this seemed a little overboard. “You really don’t have to worry about me, Holly. Do I seem like the wannabe stepmother type? I have no designs on your dad. Want me to pinkie promise?”

“I’m not six, but I appreciate the gesture. As long as we understand each other.” Holly swept past her into the hallway. Her cell phone rang, and she whisked herself down the stairs, phone at her ear.

Cassie whooshed out a breath. “Wow. You have a very over-protective daughter there.”

“Sorry about that.” On their way out the door, Kevin delayed her with a hand on her arm. “She went through a lot of chaos while she lived with her mom. I try to give her some leeway when it comes to this stuff.”

“Well, hopefully I’ve set her mind at ease.” She smiled at him reassuringly. “If there’s anything else I can do to convince her we’re just buddies, let me know.”

“Buddies?” The look in Kevin’s eyes definitely didn’t say “buddy.” It said “interested,” or “attracted,” or maybe “I’d really like to complete that kiss we nearly had.”

Or maybe that was just her.

“Co-workers,” she corrected.

“We aren’t actually co-workers. We’re just two people contemporaneously working in the same place.”

She finished the sentence along with him, and they both laughed. He closed the door behind them, then jumped at the sight of Holly glaring at them.

“What is going on here? You’re finishing sentences together and laughing at a shared joke. That is highly suspicious behavior.”

“Okay, that’s enough, Holls,” Kevin said firmly. “You really have to trust me a little more. Should we get on with this tour or should we go into group therapy?”

“Tour!” Cassie and Holly spoke at the same time, then laughed.

Kevin lifted his eyebrows at them. “Did you two just finish a sentence together and laugh at the same joke? The nerve.”