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Thirty-Seven
Robin was a few minutes later than anticipated getting into the office. She stepped inside, and for the first time since Nova's arrival, and saw her other boss making coffee in the kitchenette. Last week with Chandler had been calm, relaxing, and a bit...bad for her waistline.
Chandler had taken it on himself to feed her. He thought goldfish crackers and apple juice weren't appropriate lunches for his secretary and was constantly bringing her recipes he’d been experimenting with.
He looked like Adonis…and cooked like Betty Crocker.
She adored him and had decided to adopt him as a little brother for herself.
There was nothing brotherly about how she felt about the man standing in front of her, though.
Nick had just about broken her heart at the school. He hadn't wanted to leave his kids. She could so understand that. But…she was about to put another hiccup in his day. "I'm sorry. Glenna was supposed to watch Becky for me today, but she got a call about the counseling center, there's apparently an infestation of beetles everywhere they are trying to clean out. She took Patton and Pete with her to help clean up."
She snuggled her sleeping child onto the couch across from her desk and covered Becky with her favorite Elmo blanket. "I didn't know what else to do with her. I need to get a backup sitter arranged for these kinds of days."
"She's fine right here, where she belongs. Between the two of us, we'll handle this kid thing, together. Right? Please say right, because...I don't think I can do this without you. Elementary school is going to be the death of me. I can already tell."
"Well, how did it go at the middle school?" She'd looked for him after Nova had finally been ok. She hadn't seen him.
Nick slipped up behind her, his hands going around her waist. He pulled her close, brushed a kiss against her cheek.
She tried not to shiver. Or do something completely inappropriate.
Chandler was in his office, after all.
"You, Robin Patton, are my goddess."
"You do know that my name is Robin Benson, right? I kept my husband's name for the kids' sake."
"To me, you will always be little Robin Patton, capable of seducing me with one look. And...rescuing me in my greatest times of need. How was Nova?"
Robin had it bad, and it wasn't going to go away. It was time she admitted that.
It was the way he talked about his kids that did it. The way he'd gotten right out there Sunday with Noah, Parker, Patton, and the twins and tossed the ball around, laughing and encouraging all of them. He’d guided her sons’ hands around the ball when they’d needed it. Told them they’d done great jobs when they’d pushed themselves a little bit more than they knew they could.
It was the way he'd scooped her little Becky up when Phil had held Glenna's Elly, and Becky was feeling a bit left out. Nick had just...instinctively known what her daughter had needed. And when Philip had taken a hard ball to his arm and started crying, Nick had been there to scoop him up and carry him back inside to where Nate and Perci were in the kitchen.
That was what it was about Nick that had her thinking with her heart instead of her head.
Nick had heart. In every way that counted. And daddy Nick was the sexiest thing on two legs she had ever seen.
And when Phil had the kids down in the basement cleaning up the messes they'd made, Nick had pulled her into his arms and stolen a kiss hot enough to scorch the meat loaf Glenna had made. He hadn't stepped away until Glenna and Rory had walked in.
Her friends had been full of questions after.
She'd felt like a teenager again. All tied up in knots over the man in front of her.Just like twenty years ago, she was tied up in Nick and not knowing what to do about him.
She was starting to fear she'd always be tied up in the man in front of her. If she had to see him every single workday for the next million years—she was going to go crazy. Stark raving mad.
