AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A blonde woman with curly hair smiled at me and Lucas before taking our orders.
“Black iced coffee for me, and a brownie for him…and a cookie.” I pointed to the chocolate chip cookie that looked to be the size of Lucas’s head.
Who needed lunch when you had sweets, right?
While she worked on that, I looked down to my iPad and noticed that they had open Wi-Fi and felt a rush of relief.
“Thank you,” I told her as I led Lucas to a booth on the opposite side of the blackboard.
There looked to be more room on the other side of the threshold, but this side of the place felt cozier.
I knew I needed to be fast with checking my social media, because sooner or later Lucas was going to get restless, and he would want to be entertained as well.
There was an email from my editor as well, wanting to know how my night had gone and if I had a story for him to print this week.
Damn. I had nothing for him.
Feeling exhausted from yesterday and today’s activities, I put my head down on the table for what felt like a minute when next thing I knew, there was a presence next to me rubbing circles on my back.
It was so nice—soothing, even—that it made it hard to open my eyes and remember where I was. The silence made me think about Lucas. One thing I had quickly learned with kids was that silence equaled trouble or disaster.
That made me sit up quickly.
It was bright. A bit dizzying.
“Lucas!” I semi shouted.
Next to me, someone chuckled.
“He’s fine. He’s taking a nap with his mouth covered in chocolate,” Clark’s voice answered my demand.
My head turned to my right, where he was sitting. His hand was still at my back, and he was looking at me with something that looked awfully close to wonder. His eyes were zeroed in on me in a way that made me feel exposed, and that was saying something. Usually I was the one doing the exposing. I didn’t get rattled often, but maybe because this was him, it made it seem like more? His eyes were soft, and his lips parted in a genuine smile.
“Nice nap?”
I scoffed. “I didn’t have a nap.”
Some guardian I was. I hadn’t even realized Lucas fell asleep while eating his brownie. At my reply, Clark’s smile got wider, showing his teeth. There was something about a man when he smiled. It was sexy, in a lazy type of way. He didn’t say anything at first, but reached to the end of the booth to where the napkins were.
I felt pressure from the hand that was resting on my back as he leaned forward. Why was he touching me? Was I okay with this?
Deep down, I knew I was, but I was also questioning my every reaction and his every movement because of my prior feelings for him.
Once he had the napkin, he folded it and lightly dabbed it on the corner of my mouth. I felt my cheeks warm instantly.
Crap.
“Please tell me I didn’t drool,” I moaned in horror, forgetting to use my inner voice.
He was still pressing the napkin to my lip when I felt the pad of his thumb graze my cheek. I felt my blush spread down to my neck at his action. I needed to get my shit together. I wasn’t some blushing virgin. Granted, I wasn’t a vixen either, but I had held my own before.
“You didn’t drool,” Clark obviously lied, still holding onto my cheek. “Tired?”
He rubbed his thumb again, this time closer to my lip. The napkin was no longer by my lip, but I didn’t want to move to see what he had done with it.
“I’m so tired,” I told him honestly.
Not about last night, but everything that came in the wake of my sister giving me her kid.
