Did we stare a bit too long? Was I supposed to look away first? For some reason, I found it hard to avoid his lingering gazes as the days went by. Maybe he wasn’t quite as straight as I assumed at first. Maybe he did check me out sometimes when I bent over to pick up a toy or squatted down to help his daughter. Or was I imagining it all?
I shook my head and crossed the room to pour coffee from the waiting carafe and stirred in caramel creamer. Whether Gil was straight or not, it didn’t matter. There was no way anything would come of it. Turning back around, I caught Gil’s eyes still on me. I forced mine away and took a long sip.
“My clients are heading out on a day trip and won’t need me today. I need to go into the city to talk with the florist and buy a few things.” He paused and licked his pink lips. “Would you like to come?”
I straightened up and put down my mug. “Oh, yes. I could do that if you’d like me to watch Evie during your meetings.” Usually, working parents left me at home with the kids when they went out, but if Gil wanted to mix things up, I could go along with that.
“Oh, well, it’s not really meetings.” He glanced down at his phone before tucking it back in his pocket as he stood up. “Evie likes exploring, and I thought it might be…” His brows knit together, and he frowned. “Fun? Maybe that’s not the type of thing that falls under your work duties. Never mind. I’ll just—”
“Gilbert,” I said and stepped closer. “It does sound like fun. Let’s all make a day of it.”
Damn, that man had a beautiful smile. The sudden urge to cross the room, wrap my arms around him, and kiss those curving lips flashed through my mind. I forced myself to turn away and look down at Evie instead. I was working. This was my job. He was a client.
“I’ll pack the diaper bag.” He flashed me another smile and hurried into his bedroom.
“I’ll get little miss bundled up.”
It didn’t take much time to get Evie’s layers on and head out to Gil’s SUV together. I strapped her in and climbed into the passenger seat. We chatted about inconsequential things on the short drive to the nearby city and, by the time he took the ticket for the public parking garage and slid Evie into her stroller, the weirdness and wonder had disappeared.
I had plenty of good clients in the past. I accompanied them on outings here and there and had no problem keeping a distant but friendly vibe going. With Gil and Evie, friendly was simple. Why was I having such an issue with professional distance? Every time his eyes met mine, it brought me back my late-night dreams all over again. His chest hair rubbing against my smoothskin. My legs bracketing his lean thighs. His long-fingered hand tightening on my ass cheek and grinding us together. Ugh.
Gil pulled the door open to a cute florist shop and waved me through with the stroller. “I have to discuss a few changes to my order here. You’ve got Evie?”
I peeked down at the sweet girl looking around wide-eyed at the colorful flowers. “Of course. You go take care of business.” As he spoke with a woman at the counter and then disappeared through a door into what I presumed was an office, I distracted Evie with the bright buckets of flowers.
“These are roses,” I said as we rolled along the display. “Some people consider them the most romantic gift, but I don’t know about that.” Evie kicked her feet and squealed. “I’d rather have cookies and a snuggle.” Mentioning cookies might have been a mistake because she squealed louder and smacked her hands on the stroller.
Right before I turned to head outside so her excited noises wouldn’t disturb their business, an older woman looked from a display of tulips. “Oh, isn’t she a dear. Hello, you sweet little angel!” She leaned down and smiled at Evie, who thankfully smiled back. “You’re such a good daddy to babysit. Mommy must be busy today, hmm?”
Besides the annoying sexism of suggesting fathers only babysat their own children when mothers weren’t around, she started with senseless baby talk before I had a chance to say anything. “Actually…” Before I got a word out, Gil and the florist emerged from the back room.
“All done,” he said as he walked over. He shot an unsure glance at the older woman.
I waved a hand at Gil. “This is her father. We must be—”
“Oh!” The woman straightened up and looked wide-eyed between us. I crease appeared between her over-plucked brows.“Oh, are you one of those gay couples I read about on Facebook?”
Dread settled into the pit of my stomach. There were several ways this conversation could go, and most of them weren’t pleasant. The last thing I wanted to do was cause problems for my client in front of a business contact. I steered Evie’s stroller away from the woman with a plan to escape from the store without another word.
Halfway through the turn, Gilbert did something that made my heart stop beating. He slung his arm around my waist and pulled me against his side. “Yes. This is my husband.” When the older woman blinked and gaped at us, he leaned in and smacked a kiss on my cheek. “If you’ll excuse us.” Gil kept his hand on my back as we headed out to the sidewalk.
The silence continued as we turned left and walked toward a small park with scattered benches and a few food trucks parked nearby. The memory of his soft beard against my cheek sent tingles of pleasure down through me.
“Um,” he murmured as he strode next to me. “Let’s stop here for a bit? I’m going to get… Uh. I’ll get us some coffee.” He headed for a food truck withFull of Beanson the side as I rolled Evie toward a bench and sat down. I cupped a hand over the spot where his lips had pressed against me, as if I could stop the cold air from stealing the lingering warmth.
Gil handed me a steaming cup and pulled Evie’s sippy cup out of the bag before he settled on the bench and finally looked in my direction. “That was way out of line. I shouldn’t have said or done those things. It was highly unprofessional, and I apologize.”
The gravity in his voice was so different than the cheerful vibe he usually gave off that I actually laughed. His amber eyes widened. “Gil, it’s okay. That woman was… Well, whatevershe was. She said I was so nice for babysitting my child when mommy was busy.”
He shook his head and ran a hand over the long hair at the top of his head. A smile crept out, but it still looked bitter. “I really hate that. I get it all the time.” He leaned forward to rescue Evie’s stuffed cat from a tumble to the concrete. “It’s sad really, that their partners were apparently never around for them, so they have no frame of reference for involved fathers.”
Would I be able to live through ten more days with such an intelligent, kind, and open man… never mind hot? “That’s an incredibly empathetic way to look at it. I’m not quite that understanding, I guess. She just annoyed me.”
Gil leaned back and crossed an ankle over his knee. “It’s a side effect of my business, maybe. Things aren’t… well, business isn’t as brisk as I’d like, and I don’t have the luxury of refusing many clients on principle. I try to see things from their points of view.”
“So, you don’t specialize in LGBTQ+ weddings?” Was I fishing? Maybe. Not that I hadn’t had sexy dreams about straight guys before, but it might give me hope. No. I stomped on that thought before it could fully form. He was a client. There was no hope.
“No, no. Most of my clients are straight or at least in hetero relationships. I mean, it makes sense statistically, right?” He rubbed a hand over his knee as he stared across the park.
