Paisley beamed. "Daddy is the best cook. Once we had a cooking competition in school and he won it. All the other moms were so mad."
I pressed my lips together, biting back a chuckle.
"Notice the emphasis on moms," he said out of the corner of his mouth. "Says a lot about gender expectations, right?"
I nodded, taking another mouthful of rice. I liked that he didn't care about any of that. I could imagine him showing up at school at a cooking competition. He was a man of many talents, that was for sure.
After dinner, Paisley said she wanted to sit on the couch and watch TV, but she fell asleep two minutes later.
"We went swimming in addition to biking today," I whispered. "It's not a surprise that she's asleep."
"I'll take her upstairs really quick," he said. Looking straight at me, he added, "Wait for me here."
My heart thundered in my chest. I knew being alone with him wasn't a good idea, but I couldn't bring myself to say no.
“I have an excellent wine,” he continued.
And he was bribing me with drinks!
“I’ll stay, but only on one condition.”
“And what’s that?” he asked.
“I want something that’s not on the market yet.”
“I’m sure I’ll find something to your liking, Ms. Langley.” His eyes widened.
Was it an involuntary flirty line? Yes. Yes, it was. And his daughter was asleep a few feet away from us. I wasn’t sure staying was such a good idea. But we were both adults, and we’d drawn a line in the sand.
"Okay. I'll wait here," I said.
"Good."
I tried not to melt too much when he picked up Paisley in his arms. She immediately put her head slightly lower than his shoulder, and he brought his hand to the back of her head, sustaining it with so much ease that it was obvious this happened often.
How could this mountain of a man be so gentle?
I paced the kitchen, unsure what to do with myself while I was waiting for him. I still had some rice to finish, so I sat back in my chair and continued eating.
He came back a few minutes later. I glanced up as I heard his footsteps and really looked at him for the first time tonight.
The man was too handsome. His attraction score skyrocketed in casual clothing. Not like he needed it. The black T-shirt molded perfectly to his sculpted abs and revealed more of his arms than the shirt. The sleeves cut into his biceps. Yum. I trained my gaze on him, but he cocked a brow, making me blush.
"You want seconds?" he asked, pointing at the pan with the curry.
"No, thanks. I'm good. I finished eating this portion. It was huge, but I ate it all anyway. It was so good that I didn't want to miss one bite."
"I'm glad you liked it." He'd finished his plate, but he sat in the chair next to me. We'd been sitting in the same spots before too, but without Paisley here as a buffer, the tensionbetween us was palpable. His presence was overwhelming and all-consuming.
"Are you happy after the second week?" he asked.
"It was fun, and it's easy to be with Paisley. She’s so curious about everything.”
“What about me, Lexi? How easy am I?” He pinned me with his blue eyes, and I was instantly on edge, squirming.
“I’m still not sure about that.” Licking my lips, I averted my gaze. “Back to Paisley. I wanted to ask you if some topics are off-limits and if there’s any stuff you don't want me to talk to her about."
He frowned. "Like what?"
