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“We’d love for you to come with us,” I assured her with a warm smile, but I bit back a grin when twin spots of pink appeared on her cheeks and her blue eyes looked a little dazed. She was definitely affected by me. I could work with that.
4
Ava
Ihad been so focused on earning the money I needed for the lawyer that I didn't realize how much I missed Daisy and Cassidy. Not until their sweet voices filled my ears and their little arms wrapped around my neck as I hugged them close. It felt as though I could take my first breath in months…just in time for Roan to steal it right back.
My attraction to the man who’d been given custody of the girls was all kinds of trouble. Getting involved with Roan wasn’t a good idea since it had the potential to blow up in our faces, and I couldn’t afford to mess up with their future on the line. Assuming he would even be interested in me, which I didn’t see ever happening.
As a professional football player—with an underwear campaign that I really needed to look up as soon as possible—Roan was way out of my league. Not to mention that I wouldn’t be surprised if he tarred me with the same brush as my brother. It was something that’d happened to me all my life, but the possibility of Roan seeing me as no better than Darren really hurt for some reason. But him inviting me to the zoo tomorrow gave me hope that he’d be different from everybody else, which made turning him down even harder.
“And I’d like nothing more than to join you guys but finding an apartment close enough so I can see the girls more easily isn’t going to be easy. I need to start looking tomorrow.” Cassidy groaned, and I stroked my finger down her cheek. “But I promise as soon as I’m settled into my new place, you’ll see me all the time, whenever I’m not working.”
Roan’s brows drew together. “Did you find a job out here already?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I do have an interview lined up for Saturday, though.”
He raked his fingers through his hair, giving him a rumpled look that made him even more attractive. “I can take care of one of those problems for you.”
Unsure what he could mean by that, I tilted my head to the side. “You can?”
His gaze darted toward the girls. “How about you two play for a minute while I try to convince your aunt to come to the zoo with us tomorrow?”
“Okay.” Cassidy bounced on the couch cushion before wrapping her arms around my waist. “But don’t talk to Daddy all the time. I misseded you.”
My heart melted at her whispered confession, and I had to sniffle to hold back tears as I gave her a big hug. “I won’t be gone long, sweetie.”
“Pinkie promise?”
She lifted her little finger, and I crooked mine around it. “You betcha.”
While I put Daisy back in the bouncy chair, Roan rewound Cassidy’s show back to the part that was on when I arrived. It was one of her favorites, and even though she’d seen it a million times, she didn’t like to miss anything when she rewatched it. Once they were taken care of, he led me into the kitchen. “Would you like something to drink? I have coffee, water, milk, and juice.”
I was still jittery from the caffeine I’d loaded into my system this morning, so more coffee was out of the question. “Juice or water would be great, thank you.”
“Help yourself.” He waved his hand toward the fridge before pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.
Padding over to the fridge, I barely held back a giggle at the three rows of Cassidy’s favorite brand lined up on the lowest shelf. After pulling one out and popping the straw into the top, I teased, “You definitely won’t run out of these.”
“Yeah, I learned the hard way that being prepared is key when it comes to the girls.” After tapping on the screen, he set his phone on the counter. Glancing down, I saw the girls streaming from where they were in the den and realized he had a video baby monitor set up so he could watch them. “Cassidy didn’t hold back the first day they were here, and I tried to give her a cup of cranberry juice instead. It wasn’t even four hours into my stint as the guardian, and I had to figure out how to install their car seats so I could take them to the grocery store because I had no clue what she meant by the yellow apple juice boxes she desperately needed.”
“Yeah, she’s never been shy about letting people know what she likes.” I laughed and shook my head. “And you’re definitely included on that list. It seems as though you’re doing a great job with them.”
He pulled the phone toward him, his lips curving into a soft smile as he stared down at the screen. “Thanks, I’m trying my best.”
With the girls already calling him Daddy, he had every reason to be cocky. It was sweet how humble he was being. Yet another thing that made him hotter.
Before I gave in to the temptation to throw myself at him, I asked, “What did you mean when you said you could take care of one of my problems?”
“If you stay here while you figure out the job situation, you can skip the apartment hunt and come to the zoo with us tomorrow.”
My jaw dropped at his suggestion. I didn’t know what I’d been expecting him to say, but the last thing I would have guessed was that he would invite me to stay with him. “Me? Stay here?”
“It seems like the most expedient solution.” He tapped the screen, where the video showed Cassidy clapping along to a song on her show. “The girls would be thrilled to have you near, and I’m all about doing whatever it takes to make them happy.”
His offer was tempting but finding a place to live was only one of the issues I needed to tackle. “That’s very generous of you, but I’m not in a position where I can just pick up and move to Long Island. I haven’t even put my notice in at work yet since I wanted to find another job first.”
He didn’t look happy about my answer, but he kept whatever was bothering him to himself and suggested, “At least stay here for the weekend. I have plenty of room and you’d actually be doing me a favor because I’m sure it’ll be much more difficult to get the girls down at night if they’re upset about you leaving. I wouldn’t even be able to calm them down by explaining that you’ll be back in the morning because then they’ll be too excited to fall asleep. It’s a parenting catch-22.”
