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“Office works.”
“In the office. At the end of the hall.”
I was pulling out ingredients for the salad when I heard Chris’s puberty-ridden squeal.
“Whoa, this place is awesome!”
I smiled at Chloe, who moved around the counter and said, “Go, show him your toys. I’ll chop the stuff for the salad.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, wanting to do just that, but not wanting to look like more of a dork than I already had.
“Yeah, go.”
I took off toward my office with a grin and a spring in my step, as it crossed my mind how wonderful it would be if every evening was just like this.
Chapter Sixteen ~ Chloe
I couldn’t keep the dopey smile off my face as I chopped the celery and put it in the bowl.
Reardon is so stinkin’ cute.
I know I’d said I needed a friend, and it would definitely complicate things if anything happened between us, but I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a pull. Gosh, when he’d hugged me outside my house, so obviously excited for me, I’d wanted to climb up his long body and fuse my lips to his.
I didn’t do that, of course. Not only had my son been circling the area on his skateboard, but it would have been totally inappropriate. Still, I’d been finding my thoughts drift to Reardon more and more. Especially at night, right as I was about to fall asleep.
The gorgeous, blue-eyed Viking with the stable job and inner geek was fueling something in me that hadn’t been sparked in a long time, if ever.
“He finally agreed to do some homework before exploring the rest of my office,” Reardon said as he walked in just as I was finishing the salad.
“I told you he’d love it,” I said with a smile, that spark flinting at the sight of him at the stove. Then I thought of something and reached for my phone. “Oh, I have to show you this, I think you’ll get a kick out of it.”
Reardon turned from the stove to come up behind me as I pulled up my saved search on my phone. I could feel the heat of him behind me, his breath on my neck. And it took every ounce of control I had not to lean back into him.
Clearing my throat subtly, I said, “Zoey’s never been one to wear heels, and being as pregnant as she is, she doesn’t want to risk being clumsy and having something embarrassing happen, so she wants to wear flats.” I found what I was looking for and held up the phone so he could se
e. “So, I ordered these. I think she’ll love it.”
Reardon’s eyes widened as he took in the white Converse painted with a Harry Potter theme.
“Do they make them in men’s shoes?” he asked, causing me to laugh because I knew he was totally serious.
“I’m not sure,” I replied, my voice shaking with laughter.
“They’re perfect, she’ll love them.”
“I think so too,” I said, tilting my head to smile up at him. When my gaze met his my throat seemed to close and a flurry of bees started buzzing in my head.
Reardon shook his head as if trying to lift a fog and stepped back, wringing his hands awkwardly before going back to his spaghetti.
“Um,” he began, his voice a little throaty. “The party…”
“Yeah,” I muttered, taking advantage of his turned back and taking a deep, cleansing breath. “I talked to Zoey and she said that she and Gabe had decided to do a game tournament. They’ve already set it for Saturday night and sent out invites online. All we have to do is plan the games, set up the brackets, and pick out the prizes.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Reardon replied.
“Yeah,” I said again, mentally kicking myself for acting like a besotted fool. “Um, they’re closing the bar for a private party, so we’ll have the pool tables and darts on site, which makes it easy.”
“Gabe said something about including Texas Hold ‘Em, and maybe a couple of silly games, like Yahtzee or Jenga, just to mix things up.”
