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He needed to wake up, and soon.
He was in college and close to graduating. I worried the real world was going to chew him up and spit him out if he didn’t learn some common sense. But maybe that was exactly the lesson he needed?
“I’m sorry,” Randy apologized with a roll of his eyes.
Juniper was about to say something when his phone pinged once. Twice. And a third time. I had a feeling my son had someone already lined up to take Juniper’s place in his life. “Look, I gotta go.”
“Randall,” I warned him, but I knew by the way he avoided looking at me, whatever I said to him was going to go in one ear and out the other.
“You drove me here. You said we were going to watch Christmas movies and bake cookies,” Juniper pointed out, and my teeth mashed together. As much as I hated what a little shit my son was, I was really fucking glad he was leaving her alone. The woman, the girl in front of me, deserved better.That’s because she’s ours,a voice whispered in the back of my mind. I tried to shake the thought, but it was hard to get rid of.Mine.
“That’s when I thought…” he started to say, but he glanced in my direction and thankfully didn’t finish his sentence. “You can walk.”
“Are you serious right now?” She frowned. I watched my son grab his wallet and keys. Without sparing either of us a look, he walked out of my house. A moment later, his car started and peeled out.
“What a dick,” she hissed under her breath before moving to the dining table. I swallowed hard trying to avoid looking at her.
Too bad, or thankfully, my eyes had a mind of their own.
I silently watched her head over to the bag of groceries I hadn’t noticed before. Had she brought things to bake cookies with him?
“I’m sorry for the scene, Mr. Whittaker,” she apologized in a soft tone. One that made me feel… different.
Protective.
“It’s not your fault.” I stepped forward and carefully avoided touching her when I took the heavy book bag from her.
“I brought those. I promise I’m not steal—” My good intentions fell at the wayside as my free hand rose between us and the tips of my fingers touched her lips.
“What kind were you going to make?” I had no idea why I was asking or why the hell I was touching her.
But fuck me, I couldn’t stop.
I took a deep breath, and a sweetness filled my lungs. One that filled my heart and soul as quickly as a lightning bolt rushed through the sky and hit a damn tree. Her vanilla and sugar scent mixed with something else. Something I couldn’t place exactly. Almost like a hint of cinnamon.
“Chocolate chip with walnuts.”
“Those are my favorite,” I shared, and her eyes glittered.
“Mine, too.” She smiled, and I lost sight of her pretty green eyes. They dropped to the floor, almost like she was trying to hide the way she blushed. Something panged inside my chest.
“How old are you?” I asked, once again overstepping and digging myself into a deeper hole.
One I had a feeling I’d never get out of.
Not because I couldn’t, but I wouldn’t want to.
“Twenty-one. I’ll be twenty-two on New Year’s Eve.” Jesus! She was my kid’s age. I seriously had no business touching her or wanting the things my body was instinctively aching for. But again, it was unstoppable.
“Have you had dinner?” I asked, and she shook her head. “Would you like to stay with me? I’ll order pizza, and we can bake cookies together,” I offered like a fucking idiot. A crazy one.
It was wrong.
The way my body reacted to the girl in front of me was not right. I’d never felt that way with any other woman in my forty-one years of breathing. Shit. I should have offered to take her home and hurry her out to get her into a safe place.
Because being around me wasn’t safe for her. But there was something about the way she watched me that had me thinking she had no idea what kind of lion’s den she’d walked into.
She’d lucked out with my walking red flag of a kid. But with me? Shit. She was in bigger trouble.
