Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54055 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Lena gasped. “You played this as a grownup?”
“Yup, I did.” There was laughter in Lucy’s voice when she answered.
“Not with a little kid like me?”
“Nope. Just with myself. It’s soothing, which means calming. You’ll see when you start school, sometimes you just need a break, and this was mine.”
“I’m always gonna look at the cloud animals!”
Lucy laughed. “You should. You’re never too old to take a few moments for yourself.”
Damn if there wasn’t something totally appealing about the way she spoke to my little girl. Lucy had a knack for talking to kids on their level without it sounding like she was talking down to them. It was clear why she was a sought after nanny, which meant I really, really needed to apologize. I crossed the yard and stood beside them, my body cast a shadow over their smiling faces.
“Excuse me, ladies.”
“Hi Daddy!”
I couldn’t help but smile at Lena. Every single day, without fail, she greeted me with the kind of excitement only a kid could produce. “Hey sweetheart. Having a good day?”
“The best day, Daddy. You wanna look at cloud animals with us?”
My lips quirked and I ran a hand through my hair. “Maybe. I was hoping to have a word with Lucy, first.”
“We’re not done yet Daddy.”
“She’s right,” Lucy smirked and shielded her eyes. “If you want to talk, get down here and find a cloud animal.” There was so much laughter in those blue slits, challenging me, that I had no choice but to lie down.
I found a spot right between them, but my body faced the opposite direction because there wasn’t enough room the other way. I turned my gaze to the clouds and frowned. “What am I supposed to see exactly?”
Lucy chuckled as her gaze swung to mine. “Use your imagination,” she whispered, and that’s when I realized what a big mistake I’d made. I should have taken the spot on the other side of Lena because we were so close, her minty breath fanned across my face.
“I save my imagination for more important things.” The innuendo in my words made her smile even broader.
A single blond brow arched and she leaned just a little closer. “Try harder.”
And now I was thinking about her plump lips tackling something else hard. Shit. “How?”
“Pretend this is important to you,” she said with a smile, but the fire in her eyes told me she thought I was falling down on the job, and I hated that she was right.
I couldn’t resist the challenge she presented, both in physical terms as well as her challenging my parenting. I turned back to the sky and stared at the clouds while they cantered over me.
“I got it! Right there I see a giraffe.” I hoped like hell it was a giraffe anyway. I pointed at it as Lena and Lucy leaned closer to follow the path of my fingers.
Lena patted my arm excitedly. “I see it Daddy! One, two,” she started to count the clouds that made up the giraffe.
I turned to Lucy with a fortifying sigh. “I’m sorry that I hurt your feelings, Lucy. Truly. That wasn’t my attention, it’s just that Alex is an old friend and he knows how to get under my skin.”
She said nothing for a few seconds and finally gave me her blue gaze. “I don’t care that you don’t find me attractive, Mr. Rush, but that doesn’t mean that your words didn’t hurt. I accept your apology, but I don’t appreciate you talking badly about me behind my back.”
I nodded, but the relief I expected didn’t come. Her words were right and sincere, but it didn’t feel as if she truly forgave me. She never said she did, I realized. She accepted my apology, which I learned throughout the three years in my torturous marriage, was not the same thing. “Thank you, Lucy.”
She shrugged.
“Join us for dinner?”
“I can’t,” she said quickly and looked away.
“Hot date?” I don’t know why I asked that question. It wasn’t my business, it was inappropriate, and worse, it made it seem like I cared about the answer. And I didn’t. Not really.
Lucy snorted and a bitter laugh rushed out of her. “You don’t believe that,” she answered and rolled her eyes. “It’s an incredibly hot date, going to Toni’s apartment to pack up some things so I don’t have to go back and forth as often.”
“The woman with you the day you ripped me a new one?”
She smiled and didn’t bother denying my phrasing. “Yeah, that’s her.”
Toni was a girl, not a boyfriend. “How is it that you don’t have a place of your own?”
She shrugged. “My last assignment ended abruptly when the mom received a promotion that required them to move. It was also live-in, so Toni let me crash at her place until I found a place of my own, or a new live-in assignment came along.”