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They stopped at the ice cream vendor, and Tyler swung Noah down. When Dani saw him reaching for his wallet, she covered his hand with hers. “You paid for lunch and admission. I can get the ice cream.”
He shook his head. “I asked you two out on a date; I’m paying.”
A date?
Dani’s vision blurred a little, and she discreetly wiped at her eyes. Would this man never stop getting to her? He surprised her at every turn. Just when she thought he’d call it and run, he would offer to babysit or hold a couple of mini donuts over his eyes and do a monster voice at breakfast . . .
Or call a day trip to the zoo for the three of them a date.
Without thinking of why she should keep the public displays to a minimum, she raised up on tiptoe and kissed him. She could tell she’d surprised him, but she just cupped his stubbled cheek as she pulled away.
Before she could say anything, the ice cream vendor cleared his throat. “Do you still need a minute?”
Dani broke the contact with Tyler and smiled at the man. “Sorry, yeah.”
He nodded and stepped back. Noah tried to peek up into the glass case, but he was too short, so Dani lifted him up. “What do you think? Vanilla?”
“ ’Nilla,” Noah said.
“Can we get two small vanilla cones?” She turned to Tyler, watching him peruse the different flavors, absently thinking about how sexy he looked in that hat. Maybe he’d leave it on when they finally did it.
Heat burned her cheeks at her train of thought.
“I’m just gonna do two scoops of strawberry in a waffle cone.”
After they got their cones, they sat down at one of the benches, Noah sitting between them. Soon, Tyler stretched his arm across the back of the bench and squeezed her shoulder. She glanced over at him, and the happy grin on his face seriously made her heart stutter to a standstill.
The splat of something hitting the ground had them both looking down, and Dani saw Noah’s whole face crumble. His scoop of ice cream lay on the concrete.
“Oh, Noah, it’s okay, I’ll get you a scoop in a cup this time.”
She got up and went back over to the ice cream shack before Tyler could protest. She didn’t want him buying her son endless ice cream cones. She got the ice cream in a cup with a spoon and walked back over in time to see Noah take a lick from Tyler’s strawberry ice cream.
“No, he can’t have that!”
Tyler jerked at her shout, and Noah started crying, reaching out for Tyler’s ice cream.
Running over to where the diaper bag sat on the bench, she set Noah’s cup down and started rummaging through the pockets, looking for the children’s Benadryl and wipes.
“He’s allergic to strawberries. Even synthetic flavors, they make him break out, and if the juice gets on his skin, he gets a rash.”
“Oh, my God, I’m sorry. Is he gonna be okay?”
She finally found what she was looking for and started mopping away any traces of the pink ice cream from Noah’s face. “You really should have asked before giving him any.”
The minute the words were out, she wished she could call them back. Not that she was wrong, he should have made sure it was okay, but she didn’t have to sound so sharp about it.
“I should have asked, you’re right.”
She gave Noah the chewable allergy tablet and looked up at Tyler. His normally tan skin had a d
efinite pallor to it, and his blue eyes were locked on Noah, teeming with worry.
The flash of irritation she’d felt toward him melted away, and she put her hand on his knee. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. It’s not serious, more of a mild irritation. Really.”
The skin on the sides of Noah’s mouth were already red and swollen slightly, but it didn’t stop him from picking up the dish of vanilla and going to town.
“No, you have every right to be pissed at me. It was stupid.” He tossed the rest of his cone in the trash, and Dani wished she had mentioned Noah’s allergy when he’d ordered.
