“Hey, they have homemade Key lime pie here!” Franny said, doing a little jump of happiness. “Look at that sign. It’s the world’s best. I love Key lime pie.”
“Then we’ll order a whole pie and eat until we’re sick,” I told her.
She giggled, then looked back at her mother. “I think he’s teasing. I won’t eat until I’m sick.”
Addy’s soft laugh sent warm tingles down my spine. “I’m sure he’s teasing.”
“Me? Teasing? I’m completely serious,” I said, glancing back over my shoulder to wink at her.
The flash of heat in her eyes didn’t go unnoticed.
Yeah. We were fucked. If she wanted me like I wanted her, we were so screwed.
Franny let go of my hand and ran up the steps to the door of the restaurant. I followed her and put our name in with the hostess. When I turned to find the girls, I saw Franny studying the large tank of saltwater fish. Addy was behind her, pointing out different fish and telling her what they were. The two of them were a lot to take in. I could see others looking at them. One guy from the bar was watching Addy with interest. I leveled a warning glare at him as I walked up behind them and placed my hand on Addy’s lower back.
The man’s gaze shifted to me and then dropped back to his drink. He got the message. I saw then that Addy was staring at me. She had gone very still.
It took me a moment to realize that my hand had made her tense. There was no way to get around the fact that I’d just touched her in a gesture of possession. As much as I didn’t want to, I dropped my hand and looked at the tank. “I’m impressed your momma knows all the names of these fish.”
Franny glanced back at me and grinned. “Mommy knows everything,” she informed me with complete sincerity, then turned back to the fish tank.
I disagreed. If she knew everything, she’d know that dress she was wearing and the perfume she had on was driving me crazy. My touching her back like she was mine wouldn’t have surprised her. If she knew everything, she’d know I was hanging on by a thread.
“Kipling, table for three,” the hostess said behind me.
“That’s us.” I took Franny’s hand.
“Yay!” Her small hand held mine tightly, and I kept it there as we followed the hostess to our table. I’d requested one by the window so we could have a view. Franny sat at the chair by the window and looked up at me hopefully. I knew where she wanted me. I took the seat beside her, and she beamed and looked back at the water outside.
Addy took the chair across from me. And I could smell her.
“Look, they’re playing volleyball out there,” Franny said, pointing to some kids on the beach.
I tried not to imagine things about Addy that I shouldn’t be imagining and tried to focus on my daughter. This night might be the longest of my life, but I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather be.
Addy
By the time Captain pulled into our driveway, Franny had fallen asleep in the front seat. He parked and looked back at me with a small smile. “We wore her out.”
“She wore herself out. I wish I had a fourth of her energy,” I replied, opening my door. “But she enjoyed tonight. Thank you for making it special.” I had the Key lime pie in my lap. Her eyes had lit up when it arrived at the table, and although she had barely finished one slice, it was important to her that he had bought the whole pie.
I climbed down just as Captain walked over to our side. He started to open her door but stopped and looked at me. “Did you have a good night?” His question was sincere. As if he wanted me to say yes.
I’d had a wonderful night, but there were times when I’d forgotten who we were and what we weren’t. The lines had blurred again, and the fantasy that we were the happy family the server thought we were was easy to buy into. I couldn’t let that become something Franny expected. “It was really nice. Thank you,” I replied.
He tilted his head and studied me for a moment. “Just nice, huh?”
The fact that this man needed reassurance was sweet. I wanted to kiss that look off his face, but I quickly snapped out of my giddy moment and stepped back.
Captain followed me with a step of his own. Confused, I watched him, wondering what this was. I couldn’t play teasing games with him.
“Don’t,” he said softly, when I started to move away again. “Just for a moment, let me be close to you. I know this isn’t what you want. It isn’t smart. But . . .” He closed his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth. “I just need to touch you.”
Oh, God. Oh. God. I was frozen, and moving was impossible.
He moved in closer, until our chests almost touched. We’d been here before. It hadn’t ended well. But although my head was screaming at me to stop, my heart was pounding, and the butterflies in my stomach had taken flight.
“All night, I’ve been drowning in your scent,” he said in a husky whisper, and he lowered his head, his nose brushing my neck.
I let out a shaky breath as I listened to him inhale deeply. “Incredible. My whole truck smells like you now. I’m not going to be able to get you out of my head. Not that I could before.”
His words made my brain go a little foggy. Not good. A hand touched my waist and ran down to settle on my hip.
“So good,” he said, still running his nose along the sensitive skin of my neck. “Nothing’s ever been this good.”
I should have moved. I should have said something. Instead, I grabbed his biceps to steady myself. I was an idiot, but at the moment, I didn’t care. I wanted more.