The man in him watched, admiring Cassie’s laid-back style, with her hair in a ponytail and wearing leggings and an oversize T-shirt that slid off one delicate, creamy shoulder. Her feet were bare and her face was void of any makeup, which was how he’d seen her since he’d arrived. Everything about her screamed country girl.
While the man in him watched, the lost little boy in him turned his attention to Emily. He took in all the delight from the sweet girl still clutching the rope holding up her swing and wondered where her father was. Did the man even know he had a child? Did Cassie have any contact with him?
All the questions forming in his head were absolutely none of his business, yet he couldn’t help but want to know more.
Ian’s gaze traveled from Emily back to Cassie...and he found her looking right back at him with those impressive blue eyes.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, giving the swing another light push.
Ian tried not to focus on the fact that her shirt had slipped in the front, giving him a glimpse of the swell of her breast.
“I heard screaming.” He stepped onto the concrete pad, cursing himself for being drawn in even more. “I wasn’t sure who it was.”
Cassie’s eyes held his for a second before she turned her attention back to the swing. She held on to the ropes, thus bringing Emily’s fun to a screeching halt.
The little girl twisted in her seat to look back at Cassie. Cassie went to the front of the swing, unfastened the safety harness and lifted Emily out.
“We were just heading in for dinner,” Cassie said, propping Emily up on her hip.
Damn if her tilted, defiant chin didn’t make him want to stay longer. Why torture himself? He wanted her physically, nothing more. Yet he found himself being pulled ever so slowly toward her.
“Don’t go in just because of me.”
Emily stared at him with bright, expressive blue eyes like her mother’s. Her hand reached toward him and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching back. The moment he looked into those little baby blues something unidentifiable slid over his heart.
Emily’s tiny hand encircled his finger as a smile spread across her baby face. That innocent gesture touched so many places in him: the child who’d craved attention, the teen who’d needed guidance and the adult who still secretly wished he had a parent who gave a damn without being judgmental.
Ian didn’t miss the way Cassie tensed at the sight of Emily holding on to his finger, but he wasn’t pulling back. How could he deny such an innocent little girl human touch? She was smiling, happy and had no clue the turmoil that surrounded her right now.
“Don’t you have a client you should tend to?” Cassie asked, her meaning that he was not welcome all too clear.
“I already talked with Max after the shooting wrapped and we came back here.” The crew had taken a few shots of the wedding scene in town. “I didn’t see you at the church earlier.”
Cassie reached up, smoothing away blond curls from Emily’s forehead. “I was there. I stayed in the back with Tessa. We didn’t want to get in the way.”
“What did you think of the shoot?”
Why was he still here talking to her? Why didn’t he just leave? He had calls to return, emails to answer, contracts to look over.
Besides the fact a little cherublike toddler had his finger in a vise grip, he could walk away. Cassie had made it clear she didn’t like him, and he certainly wasn’t looking for a woman with a child.
Yet here he stood, talking to her and eagerly awaiting her answer.
“It was perfect,” she said, a soft smile dancing across her lips. “Lily looked exactly like the pictures I’ve always seen of my mother on that day. My father teared up, so I know Lily and Max hit that scene beautifully.”
Ian wiggled his finger, making Emily giggle as she tugged on him. He took a step forward, now being drawn in by two intriguing ladies.
“I think the fans will fall in love with this film,” he told Cassie as his eyes settled on hers. “And your family.”
The pulse at the base of her throat quickened and Ian couldn’t help but smile. Good to know she wasn’t so unaffected. What they’d shared the other night was nothing short of amazing. No matter what transpired afterward, he couldn’t deny that had been the most intense night of his life.
Damn it. Cassie and her innocent daughter were the exact picture of the commitment he could never make.
So how could he be drawn to this woman?
“I just want my father to be happy with the end result,” she told him. “I want people to see what a hard worker he is and that everything didn’t get handed to him.”
Ian couldn’t help but admire her for wanting people to see the other side of Damon Barrington. The man was a phenomenon, and Ian had no doubt whatsoever that this film would be a mega blockbuster.