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I grinned. “Great.” This was going to be interesting.
A few minutes later, me and the kids went outside and found the women at a round table with three open seats. Molly crowded in right beside Harper and Billy sat on my other side between me and Farrah.
“Sorry,” I said as we got settled. “I hope you don’t mind us crashing the party.”
Lin smiled. There was something devious behind that smile, but I couldn’t quite place what it was. “We’re happy to have the company. Farrah was going to tell us about this show she’s into, and she’s notorious for spoilers. You’re saving us, actually.”
Farrah wrinkled her nose and gave Lin a look. Harper smiled softly and her eyes darted to mine. When she saw me looking, she quickly looked away and licked her ice cream. Her tongue was blue and there was a little blue spot on the tip of her nose.
I had to fight the urge to walk over and lick it off her. Fuck, I thought. This girl was doing things to me. I wasn’t like this. Not usually. I’d never even been this ravenous with Katie.
“So,” Lin said, filling the awkward silence that followed. “I heard Harper is joining you guys for board games tonight. Be careful, she cheats and she’s terrible at board games.”
“Billy cheats, too,” Molly said matter-of-factly. “It’s okay.” She gave Harper an adorable squeeze on her arm and a smiled, like she completely understood.
Everyone but Billy smiled.
“I don’t cheat,” Billy said. He paused for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. “I make sure the people I’m playing with are paying attention. If they aren’t, they don’t deserve to win.”
Lin laughed. “I like that one.”
Billy blushed and lowered his gaze back to his ice cream.
I could hardly watch anything except the way Harper was eating hers. She’d give it a few licks and then bring her lips down over it, sucking off a little at a time. The worst part was that she kept looking shyly up at me, as if she knew I was watching. Her… technique even became a little more seductive as time went on. The more sexily she ate, the redder her cheeks became.
She was flirting, and fuck, it was working like magic.
“Harper said you guys live in D.C., right?” Farrah asked.
I nodded.
Molly jumped in. “Daddy lives at the top of the elevator and mommy lives outside the city. I like daddy’s house better because it has really big windows and the toilets are black. Have you ever seen a black toilet?”
“No,” Farrah said, “But that sounds impressive.”
Molly nodded. Her face was completely covered in chocolate ice cream by now. She was oblivious, of course. “But it’s a really big house and he’s always all alone when we are with mommy. It’s sad.”
Billy shot her a look.
“What?” Molly asked.
“You’re making dad sound like a loser,” Billy whispered.
I cleared my throat. “I keep busy with work. It’s fine.”
“What kind of work do you do?” Lin asked.
I noticed Harper’s attention on me, but I tried not to look at her. I could barely form a coherent thought when I was looking at her. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever felt this ridiculously aroused in my life. If the kids weren’t here, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t have jumped over the table and taken her right there.
“I work for Stay Inn on the corporate side. It’s a hotel chain,” I explained.
“Duh,” Lin said. “I’ve heard of them. They are everywhere.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Sometimes, they build brand new buildings to expand, but the most profitable way to grow is acquiring failing hotels. That’s my job. I locate ideal candidates and then fly in to help form a plan to turn the business around. Sometimes that’s remodeling, advertising, replacing staff, or pretty much anything you can imagine. One time I actually set up a petting zoo at a hotel.”
“What?” Farrah asked. “Seriously?”
I grinned. I was a little proud of that one. “Yeah. It was in Texas near a destination zoo, but it was a couple miles farther out than the competition. The petting zoo was perfect because parents were already bringing their family for the zoo. Once they saw they could get a little animal themed fun at the hotel, the place was booked out pretty much year-round.”
“That’s pretty smart,” Harper said.
Molly smiled, flashing her chocolate mustache. “Daddy is really smart. That’s why he makes so much money. One time, he got a bonus and–”
“Okay,” I said softly, patting the top of her head. “Nobody wants to hear about my bonus.”
“I bet Harper does,” Lin said.
I saw Lin jump like she’d been kicked under the table. Harper smiled innocently and took a bite of her cone.
“So,” Farrah said. “You’re going to use all those skills to turn around the old Ashford Inn, I guess? Mr. Ashford is lucky his grandson is so qualified.”
