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“You’re great with her,” Hannah said as Kayla’s eyes fluttered shut.
JP snorted. “Thanks.”
“What?” Tilting her head, she studied him for a moment. “You don’t agree?”
“Truth?”
She nodded. “Always.” Despite being there under false pretenses, honesty was important to her.
After sighing, he gave her a twisted grin. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing ninety-nine percent of the time. Hell, I almost left her in the tub by herself when you rang the bell. And have you heard my potty mouth? Pretty sure dropping the f-bomb every few minutes isn’t something I’m going to come across in the eight million parenting blogs I now subscribe to.”
He’d subscribed to parenting blogs? What a sweet man. He might not realize how his willingness to learn and do right by Kayla made him a great father, but Hannah had no doubts. Her parents were wrong. Kayla needed her father, and JP deserved to raise his little girl. She needed to find a way to prevent them from filing a lawsuit and to help them come to terms with Kayla’s living arrangements.
“But you didn’t leave her,” she said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Your instincts kicked in, and you did the right thing. Look at her. She’s totally passed out. That wouldn’t happen if she didn’t feel comfortable and safe with you. And I know I said you guys need to curb your language, but I’m pretty sure you have a little time before you have to worry about the swearing.”
He gazed down at his daughter. Hannah stared, transfixed by the expression on his stubbled face. A combination of awe, love, and uncertainty. “Thank you,” he said as he shifted his attention back to Hannah. “I needed to hear that. I’m feeling pretty overwhelmed almost all the time these days.” He struggled a bit to get to his feet with Kayla in his arms but managed with nothing more than a grunt or two from her. “Give me a few minutes to lay her down, or try to lay her down without waking her up, then I’ll treat you to some lunch as a thank you for your help.”
“Oh, no,” Hannah said as she also scrambled up. Spending time with him without Kayla sounded like a recipe for poor choices. “That’s not necessary. You probably want to enjoy a little quiet time, and I’d hate for you to go to any trouble.”
He cocked his head. “Actually, I’d love to spend time talking to another adult who isn’t in my family. And a beautiful woman at that. Besides,” he said with a shrug. “I was gonna heat up a frozen pizza. Not exactly a backbreaker.”
This was such a terrible idea. “Okay. That sounds good.” Too good. She genuinely liked the guy. He was sweet and funny, kind, and seemed to be working very hard to care for Kayla.
“Great. Be right back.” He winked and darted off.
She sat down on the couch and let her gaze roam the den as she waited for him to return. Photos of the Benson crew throughout the years littered the walls. All but a very few excluded the parents. A couple of snapshots showed their mother, but not a single image of their father had made its way to the collection. The smiling faces and silly poses depicted a story of a close-knit family despite the challenges they’d faced with an alcoholic father and a mother who’d passed early.
Hannah experienced a pang of jealousy as she stared at one particularly endearing picture. A young Ronnie sat on teenaged Keith’s broad shoulders, clutching a snowball in each hand. On the ground, Jagger, JP, and two other boys lay in the snow laughing. Whatever they’d been doing, they had been having a ball.
From what little she’d been able to discern off social media, she knew their childhood hadn’t been easy. Still, growing up having that kind of fun with their siblings couldn’t have been all bad. Her mother would have passed out if she’d seen either of her daughters sitting on someone’s shoulders at that age. Mary Anne would have defied their mother, of course, but not Hannah. She’d have watched on and longed to join the fun, much as she did now, gazing at those pictures. God, she missed her sister. How unfair was life to rob years from a young woman with so much of the world left to experience?
“All right, think we are good to go. Thankfully this little girl came to me a champion napper.”
“That is lucky,” Hannah said as she turned.
JP frowned at her. “You okay?”
Her momentary burst of grief must have shown. Then, forcing a cheerier expression, she nodded. “Absolutely.”
JP walked until he was once again in her personal space. Hannah tipped her head back. Those dark eyes, that nearly black hair, the sun-tanned skin, and all that artwork inked on him. The man was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. For the first time in her life, she had to clench her fists to keep from reaching for a man. The temptation to shove the hem of his T-shirt up and learn where else he had tattoos nearly sent her to her knees.
