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He tightened his grip on her waist and had just angled his face to deepen the kiss when he heard, “Hey, Mom, is everything—oh, shit! Sorry!”
They broke apart like two teenagers caught making out. In the doorway stood a younger version of Dakota, eyes wide. She was dressed in a mint-green baby Yoda nightgown that came to her mid-thigh and her hair was piled on top of her head.
“Hey, Chloe,” Dakota said as she awkwardly slipped off the counter while trying to sound casual, like she sat on her island everyday while in an evening dress. “Is everything all right?”
“I’m so sorry, Mom. I heard you pull in, but when I called, you didn’t answer, so I got a little worried.” The younger girl wrinkled her nose sheepishly. “I should have put two and two together when I saw the Audi in the driveway.”
Dakota ignored Chloe’s last comment, and instead made introductions.
“Chloe, this is Aiden. Aiden, my daughter, Chloe.”
Her daughter’s face lit up, and she stepped forward with her hand sticking out. “Oh, the sexy doctor! Nice to meet you.”
Aiden felt the corner of his mouth turn up, and he cast a sideways look at Dakota as he took Chloe’s hand. “Sexy doctor?”
“That’s how Whitney described you,” Dakota quickly replied.
He slowly nodded his head, then turned his attention to Chloe. “Nice to meet you, too.”
“Anyway, the reason I was calling… Todd and I decided not to go to the concert tomorrow. We’re going to take Asher to the beach instead, so you don’t need to watch him.”
“Oh, okay. Are you sure?”
Chloe’s gaze moved between Aiden and Dakota while looking like the cat that ate the canary as she backed up toward the door. “Positive. I’ll just get out of your hair. Carry on, pretend I wasn’t even here.”
And with that, she escaped out the kitchen door without another word.
“Well, Sunshine,” Aiden said as he turned to Dakota with a wicked grin. “If that isn’t a sign you’re supposed to spend the weekend with me, I don’t know what is.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Dakota
She’d just pulled her arms out of the evening gown when he sauntered into her walk-in closet and sat down on the beige fabric stool like he owned the place.
“You need any help?”
“No, I’ve got it,” she said as she shimmied the fabric past her hips.
Standing in just her red bra and matching panties, she bent over to pick the dress up where it had pooled at her feet and felt his hands wrap around her waist. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on his lap.
Instinctively, her arms wove around his neck as he pressed a chaste kiss against her lips.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he murmured against her mouth.”
“So are you. Handsome, I mean.”
He was still in his tuxedo pants and white shirt, but he’d lost the bow tie on the drive to her house.
“There’s something I’m curious about,” she mused as she played with his hair.
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Where did you learn to tie a bowtie? Is that something you go to YouTube for, or did they teach you that in school?”
Dakota felt the vibration of his chuckle against her side.
“When I first started wearing bow ties that were no longer clip-ons, my ex-wife would tie them for me. But Steven taught me how to do it myself one night when we were getting dressed in the hospital locker room for a fundraiser. Otherwise, I was prepared to use YouTube.” He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes when he looked at her. “Why?”
