Chapter 25
Leo
Reese gives me an apologetic look as she holds the door open for me. "I tried to get him to eat," she tells me, "but he insisted on waiting for you tonight."
"That's okay." I kick off my dirty work boots on the front mat and follow her toward the kitchen. My eyes skitter down her tempting body as she goes and the memory of that curvy ass riding my chin last night floods my mind. I try to resist but I can’t help copping a feel as she moves down the hall.
She glances at me over her shoulder. “Stop it!” she hisses with a wicked grin.
I grin back as I pull my hand away from her butt. “Sorry,” I say in the most insincere tone ever.
We do need to be careful. Brenton doesn’t know about us and I don’t want him getting the wrong idea. I need to keep my hands off of Reese in my son’s presence.
His eyes light up when he sees me. "Hi Daddy!"
"Hey buddy. How come you didn't eat dinner?" I'm tempted to ruffle his hair as I sink into the chair next to him but Reese has it all brushed down like a 1950s choirboy again. So instead, I squeeze his little shoulder.
"We're having chicken nuggets tonight," he informs me, "and I know it's your favorite so I wanted to wait for you."
"Well, that was really thoughtful of you," I say to him.
For the record, chicken nuggets are not my favorite—I’m a grown-ass man—but they’re one of the only meals I can prepare without it looking like an industrial by-product.
The little boy grins proudly. "Now, go wash your hands so we can all eat, daddy."
I shake my head at his scolding tone as I rise from the table and move toward the sink. With her lips pursed against a smile, Reese stands at the kitchen counter, portioning the French fries, chicken nuggets and vegetables into separate plates. I wash and dry my hands, then return to my seat next to Brent. Reese sets the food down in front of us.
As he eats—with a knife and fork! Who eats chicken nuggets with a knife and fork?!—the child tells me all about how he helped Reese make the nuggets from scratch.
I'm amazed. Who is this bright, composed, well-behaved young man sitting next to me? I was sceptical about letting Reese watch Brenton after school. I didn't think she'd be able to handle him. I thought he'd overwhelm her. But I was so wrong. I'm astonished at the positive effect she's had on him in such a short period of time. The fact that he has a major crush on her seems to be at play.
And I can't blame him because damn, I have a crush on her, too.
Theresa Hartley is perfection. Beautiful, smart, kind. And her goodness is rubbing off on my little rogue.
My brain keeps harassing me. This girl isn't just a cheap fuck. She's not the kind of woman you just use for her body. She's the type you step up for. She's the type you risk a friendship for. She's the type you claim. But I'm not ready. I don't know if I ever will be. Mara burned me so badly and now, I just need to focus on raising Brent. I can’t get into a relationship. Not even with a woman like Reese.
After dinner, Brenton helps bring the dishes to the sink and then runs off to finish watching a whale documentary that he and Reese started after school.
It takes a ton of convincing but I finally get Reese to allow me to wash the dishes. "I don't want to sound trite but those were some damn good chicken nuggets," I tell her as I rinse off a plate. "You really made those from scratch?"
"Yup," she nods as she takes the clean plate I just put in the dish drainer. She runs a dry cloth across the surface, soaking up the water before packing it away into the cupboard.
My eyes peruse her pretty face. "Where'd you learn to cook and bake and all that stuff?"
She laughs and wipes off the wet baking sheet I hand her. "When we were younger, our parents were always busy campaigning and being political and all that other stuff. So, we spent a ton of time with our grandmother. She badgered my mom into firing our nanny so she could cook and clean and take care of us.” Her face lights with amusement at the memory. “Anyway, Viv and Charlie were always too cool to play with me so I hung out in the kitchen with grandma all the time."
"Why didn't your siblings want to hang out with you?" I rinse the soapsuds from the sink and close the faucet.
A melancholy smile touches her lips and she shrugs. “Y'know how kids are...Actually, my siblings still boss me around like a kid.”
That pisses me off. I hate that they treat her like a child. The wide flare of her hips, the soft curve of her breasts, the shape of her thighs—it’s testimony to the fact that she’s all woman.
"You know you're allowed to stand up to them, right?" I grab the towel from her and wipe my hands.
She grabs it right back. "It’s part of the natural pecking order, I guess. I’m the youngest in the family so it’s only natural that I have to bare the brunt of my siblings bullying."
I can tell that it hurts her, even though she's trying to make light of it. "Reese, you don't have to let people boss you around. You don't have to bend over backward to accommodate everyone. It's okay to put yourself first sometimes."
She's such a good person. She goes out of her way to make sure that everyone around her is taken care of but she doesn't do the same for herself. She should have the best of everything.
I brace her by the shoulders and lower my face to look into her eyes. "You're beautiful. You're sexy. You’re an amazing cook. You're a rockstar in bed." A blush crawls over her cheeks and she can't hold eye contact. I tilt her chin to bring her focus back to me. "How come some guy hasn’t swooped in and put you in an ivory tower?"
She laughs, taking a half-step backward. “I have a hard enough time just getting a decent guy to take me to the movies. I don't see any ivory towers on the horizon for me."
“That’s a damn shame.” For a second, I wish I could be that guy. But it's complicated. I'm complicated.
I'm in no position to offer her the kind of relationship she deserves. So I lean in and steal a kiss.
Yes, it’s a stolen kiss because this amazing woman can never be mine.