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“Where are we going?” Alexis asked as I tried looking anywhere else—at anyone else—but my attention pulled back to the man standing so close to me.
Without a care.
Eyes once again locked on mine. Trapping me in place and keeping me prisoner the way they always did. As if he hadn’t dismissed me the day before. As if his daughter wasn’t doing some complicated-looking handshake with him.
“I was thinking ice cream,” he told Alexis as his gaze slowly raked over me in a way that felt wholly indecent considering our surroundings and his marital status.
“Can I get the biggest one?” she asked excitedly, finally drawing his stare back to her as that affectionate smile returned to his handsome face, making him look so different than ever before.
I’d seen him with that cocky swagger. I’d seen him study me with intrigue and reverence. I’d seen him look at me as if he wanted to own me. Devour me.
This was different.
This was pure adoration. But even still, there was something about the way he looked at his older daughter that felt different than when he’d been looking at his wife and baby the day before.
Not as deep.
Not as unfailing.
It was almost as if there was a touch of amusement to it. But that could’ve all been in my head. I could’ve just been too shocked and horrified to accurately study his expression at the coffee shop.
Now that I’d had twenty-four hours to come to terms with the knowledge of who he actually was and why Rorie had been warning me to stay away from him, I was seeing him clearly.
“Who do you even think you’re talking to right now?” Diggs asked her as he dramatically pressed a hand to his chest. “We always, only get the biggest. Period.”
Alexis laughed, her head tipping back as she whispered, “Mom’s gonna be so mad.”
“Your mom?” Diggs countered on a hushed laugh. “Shit, let’s maybe revisit who’s more pissed after I drop you off.”
“Can you not?” I snapped over him, voice low and disapproving as I glanced around at the staff scattered throughout the kids still waiting to be picked up. “You’re on school property, and there are children around.”
Bemusement washed over Diggs’ expression as he met my stare as if he couldn’t understand what I would be reprimanding him for, but that intrigue I’d come to know well flared deep within his eyes. “Lex,” Diggs muttered as his gaze fell to my mouth, “this your new teacher?”
“Right,” she said with that adorable enthusiasm she’d shown all day, bouncing as if she never truly stopped moving. “This is Ms. Bennett—she’s new to the school and to Wake Forest. She said she was thinking about adopting a dog. Right, Ms. Bennett?”
“Something huge and terrifying,” I acknowledged. “To protect me.”
But the pointed jab only seemed to amuse Diggs. “Bennett.” He let my last name roll off his tongue as if he was tasting it. “There a first name to that?”
“Not one you’ll ever know.”
Surprise flashed across his face at my anger, but those eyes continued studying me and taking me in as if it were just the two of us there. As if he could figure out every one of my thoughts just by looking at me.
“Ready, Mini?” he finally asked, releasing me from his gaze and grasping Alexis’ shoulder, prodding her forward as she waved at me.
“Bye, Ms. Bennett! See you tomorrow.”
“See you then, Alexis,” I promised, choking over her name when Diggs’ hand wrapped around my forearm.
Grip strong and familiar and comforting when it shouldn’t be.
“I think I like it when you’re mad.” His words were soft enough that they nearly got lost in the noises of the end of the day, but then he tilted his head so his lips brushed my cheek when he continued. “But I have every intention of finding out why you are.”
“If you show up in my apartment again, I’ll scream for help,” I warned, voice nothing more than a weak tremor.
A wicked laugh rose in his throat as his thumb trailed toward my wrist, making the same path his nose normally took. A silent vow that had my knees shaking and heat unfurling in my stomach. “Baby, I’ll make you scream. Gladly. But it won’t be for help.”
My body shook when he released me, walking away without so much as a backward glance.
