I heard the Jeep pull up, mostly because I was waiting by the front door, and fought the urge to run and hide.

It was a childish reaction, but one I had all the same.

Instead, I opened the door and stepped outside with a friendly smile on my face. Bane was out of the Jeep and pulling his daughter from the backseat. My heart clenched at the first glimpse of dark pigtails.

She was clutching a baby doll to her chest, eyes on me as he lowered her to the ground. Once her feet hit dirt, she was running.

“Hi, Kat-ya. Daddy said you’re nice and pretty and you’ll play dollies with me,” she cried as she came toward me as fast as her legs would allow.

I came down the steps to meet her and crouched down so I was eye level.

“That’s nice of your daddy,” I said, grinning at Bane over Sloane’s head. “And, yes, I’d love to play with you.”

“We’re having pizza for dinner,” she added, stopping in front of me.

“Oh, yum, I love pizza,” I said, taking in her big eyes and features that reminded me of Bane. She was precious. “I made cookies, too. If you’re dad says it’s okay, maybe you can have one while we wait for the pizza.”

“What kind of cookies?” Sloane asked, cocking her head to the side, her face serious.

“Chocolate chip.”

“Ohhhhh, Daddy,” she yelled.

“Right behind you, Sloane. No need to yell.”

She turned to look at her father, who was loaded down with bags and blankets and asked, “Can I have a cookie? Kay-ya made my favorite… chocolate chip.”

“How about we go inside, get all of your stuff put away, and then you can have one. Deal?”

Her little shoulders dropped a bit, but she replied, “Deal.”

“Do you need help?” I asked, gesturing to his full hands.

“No, thanks, I’ve got it.”

We all went inside, me going toward the kitchen to give them a chance to get settled. After about ten minutes, Sloane came bounding in, climbed on one of the stools at the counter, and looked at me sweetly.

“Can I have milk, please?”

“Of course,” I said, putting a cookie on a plate before turning to get the milk out of the fridge.

When Bane came in, Sloane already had a milk mustache and only half a cookie left.

“Those look good,” he said, grinning at his daughter as he lowered and pretended to take a bite from her cookie.

“Daddy,” Sloane cried as she pulled her treat away. “That’s mine.”

“You won’t share?” he asked woefully.

“There’s a bunch,” she argued, pointing toward the plate of cookies.

“Okay, I guess I’ll get my own then,” Bane said, reaching for a cookie.

Before he could change his mind, Sloane shoved the rest of her cookie in her mouth.

I smiled as I watched them, my heart melting at the sight of Bane with his daughter. I already liked him a lot and knew I was in danger of falling… hard… but, seeing them together really magnified those feelings.

I bit my lip and thought, I’m in big trouble.

“How was your day?” Bane asked before taking a bite of the still warm cookie.

He had a smudge of chocolate on his lip, and when his tongue darted out to get it, I had to bite back a moan.

I cleared my throat and answered, “It was good. Thanks for having Shonda come by. I really like her a lot.”

“Shonna’s here?” Sloane asked, excited.

“Oh, no, honey, she was here earlier, but she left,” I replied.

Her little face fell.

“Don’t worry, she’s going to watch you tomorrow night,” Bane assured her.

I looked at him, curious.

“We’ve been invited to my friend Mal’s for dinner,” he said, answering my unspoken question.

“Yay,” Sloane said, her expression clearing back up. “I love Shonna.”

“Any special requests for your pizza?” Bane asked.

“Pepperoni,” Sloane cried.

“I know what you want, munchkin,” Bane said with a chuckle, ruffling her hair. “I was asking Katja.”

“Kat-ya, you like pepperoni?” Sloane asked me.

“I sure do,” I replied, then looked at Bane. “I like everything except anchovies and onions.”

“Got it,” he said, taking out his phone and walking out of the room.

I looked at Sloane, who was done with her milk and cookie.

“Do you want to go play in your room?” I asked her.

“With you?”

“Yes.”

She crawled off the stool with a speed that had me chuckling, then rounded the island and grabbed my hand.

Sloane led me to her room, chattering the whole time about her toys, bed, room, and favorite things. When we walked inside, she let my hand go to start pointing things out.

“This is where my dollies sleep, we have to brush their hair when they wake up… here’s my bestest stuffed bear, and my blankie. In here are my books, we read them at bedtime… this is where I like to sit to color sometimes… do you want to color?”

“Yes, I love to color,” I said, as I sat on the floor next to her little table.

Sloane grabbed a coloring book and placed it in front of me, then pushed the box of crayons across the table.

“Color,” she demanded, so I opened the book, picked out a blue crayon and began to color.