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3
Doe
Iparked the truck beside Luca’s garage at five minutes till seven, making sure to avoid looking up at the apartment that was above it. Grabbing my bag, I opened my door and stepped out.
As I climbed the steps to the front porch, I heard a dog bark and found myself smiling. Violet’s dog, Krush, was a huge midnight-black pit bull. He was beautiful, sweet, and mischievous. He loved to run between Luca’s place and ours, chasing squirrels and making friends with some of our farm animals. As big as he was, the cows had accepted him as one of their own, barely paying him any mind unless he barked at them.
Pressing the doorbell, I pulled my phone from my back jeans pocket to check the texts I’d gotten on the drive over. My brothers were at some frat party and already blowing up my phone, letting me know they had started drinking early. Rolling my eyes at their antics, I put the phone away without replying, knowing it would only encourage the three of them if I answered.
When the door opened, Luca Thornton, the starting defensive end for Tennessee, stood in front of me. Dressed in black slacks and a dark-blue button-down, he was ready to go out. His tiny daughter was in his arms, pressing kisses to his cheek. From experience, I knew it was Love Bug’s way of begging him not to leave her, and I could already see that Luca was close to giving her what she wanted.
“Help,” he practically whimpered, his ever-changing brown eyes imploring me to save him before he caved.
Taking pity on him, I jumped into favorite babysitter mode. “There’s my love bug!” I exclaimed, catching her attention.
When she saw me, her pretty light-purple eyes brightened. With a happy squeal, she threw herself into my arms. I pulled her close, kissing all over her adorably beautiful face, making her giggle. But when I glanced at Luca, he looked anything but thankful. There was a pout on his handsome face, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Love Bug might not have been his biological daughter, but she was very much his little girl. There had never been any doubt about how much he loved her.
“Shut it,” he grumbled, but a ghost of a smile teased at his lips.
The shuffling of feet drew my attention as Krush trotted out of the living room. He rushed over to greet me. Before Love Bug was born, he would have jumped up and given me slobbery kisses on the face, but since her birth, Luca and Violet had worked hard on teaching him not to jump up on people who were holding the baby. As stubborn as the dog could be at times, surprisingly, it hadn’t taken long to teach him.
Scratching him on top of his silky head, I bent just enough to let him touch his nose to my cheek.
“She’s already been fed,” Luca said when I straightened. “And I just finished giving her a bath. All you need to do is read her a book before you put her down for the night.”
I nodded, knowing he was about to throw out an entire list of what to do to get her down for the night. Reading to her was just the beginning. I bit my lip to keep from grinning as I listened to him go on and on.
“We’re just going for dinner and a movie, but if anything comes up, don’t hesitate to text me…or Vi. But text me first.”
“I know, Luca,” I assured him. “You don’t have to worry.”
“I know I don’t have to worry,” he grumbled, touching his huge paw-like hand to his daughter’s back. “But that doesn’t stop me. This girl is one-half of my heart.”
With a whine, Love Bug held her hands out for her daddy. Without hesitation, he took her from me, smothering her face in kisses. The sight before me was heart-melting. The Luca before Love Bug had been an immature man-child. But since she was born, he’d grown up in a hurry. I liked this version a lot more than the tantrum-throwing giant toddler he’d been not so long ago.
“Luca, are you ready?” Violet asked as she came down the stairs, putting in her earring. Her blond hair was pulled over her shoulder to keep it out of her way. The purple dress she wore almost matched her violet eyes. I’d never met Remington Sawyer, but I’d seen plenty of pictures of him following his death. Love Bug’s eyes were a mixture of his blue and Violet’s purple. The inner part was lighter, but the color blended into darker shades until the outer rim was blue.
Seeing me, Violet smiled. “Hey, Doe. Thanks for the help tonight. I’m always able to relax a little more knowing you’re the one watching over Love when we’re out.”
“Anytime,” I said, returning the smile.
Finally lifting his head from Love Bug, Luca turned to his girlfriend. When his dark eyes landed on her, I had to avert my gaze. The love on his face was nearly too much to witness. “You look beautiful.”
She looked up at him through her lashes. “You look delicious.”
Knowing if I didn’t divert their attention back to me, they would forget I was even there, I cleared my throat. “You two don’t want to be late.” I held out my hands for the baby, but she wrapped her arms around Luca’s neck. Opening my bag, I pulled out the stuffed animal I’d brought.
“Oh, how sweet. Look, Love.” Violet tempted her daughter. “Doe brought you a new friend.”
Reluctantly, the baby shifted her head to see the patched-up gray bear. There were no buttons or other hazardous objects attached to it, making the stuffed animal safe for her to cuddle. I hugged the bear to my chest. As expected, the baby reached for it, and I took advantage, pulling her into my arms. Distracting her by making the bear kiss her cheeks like her daddy had done earlier, I walked away from her parents, giving them the chance for Luca to make a clean getaway.
As I climbed the stairs, I heard Luca whining and then Violet laughingly telling him to suck it up moments before the front door shut behind them. Thankfully, Love Bug was so entranced by her new friend that she didn’t even notice them leave.
Entering the nursery, I placed the baby on the rug by the window and dropped down beside her. For the next half hour, we played until Love started rubbing her eyes, and I gathered her and her friend in my arms to carry over to the rocking chair. A stack of books was already on the table beside the chair, and I picked up the top one.
She was asleep before I got even a few pages into the story. Closing the book, I just sat there watching her sleep in my arms, the stuffed bear clutched in one arm. My heart felt heavy even as I smiled at the sleeping angel.
This was what I wanted. A baby of my own to rock to sleep every night and a man who loved me as much as my dad loved my mom. It was why I hadn’t wanted to go to college, why I’d even turned down the chance to travel around the world with my cousin Piper when she’d asked me to keep her company on her tour this past summer.
But how I was going to find a man who would even want me in this small town where everyone but my family thought I was a freak, I had no clue.
Rolling my eyes at my whiny thoughts, I carefully got to my feet. Love Bug stayed sound asleep as I placed her in her crib. Making sure the baby monitor was on, I grabbed the receiver and quietly left the nursery. Downstairs, I took a bottle of water from the fridge and was about to turn in the direction of the living room when there was a hard tap on the back door.
Placing my bottle of water and the bag that still held the book I’d brought to read on the counter, I walked over to answer the door without giving it much thought. The nice thing about this small town was that it was safe. People left their front doors unlocked and their vehicle windows rolled down.
Well, most people did. I wasn’t one of them, something my family didn’t fully understand. But I’d been pranked one too many times in high school to trust sitting in the driver’s seat of my car if I’d accidentally left the door unlocked. I’d been able to drive my car into Nashville to have it detailed without my parents or brothers finding out after Courtney and her minions had covered every seat with molasses during junior year.
Grimacing at the reminder of my archnemesis at the grocery store earlier that day, I opened the door. Only to stand there blinking like an owl at the man before me holding a pizza box. His brows went up when I just stood there gaping at him.
“You said pizza, right?” Jenner shifted the box in his hand. “If you want Chinese or something else, I’ll order it.”
The sound of his deep voice snapped me out of my stupor, and I quickly shook my head. “No,” I squeaked out. Embarrassed, I cleared my throat and stepped back. “No, pizza is great. I just…”
“Just what?” he asked as he walked into the kitchen and placed the pizza on the table.
My face felt on fire, and I knew it must have been the color of a tomato. “I thought you were just being nice. You know, saving me from Courtney?”
Jenner was busy taking a bottle of water for himself from the fridge. At the mention of the other girl, he turned his head to glance at me. “Who?”
“The blonde from the grocery store,” I reminded him.
“Oh, yeah. Skankzilla.” A giggle escaped me, surprising the heck out of myself. Jenner’s hotness only doubled in my eyes at that moment, which was dangerous. I already dreamed of him. Him claiming me, making me his in every way. I practically stalked him, the way I sat on my front porch and watched him during his morning run every day.
Closing the fridge, he moved to one of the cabinets and extracted two plates. “Are all the chicks in this town like her?”
I shrugged. “Depends.”
“On?”
“Who you talk to. If you ask anyone in this town, they will tell you Courtney and her minions are sweet as pie. Her dad is a senator, and everyone says she will follow in his footsteps one day. If you ask me, I’d tell you they are a living nightmare.” I pressed my lips together, realizing it was the first time I’d ever said that out loud. No one knew I’d been bullied, and I’d wanted to keep it that way. Mostly to protect my brothers from doing something stupid that could rob them of their baseball dreams, but a little because it was horrifically embarrassing.
“She’s just jealous,” he said as he placed the plates on the table and opened the pizza box. “Her claws came out when she saw you, and a blind person could have seen how green she was.”
“Jealous?” I repeated in disbelief. “What does she have to be jealous of?”
Jenner paused in the process of adding pizza slices to both plates. “You’re kidding me.” When I only lifted my brows at him, he muttered a curse under his breath. “Doe, you seriously don’t know just how beautiful you are, do you?”
My heart jumped in my chest. “Y-you think I’m beautiful?”
His scowl was so sexy my mouth went dry. “Sit down, Doe,” he instructed. “The pizza is getting cold.”
He hadn’t answered my question, but the way he looked at me was all I needed to know. Happiness like I’d never known flooded through me. Fighting a smile, I sat down at the table and took the plate he offered. Seeing the toppings were all my favorites, I lifted my gaze to Jenner’s in surprise.
“I pay attention to the things that matter to me,” he muttered, answering my unasked question. “Eat, little lamb.”
