AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shit.
Hours and hours spent with Penny had made me really comfortable around her, and while she was a good kid, she was seven and needed help with manners and remembering to pitch in. I offered him a small smile, hoping I hadn’t overstepped.
Wyatt turned and started rinsing the dishes.
Double shit.
“Is that good? Can I go play?” Penny innocently looked for me to answer.
I smoothed her hair and looked at the expanse of Wyatt’s back. “Um, that’s up to your dad, kiddo.”
“It’s fine.” Wyatt didn’t look up from the sink, where he was now stacking the dirty dishes into the dishwasher.
“Come on, Lark. Let’s play.” Hoping to smooth things over, I stepped toward him and placed my hand at his back.
His head turned toward me, and when the corner of his mouth lifted to a grin, my insides went liquid. “Go have fun. I’ll be done with this in no time.”
Penny showed me a game on her iPad, something about fashion design for cats. When she got bored with that, we sat on the floor in front of the coffee table in the living room and colored.
Wyatt walked in with a kitchen towel slung over his shoulder, looking devastatingly at ease and altogether handsome. I swallowed hard and tried to quell the entirely too-domestic thoughts that raced through my mind.
I didn’t need to think about how easy it felt with Wyatt and Penny. How natural.
“Daddy, can we watch a movie?” Penny continued to draw what I assumed was Aunt Tootie’s house, complete with a chicken coop and a little chicken tombstone next to it.
“It’s late, Pickle.” Wyatt dried his hands on the towel, and I tracked the movements of the veins that ran down his forearms and across the backs of his hands.
God, I wanted those hands on me again.
“But it’s thesummer!” Wyatt’s shoulders slumped, and I knew she had him worn down with simple seven-year-old logic.
I shrugged but continued looking down at my own coloring. “I could stay for a little bit.”
When I chanced a look up, Wyatt had turned up his grin and aimed it right at me. My stomach whooshed, and I had to busy myself with organizing the crayons to hide the blush I could feel creeping onto my cheeks.
Penny had chosen a family-friendly movie about a football team who faced tragedy but made an epic comeback with a dog as their wide receiver. Throughout the movie, Wyatt grumbled and commented more than once on the lack of accuracy with the plays, uniforms, and coaches.
One time he even asserted, “That’s not at all how that works,” and finally Penny rolled her eyes and said plainly, “We know, Dad.” She gestured at the television. “He’s adog.”
I couldn’t hold in my laughter.
Penny sat between us, and I focused on the ridiculous plotline and not on the way Wyatt’s muscular arm stretched across the back of the couch. Absently, his fingers found the base of my neck and drew little circles, teasing the baby hairs there and sending chills racing down my back.
When I glanced over at him, his eyes were tuned to the movie, but the barely there flick of the corner of his mouth made it obvious he knew exactly what he was doing.
The sun set, and Penny’s eyelids got heavier and heavier. She fought sleep, but before she could see the final touchdown scene, she was lightly snoring against Wyatt’s chest.
A knot formed in my throat at the sight of them. She was peaceful and safe, snuggled up against her dad’s chest, and he appeared the most relaxed I’d ever seen him.
He looked over at me and whispered, “I’m going to put her down.”
I nodded, not wanting to wake her up. As he stood, I also stretched my legs and glanced toward the front door.
“Don’t go.” His low, rough tone rooted me to the spot. Happy little sparks danced through my stomach.
I turned to the kitchen and kept myself busy by emptying the now-clean dishes from the dishwasher. I could feel Wyatt’s energy before he stepped into the kitchen, and my nerves jumped.
“She asleep?”
