As much as I usually didn’t mind lingering after work—especially since Theo had become almost aggressively insistent that I not go home and cook a second dinner for myself—I’d already eaten with Charlotte so I could slip out as soon as he arrived. I wanted him to have his time with his daughter and her grandparents without me hovering awkwardly in the background.
When Theo pulled into the driveway, and the garage door lifted, I slipped into the kitchen and grabbed my purse from the hook by the pantry.
The door to the garage opened a moment later.
He stepped inside, his tie already loosened.
“Heading out already?” he asked, a flicker of surprise crossing his face when he saw me standing there with my purse over my shoulder. Then he added lightly, “Got a hot date you’re headed to meet or something? Miles, perhaps?”
“No.” I huffed. “I was just trying to get out of your hair before Charlotte’s grandparents got here.”
“Oh.” He nodded. “I guess that makes sense.”
I gestured toward the pile by the door. Charlotte’s little pink suitcase sat upright, flanked by a blanket and what looked like an entire stuffed-animal-rescue mission.
“I told her she could only bring three stuffed animals, but she insisted on five. Hopefully, they won’t mind taking a zoo with them.”
“Sounds about right,” he said with a quiet chuckle, crouching to inspect the lineup. Bandit the raccoon, Fluffy the bunny, and three other fuzzy companions stared back at him.
He stood again and looked at me. “Thank you so much for getting that all ready. You’re a lifesaver.”
He said it sincerely.
And the way his green eyes held mine for a second too long made my heart do something embarrassing and fluttery.
Dang it.
The man really was unfairly good-looking.
“Just doing my job,” I said, shifting my purse strap on my shoulder and trying to sound unaffected.
“Well,” he replied, softer now, “I’d be lost without you.”
That did not help.
It felt a littletoogood to hear that. To know I was helping. That he noticed.
“Happy to help,” I said quietly.
“They’re here!” Charlotte suddenly shrieked from the living room, jumping up from the couch and racing toward the front door. She yanked at the handle, thwarted by the child safety lock. “Open it! Open it!” she demanded, bouncing in place.
Theo stepped past me to get to the door, his arm grazing my side in the process. The brush was brief, probably accidental.
But it was enough to send warm shivers through my whole body.
And the faint trace of his cologne that met my nostrils was a very nice touch, too.
He opened the door just as a sleek black sedan parked in front of the house.
Charlotte bolted outside without hesitation.
And sure enough, the driver stepped out first, moving to open the back door.
Yep.
Definitely the kind of grandparents who had someone else drive them.
The back door of the sedan opened smoothly, and a tallman with silver hair stepped out first. He barely had time to straighten before Charlotte launched herself at him.