Four nights later, I still hadn’t returned to my apartment for longer than it took to pack a bag, water my plants, and load up some of the groceries from my fridge so they wouldn’t go to waste. I spent my days in the office, and my nights with Leo. We’d quickly fallen into a rhythm with each other, fitting together as though we’d been a couple forever. As though we were meant to be.

I hadn’t really second-guessed how easily we slid into a relationship until today—when Lynn was coming home to her dad for the weekend. Leo had insisted on me coming over for dinner and hinted at me spending the night again, but now that I was only half an hour away from seeing them I wasn’t so sure it was a good idea. I tossed my purse onto the passenger seat of my car, turned on the engine, and then sat in the parking lot at work for about ten minutes while I stared off into space. The ringing of my phone startled me out of my daze.

“Hello?”

“You might beat us to my place since I’m running a little bit behind. I’m about two minutes out from the school. Another ten from the house. I clipped a clicker for the garage on your passenger side visor. You see it?” Leo asked.

I hadn’t noticed the opener earlier but when I glanced up and to the side, I found it right where he said. “Yeah.”

“Go ahead and park in the garage. I’ll take the spot in the driveway.”

That’d leave me blocked in by his truck, and I had a feeling that was part of why he was suggesting it. Although I had my doubts about it being a suggestion since it sounded more like an order. “It’ll be easier if I just park on the street in front of the house. Then you won’t have to worry about moving the truck if I end up heading home after dinner.”

“We already discussed it this morning, darlin’. Lynn’s bedtime is early and she sleeps in on the weekends. We’ll both be up, showered, and dressed before she wakes up so there’s no reason you can’t spend the night.”

“You don’t know that it won’t be a big deal,” I argued. “What if she doesn’t like me having dinner with you guys?”

“You’re worryin’ for no reason.”

“I’m—”

“Amazing.” His interruption stunned me. “That’s the word my baby girl used to describe you no less than a hundred times last weekend. After I did her hair Monday morning in the braid you taught me, she beamed at me and skipped her way into kindergarten.”

“Okay, so maybe she won’t mind me having dinner with you guys,” I conceded. “But that doesn’t mean she’ll be happy about me sitting down at the breakfast table the next morning.”

“I think you’re seriously underestimating Lynn’s fascination with all things Carrie.”

“What?” I gasped. “Why would you think that?”

“’Cause her mother called me to rant this morning about how she’d had enough and didn’t want to hear your name from her daughter’s lips ever again.” I could practically hear the satisfied smirk he must have had on his face. “It was ‘bout damn time for her to get the smallest taste of the shit I’ve had to deal with over the past couple of years, hearing my baby girl talk about that douchebag and having to pretend like he isn’t a piece of shit.”

When we’d started to get to know each other over our phone calls before our first date, Leo had told me about how his ex was with her old high school sweetheart—the same guy she’d cheated on Leo with before he realized what was going on. The woman had to be a complete idiot, throwing away a man like Leo and messing up the life they were supposed to build with Lynn. I hated women like that; probably because I had mommy issues after the way mine had abandoned me.

After hearing about the crap Leo’s ex had pulled, I felt a sense of connection to Leo’s daughter. We both had great dads but horrible moms, and it was something we’d each discovered when we were only three. I also couldn’t help but notice the similarities between how Leo and I had met and the way my dad and step-mom had gotten together since they were eerily similar—but in the best way possible. It gave me hope that this thing between us was as real as it felt. And that it’d last as long as my dad and step-mom’s marriage, which was still going strong after all these years.

As petty as it might have made me, what that all boiled down to was that I was all in if it meant pissing off Leo’s ex. “I’ll park in the garage, and I’ll pull out the ingredients for us to do build-your-own pizzas for dinner so it’s ready to go when you guys get there.”

“I have ingredients for build-your-own pizzas in my fridge?”

“Yeah, I brought it over last night thinking we’d have them for dinner, but I got a little distracted and forgot to tell you.” A little distracted was a heck of an understatement. Leo had pulled into the driveway about three minutes after I had, and I’d barely finished putting the groceries I’d grabbed away before he’d tossed me over his shoulder and carried me into the bedroom. We hadn’t made it out again until it was already dark outside. By then, the only dinner I had enough energy for was the kind that was delivered to the door. So the pizza makings stayed where I’d put them without Leo even knowing about them, and we had Chinese instead.

“I don’t think Lynn’s ever had homemade pizza before, but I know she’ll love pickin’ out her own toppings and bakin’ it in the oven with us.”

And I loved the idea of giving her something she’d never had before. “Then I guess we have a plan.”

“That we do, darlin’.” His voice dropped a notch as he continued, “I knew my baby girl was sharp as a tack, and this just proved it. She called it on day one. You really are amazing, Carrie.”

If making a dinner as easy as build-your-own pizzas made the two of them that happy, I couldn’t wait to do something a little more complicated. Like a homemade chocolate fudge cake. Or my world-famous caramel swirl brownies.

As I pulled out of the parking lot, I gave serious consideration to a quick stop at the grocery store for baking supplies. But I decided it could wait since I wanted to beat Leo and Lynn home. The pizzas would take a little while to make, and it was already going to be almost six o’clock before we even started making them. It looked like baking was going to have to wait until at least tomorrow if I wanted Lynn to be able to help me, which meant I could do a run to the grocery store in the morning—after I slept over like Leo wanted me to do. And if I was being completely honest with myself, exactly like I wanted to do too. Because after spending four nights in Leo’s bed, there wasn’t anywhere else I wanted to be.

It was a good thing I’d decided against the extra stop on my way to Leo’s house because I’d only gotten the crust dough, sauce, and cheese out of the fridge when he and Lynn came barreling into the kitchen.

“Carrie! You’re really here!” Lynn cried out. She twirled around and smiled up at Leo. “I thought you was pullin’ my leg when you said we got to have dinner with Carrie.”

“Were, baby girl.”

Lynn’s nose scrunched up. “Huh?”

“You should have said ‘I thought you were’ instead of ‘was,’” he explained.

“Oh! Right.” She patted him on the arm before climbing up on one of the stools lined up at the counter. “What’re you making?”

“We’re making build-your-own pizzas.” I grabbed the containers filled with pepperoni, chopped onions and green peppers, sliced olives, crumbled bacon, and sausage out of the fridge. “Everyone gets their own pizza, so they can choose whatever they want to put on it without worrying if anyone else will like it.”

Her blue eyes went round and filled with excitement. “Really? A whole pizza just for me?”

“Yup, one for you, one for me, and two for your daddy because I think he’ll still be hungry if he only gets one like us.”

“Good idea. Daddy eats lots more than me.” She peered into the containers and wrinkled her nose at the onions, peppers, and sausage. “And he likes all sorts of stuff on his pizza that he never gets ‘cause I hate it.”

I felt Leo’s warmth as he stepped behind me, his body pressed against mine as he glanced down at the ingredients on the counter over my shoulder. “But tonight I get to load mine up with all the sausage and peppers I can fit onto the crust, while you can stick with boring cheese pizza.”

“Nuh-uh,” Lynn mumbled. “I’m gonna put some olives on a corner of mine. And maybe even a little bit of bacon, too.”

Leo’s arm wrapped around me as he stepped to the side and bellied up to the counter next to me. “Those are daring choices for my cheese pizza girl.”

“I’ll let you in on a little secret.” I leaned forward and whispered to Lynn, “I have two extra crusts, so if you end up hating what you make the first time you can just start all over again with plain cheese.”

“Awesome,” she breathed.

“Definitely awesome,” Leo agreed.

Oh yeah...that trip to the store was going to happen in the morning. And I wasn’t going to choose between chocolate fudge cake and caramel swirl brownies. These two deserved both. Plus some stuffed French toast for breakfast. I was going to put Leo’s gourmet kitchen to good use this weekend, and spoil the heck out of them.