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“Well, that's not true,” Christina teased. “She may bite!”
“That's okay,” Radleigh said, lifting Grace on to his lap. “I've had worse injuries.”
Grace stood up on his lap, Radleigh holding her gently so she didn’t topple over. She put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, her dark curls tumbling into her eyes.
The sight of someone with as much physical strength as McCoy being so gentle with my niece made me dizzy with lust. Men who are good with children were right at the top of my hot list.
“Leah?”
“Huh?” I said, shaking my head. “What?”
Radleigh grinned. “Are you okay?”
Busted.
“I ... I don't,” I stammered, “I forgot what I was going to say.”
I took a long swig of my coke as my heart rate re-adjusted, then joined in the conversation as if I hadn't had a fangirl attack. What made it most surprising was that for once, he wasn't even aware of what he was doing. Holding Grace hadn’t been some pre-conceived plan to make me lose my mind.
It just happened naturally.
Once we’d eaten and Grace was back where she belonged, away from Radleigh to save me from having another seizure, we took a walk around the rest of the aquarium. Jamie wanted another look at the sharks, so Josh and Radleigh took him, and Christina, Grace and I wandered back to the restaurant to grab a coffee and a chat without the boys.
“Finally!” Christina said as I placed our drinks down on the table. “Time to talk at last!”
We really were truly on our own, as Grace had fallen asleep in her stroller, so even she didn't need attention. Christina stood up and hugged me. “Oh, Leah,” she said. “We've missed you so much!”
“I've missed you too. Do you know, not a single person I've met here can make a decent cup of tea? I had to train my roommate how to do it right!”
Christina burst out laughing. “Damn yanks!”
Giggling, I took a sip of my coffee and Christina said, “
So, what’s going on with Radleigh McCoy? Josh said that today might be awkward because the two of you don't get on very well.”
“Well,” I sighed, “today has been one of our better days but it could have gone either way. He thinks he was put on Earth to sexually satisfy as many women as possible and when I told him I wasn’t going to be one of them, he tried to get me in trouble with my boss.”
“What?” Christina choked. “That man who let Jamie drag him around all day and helped me carry Grace’s buggy up and down the stairs did that?”
I nodded. “He makes me so mad, Chrissie. He's only here today to annoy me.”
“I don't know, Leah,” she said after a while. “I don't know him but I certainly don't think he’s only here to bug you.”
“Why else would he be here? I mean, I suppose it could be because he enjoys the attention from Jamie and Josh. He loves it when people adore him.”
“That's not it,” Christina laughed. “He's here to be with you. Think about it. He could be at home with his own family but instead he’s here with yours. Nobody does that purely to irritate someone.”
“You don't know what he's like.”
“Are you telling me you’ve never once considered that Radleigh might actually like you?”
“No, I haven’t. Sure, he may be attracted to me but that doesn't make me special. He’s attracted to most women with tits and a pulse. He’s purely about one night stands. Lots of them.”
“You don't think -” Christina began, but I held up my hand to stop her.
“He is not misunderstood,” I told her. “He’s not just looking for the right woman. He's an annoying, over-confident, self-obsessed pain in the arse.”
“Okay,” Christina said, sensing my rising animosity. “I'll take your word for it.”
