Chapter 19

Liza

 

 

I had left a message with my dad, but he’d been pulled into a meeting with the owners. I needed to explain the whole story. I didn’t like how we had left things, and the whole situation had left a pit in my stomach that was making me ill.

I pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex and groaned.

“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Ainsley asked from the backseat.

“Nothing.”

The guy was turning into a stalker. I knew we needed to get some kind of custody agreement on paper or this was going to keep happening. My brain couldn’t handle all these run-ins with him. I hadn’t been able to sleep well since I first saw him. The sex dreams were ridiculous. One night with the man had turned me into a groupie. I hated that I was so damn attracted to him.

“What do you want,” I hissed, shutting the door, so Ainsley wouldn’t hear me.

“You told your dad, so now I get to hang out with her,” he said, matter-of-factly.

It was dusk out, and the sun was almost gone, but he was still wearing his sunglasses.

“Take off your glasses,” I ordered.

He hesitated but did as I requested. “Want to tell me why you told your dad some bullshit story?”

I gasped when I saw his face. “Oh no. Did you two fight? Did you hurt my dad?” I asked in horror.

“Seriously?” he asked with disgust. “I didn’t lay a hand on him. He hit me, and I let him. He is my coach after all, and I wasn’t about to risk my entire career because you gave your dad some sob story.”

“I did no such thing!” I shot back.

He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms across his chest. Dammit! Why was he so damn good looking!

Flustered, I try to explain.

“Okay, well, I didn’t get the chance to explain the situation. We were at dinner and needless to say, he wasn’t happy and didn’t want to talk about the details in the restaurant where someone could hear. I tried calling him today, but he was in a meeting. I’ll tell him the truth,” I explained.

“It doesn’t matter.”

I walked around the car and opened the door to let Ainsley out. She was grinning from ear to ear when she saw Milo.

“Hey, Red,” he greeted her.

She squealed with delight at the use of the nickname. I groaned, knowing she was going to demand I call her that from now on.

“Mom, did you hear that? My name is Red.”

Milo laughed. “That was my nickname when I was younger.”

Ainsley was beaming. “Now, I’m Red.”

“Yep, you sure are.”

We awkwardly stood there by my car. He wasn’t going anywhere.

“Let’s go in. I need to get started making dinner,” I mumbled, knowing he would only push his way in if I didn’t invite him.

“What’s for dinner?” Ainsley asked.

“Fish.”

She looked at Milo right away to judge his reaction. He wrinkled his nose, and I shot him a look. He smiled and winked at Ainsley before leaning down to get close to her face.

“I love fish.”

“Me too!” she exclaimed.

I didn’t say anything, but I knew Ainsley was not fond of fish. She would eat fish sticks, but generally protested and complained when I made fish any other way. It was already beginning. The two were going to become close and gang up on me.

“You two can watch TV or play or do whatever while I make dinner. Be good,” I said, pointing my finger at both of them.

It was a little surreal to be looking at both of them standing side by side in my living room. Ainsley looked so much like him. The resemblance was uncanny.

I sliced a lemon and was standing in front of the stove when I felt him behind me. All my senses were on high alert.

“Can I help with anything?” he asked.

He was standing too close. I knew he was doing it on purpose. This thing we had between us was all fire and ice. We were hot and cold, and it was wreaking havoc on my nerves. I wanted him and hated him at the same time.

“Nope. I got it.”

He reached an arm around me, grabbing a slice of cucumber off the cutting board and popped it in his mouth.

“I can help. Come on, let me,” he insisted.

His words were brushing over the back of my neck, causing goosebumps to spring up all over my body. I fought back the shiver of delight I could feel coming. I couldn’t let him know he got to me.

“You’re here to get to know Ainsley, not me.”

“Why can’t I do both?” he said, in a husky voice that reminded me of that night. I knew he was doing it on purpose, but I couldn’t stop the shudder from sneaking over my body.

“Because I hate you,” I spat out with very little actual venom.

“No, you don’t.”

I spun around, the knife still in my hand, and leveled a gaze at him. “I suggest you get out of my kitchen before I kick you out of my apartment. I only let you in because I knew you wouldn’t give up. You’re in. Use your time wisely.”

He grinned, and I knew I had just let him see how he could get to me. He walked out of the kitchen, glanced back and gave me a very slow perusal with his eyes. He knew exactly what he was doing, and that really pissed me off.

Turning my attention back to slicing the vegetables for the salad, I inhaled the freshly cut lemon and let the scent wash over me. Once dinner was ready, I quickly set the table. It felt strange to cook for a man that wasn’t my dad. I had been listening to Ainsley and Milo in the other room. They were getting along well, which didn’t surprise me all that much. They were so much alike.

“Dinner’s ready,” I called out. “Go wash up.”

“Come on,” I heard Ainsley say. “I’ll show you where the bathroom is. You won’t need the stool like me. You’re big.”

“You’re right. One day you’ll be big, too,” he answered.

She grabbed his hand and led him down the hall and into the bathroom. I smiled as I listened to my little girl chatting away with the man she’d only known a few minutes but already had a strong rapport with. It warmed my heart, but also made me a little afraid that he would be the new love of her life.

We all sat down and once again, I couldn’t shake the feeling of everything being right. I had never shared a meal with the man before, but it felt completely casual to have him at my table. Well, casual if one could ignore the sexual undercurrents in the room.

Ainsley was behaving herself, which made me very happy. I didn’t want Milo to think I had raised a heathen. He would question my parenting skills and then I would have to kill him. He would eventually see the real Ainsley, but for now, I was perfectly content with the well-behaved little girl at my table.

Just as I thought things were going pretty damn well, my lovely daughter opened her mouth. “Can you be my daddy?”

I nearly choked on the cherry tomato I had popped into my mouth. I reached for my water and debated pouring it over the top of my head to cool down my burning cheeks.

Milo looked at me and then Ainsley.

I waved my hand and gulped the tomato down my throat, nearly choking to death.

“Sorry,” I croaked. “I don’t know where that came from,” scolding Ainsley with my tone of voice.

“Well, Jimmy and Megan just got a new daddy. They said their mom let them pick one. I want one too,” she pouted.

I opened my mouth to explain to her that things didn’t work that way but stopped when I saw Milo lean over close to her.

“I am your daddy, Red,” he winked.

Ainsley screamed, jumped out of her booster chair and jumped in Milo’s lap with her arms thrown around his neck. Watching the scene, two thoughts immediately went through my mind. One, I really needed to have a talk with the girl about hugging men and calling them daddy. Two, that was not exactly the way I wanted to break the news to her.

I supposed it was too late to turn back now. The cat was out of the bag. Ainsley had a daddy. I already knew the first thing she would do when she got to school tomorrow was tell anyone that listened. My once quiet, boring life was about to get anything but mundane. Once the teachers figured it out, it wouldn’t be long before the press knew.

“Get back in your chair, please. You need to finish your dinner,” I ordered.

She ignored me and picked a tomato off Milo’s salad and popped it in her mouth. He was laughing but stopped when I gave him the look.

“How about you sit in your chair, and I’ll give you my tomatoes, okay?”

At first, I thought she would say no, but she must have decided that since her new daddy asked her, she could comply. I could already see a future of similar episodes, but with things like new cars or going out to parties.

She sat in her chair and looked to Milo.

“Are you going to give me those tomatoes now?”

He chuckled and started plucking them one by one out of his salad and putting them on her plate.

“Eat your fish, too,” I ordered.

She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like it this way.”

“It’s good for you. Eat it.”

Of course, she looked at Milo. “Eat the fish, please,” he ordered and she of course took several bites.

“I think the fish tastes delicious. Thank you very much for dinner. I know I wasn’t officially invited,” he said, looking a little embarrassed. “Maybe next time I can take us all out for dinner.”

“Oh, you’re not going to cook for us?”

“I live in a hotel at the moment. I guess you could come over and I could order room service,” he looked at Ainsley and then back at me. “I hear they have an excellent breakfast menu,” he said in that same, husky voice that was full of innuendo.

I coughed and felt myself blushing furiously. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, but I was not about to get tangled up in another one-night-stand situation. I learned my lesson the first time.

After dinner, I cleared the table while they read a book together. It warmed my heart to hear him reading one of her favorite bedtime books. This was the life I could have had, I thought to myself. No, it wasn’t. He would have cheated on me if we had tried the relationship thing back then. In no plausible scenario would this ever be a regular thing.

Even if he would have known about her, it would be her at his house and me at my house with her. There would never have been be this sweet, happy-family setting. Milo and I had great sexual chemistry, but that’s where it ended.

He looked at me and smiled. His blue eyes were usually always so serious, but right then, at that moment, he looked happy. His eyes were dancing, and despite my best intentions, I found myself smiling back at him.