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He stared up into my eyes, and I watched various emotions chase themselves across his face. Finally, he nodded. “Let's go upstairs so we have complete privacy.”
Internally, I fist-pumped. Hopefully, my grand gesture would give me the opening I needed to change the direction of our relationship.
As soon as we got into his room, Kevin started undoing the buttons on his shirt. Tipping his head toward his bed, he said, “You can sit down, but I need to think.” Then the man, honest to God, began stripping out of his clothes while he paced his room. I sat with my back against the headboard and enjoyed the show, worrying that I’d pushed him too far and he was having some form of meltdown.
When he was down to a pair of green boxers, he faced me, planting his hands on his hips. “What do you mean you quit?”
“Well, when you decide that you no longer want to be employed by someone, you let them know.”
He waved his hand in the air dismissively. “No, you give notice. You said you quit.”
I lifted a finger. “But your mother’s here now, so she can watch Lexi until you replace me.”
Kevin shook his head. “I'm sure she's only here for the weekend.”
“Yeah, no.”
He narrowed his eyes on me. “What does that mean?”
“Your mother was serious, handsome. She really doesn't want to be in Florida anymore. She wants to be here with you and Lexi.” It was my turn to narrow my eyes at him. “Is that a problem?”
“No, of course not.” He pushed his hand back through his hair. “I hate that my mom was so far away. I just never said anything because I thought she was happy, and I didn't want her to feel guilty that I wanted her here.”
Tilting my head, I smiled with amusement. “You mean that you didn't want to admit you needed her.”
“Whatever.” He crossed to the room and sat down at the foot of his bed with one leg up on the mattress. “You really don't want to work for me anymore? I thought you loved Lex-Lex.”
“Hello, Kevin. I do love my Lexi-girl. But I also happen to love you, and I know you're never going to date me if I’m your daughter’s manny.”
A small smile quirked on Kevin's lips. “You really love me?” he whispered.
Getting on my knees, I crawled down to where he was so that we were face to face. “Handsome, I think I started falling in love with you from the moment I set eyes on you at Rafters.”
“Things like this don't happen to me,” he said, sounding like he was pleading for me to understand something. Maybe his confusion, maybe his hesitation. I wasn’t sure what, but I knew I wasn’t leaving this room until we worked this out.
“What things?” I pressed.
“Good things.” He bent his head, glancing up at me from under his lashes. “Good men.”
“I happen to think I’m a real catch,” I said.
Abruptly, he stood up. “You are, and that’s my point. Why would you want me? I’m ten years older than you, and it shows. You’re so young and”—he licked his lips—“virile.”
“You’re good for my ego,” I murmured.
He ignored me, continuing with his rant. “The whole world is still stretched out in front of you. But me? I have a child, CJ. A three-year-old.”
“Hm.” I rolled and sat on my butt, then tapped my lips like I was thinking. “Is that why I put a number three candle on the birthday cake for the party we threw today? That makes sense.”
“Don’t be a smartass.”
“Stop freaking out.” I crawled back up to the top of the bed and patted the mattress next to me. “Come sit down and talk this out with me.”
He shook his head, a curl falling onto his forehead, and I wondered if he was revving up to throw a temper-tantrum. It was adorable when Lexi did it, but I had a feeling that Kevin losing his shit like that would turn me on.
“Why not?”
“If I sit up there with you and get comfortable, we’re going to end up… you know.”
