“Yeah. I’m sure there’s something we could all do to pitch in, right?”
His brows furrowed. “Well, no. Not really.”
I shrugged. “At least you’ll have the best help around,” I teased. His lips twitched, and I considered that a win. “Come on. They can’t go to school now, and I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to work in a bar.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “Blame it on Coyote Ugly.”
Duke barked out a laugh. “You know it’s not that kind of bar, right?”
“Any bar is that kind of bar if you just believe in yourself and the sturdiness of the structure you’re dancing on,” I said, tossing in a wink for good measure.
“What’s Coyote Ugly?” Charlie whispered, looking to Harper. Thankfully, she just shrugged.
“You’re too young to know, and you’ll never find out!” Duke called out.
The girls and I waited on bated breath as the silence stretched on. I wasn’t sure why my stomach was in knots. It was better if he said no, anyway. My email was likely overflowing, and I had several missed calls I needed to return as soon as possible. Yet, here I was, not-so-patiently waiting for him to say yes.
Duke’s loud sigh was all the confirmation we needed to start cheering. “Christ. I’m going to regret this,” he said, walking back into the living room. He’d changed his shirt from last night. It was slightly wrinkled, but I loved that he didn’t care.
“Nope. We’ll be the best helpers ever. Isn’t that right, girls?”
“Totally,” Harper and Charlie agreed.
As the girls ran to drop their backpacks in Harper’s room, Duke turned to me. “About this morning…” He ran a hand through his thick hair. “I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable.”
I couldn’t hold back my laugh. “You’re apologizing for cuddles?”
The blush that crept across his cheeks was adorable. “I mean, yeah. I didn’t mean to cross any lines, or?—”
I put my finger to his lips to stop him from talking. I mayhave lingeredslightlylonger than felt appropriate. “If I didn’t like it, I would’ve said something.”
“You liked it?” he asked, dubiously.
I nodded. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been held like that?”
Alarm bells sounded in my head, warning me to slow the fuck down. We were stepping into unfamiliar territory. I wasn’t sure if I should give him this piece of honesty or let it die with me.
“How long?” His voice was no more than a low rumble.
“Nearly ten years.”
A line formed between Duke’s brows as he did the math. “But Charlie is?—”
“She just turned nine,” I confirmed.
In the entirety of my life, I’d only been with two men. The first was a random guy I met at a frat party my first year of college. I put no stock in the idea of virginity. I had no desire to wait until marriage or for Mr. Right to come along. For me, it was just one more thing to check off a list, honestly.
The second and last was Grady.
Charlie was the result of one of our lowest moments. I’d picked Grady up from the very bar Duke now owned. We came home, both feeling sorry for ourselves for different reasons, and let our bodies work out our frustrations. Then, in the aftermath, we realized we’d foregone a condom.
Nine months later, I gave birth to our daughter, who turned out to be the best thing to ever happen to either of us. It wasn’t planned. Kids weren’t even something we thought would be in the cards for us, honestly. But Charlie had changed both our lives.
It’d only happened once, though.
I thought about dating after the divorce, but it was different now. Social media was full of weirdos looking for a handout,and now that I had a kid, I wasn’t about to trust some random guy I met off the internet. The whole concept seemed like too much work. I didn’t want to spend what little time I had on anyone other than my daughter.