Grayson mostly hangs back, watching. He’s notcoldexactly, but he’s careful, protective in a way that makes perfect sense now that I’m seeing him with her. He holds doors, wipes a streak of chocolate from the corner of Penelope’s mouth with a napkin, makes sure she doesn’t trip stepping off the curb. He listens when she talks, really listens with a grin, even when what she’s saying is complete nonsense. He seems like he genuinely cares about every single word out of her mouth.
It is, unfortunately for me, one of the hottest things I have ever seen on one of the hottestmenI have ever seen.
At the park, Penelope decides within seconds that I am acceptable company and starts begging me to push her on the swings. Grayson stands off to the side with his hands in his pockets, cap shadowing his eyes, while I let his daughter boss me around with the confidence of a small and benevolent dictator.
“Higher!”
“You’re four, Pen. You don’t get to tell me to risk my employment,” I laugh, and I catch the faintest little smirk on Grayson’s mouth across the expanse of mulch.
“Hiiiigher!”
I laugh and push her just a little harder, making sure it doesn’t go too high. “Okay, but if your dad fires me before I even get hired, that’s on you.”
Penelope giggles so hard she nearly loses the rhythm of the swing.
Later, Penelope insists I help her collect the best leaves from under a tree because, apparently, some leaves are prettier than others, and this is a matter of urgent scientific importance. I crouch beside her in the grass while she builds a tiny pile of winners and explains each selection to me in great detail.
“This one is good because it’s yellow.”
“You’re absolutely correct.”
“And this one is good because it’s shaped like a star.”
“You have fantastic judgment, Pen.”
“And this one,” she says, lifting a mangled brown leaf with reverence, “is good because I like it.”
I put a hand over my heart. “Honestly? That’s the best reason of all.”
“Hard to argue with that,” Grayson says from somewhere just behind us, his voice warm with amusement. “If Penny likes something, that usually settles it.”
She positively beams at me, and I’m such a goner for this kid that it’s almost embarrassing.
By the time we circle back toward the parking lot, Penelope is practically attached to my hip, babbling about the different birds she saw in the park and how she wonders if they’re the exact same ones that visit her backyard.
And the glaring problem now is that I don’t just want the job because I need a place to live or because the money from the Sparkks promotion will help me get my feet under me again or because Grayson clearly needs help.
I want it because Penelope is sunshine in tiny sneakers, and because seeing Grayson in dad mode has done irreversible damage to my ability to think straight.
He’s just… different out here.
Still reserved. Still gruff in that way that makes every sentence sound like it was dragged over broken glass before he let it out of his mouth. But with Penelope, there’s this undercurrent of steadiness to him, this constant awareness. One hand always ready at her back or one eye always on her, even when he’s talking to me. He feels less like the imposing billionaire owner of my company and more like a man. A very competent, veryattractive, annoyingly broad-shouldered man trying to keep his life from tipping over.
By the time we reach the car, Penelope is chattering about the leaf she brought with her and whether ice cream should count as dinner.
“Absolutely not,” Grayson grins, opening the back door. “Nice try, though.”
I crouch a little so I’m closer to her level. “Thanks for hanging out with me today, Penny.”
She grins at me, all teeth. “You’re fun!”
“You are too,” I say, giving her a big smile right back.
She holds up the ugly brown leaf. “You can have this one because it’s good.”
I accept it with the seriousness of receiving a Nobel Prize. “Oh my goodness. I will treasure thisforever. No joke. I’ll frame it and everything.”
Satisfied, she waves at me as she allows Grayson to buckle her in. I step back onto the pavement, smiling like an idiot while he checks the straps, says something low to her that I can’t hear, and gently shuts the car door.
