Chapter 3
Chapter Three
LEO
Danika had been sitting at my dad’s table for all of ten minutes, and already two things were clear.
First, my daughter was more than just a little enamored with her, especially since she’d recently discovered a love for baking, and the woman sitting beside her had a special kind of gift for it.
And second, my son was more than just a little in love with her.
It wasn’t all that surprising, really. After all, Danika was gorgeous, could bake like a dream, and was just as sweet at the food she created. In other words, she was every hormonal fifteen-year-old boy’s kryptonite. Even I wasn’t totally immune.
Her eyes twinkled with every laugh and smile, and she did both frequently.
Her eyes were big, taking up so much of her face, they would have looked ridiculous on anyone else, but on her heart-shaped face, with her delicate cheekbones and pillowy lips, she looked like a china doll.
She was beautiful, but not in that classic way my ex was.
She had the most interesting face I’d ever seen, a face you could stare at for hours and never get tired of looking at it.
I swore my boy was about to expire every time she aimed a smile his way or laughed at one of his jokes. An intense crush had formed in those few minutes, and as I sat there, quietly watching with my chin resting in my hand, I couldn’t blame Hardin one damn bit.
“Have your parents always lived across the street?” Macie asked, her words garbled and her cheeks bulging from the huge bite of the cream puff she’d just taken.
“For as long as I’ve been around at least,” she answered, her voice soft and silky. She lifted her thumb to her mouth and closed her lips around the pad, sucking off a bit of cream that had fallen from the pastry. Watching those full, cherry lips made something stir deep in my gut.
“So you’ve known our dad your whole life?”
She turned a small, shy grin to me. It only lasted for a second before she looked back to my daughter, but it was more than enough. Just one microscopic grin and that stirring grew even more intense. Hell, I was as bad off as my son. “In a way, yeah.”
“What do you mean?” Hardin asked, cocking his head to the side in curiosity. “You guys weren’t friends?”
“Well, your dad’s older than I am, so we had different friends.”
“But you still went to high school together, right?” he continued. “I mean, at least for a couple years. You guys didn’t hang out then?”
“Oh, uh . . .” She paused, and I got the sense she was trying to figure out the right way to answer that question. “We didn’t really run in the same circles,” she answered diplomatically.
That stirring tightened into an uncomfortable knot as I thought back to my childhood and teenage years.
Why hadn’t Danika and I been friends?
If I was being honest with myself, my memories of her from back then were hazy at best. I knew for certain she didn’t look like the woman sitting in front of me now, but if I’d been forced to call up certain details about her from childhood, I would have failed.
That two-year age gap between us seemed astronomical back then, and all I knew for certain was that, by the time she was old enough to hit high school, I’d already been with Whitney.
And as a pathetic hormone-riddled teenager, all I cared about was the fact she was letting me have sex with her, so nothing else really registered to me.
I suddenly felt like the world’s biggest asshole for never noticing this woman properly.
“I wouldn’t care if we ran in different circles or not,” Hardin declared passionately. “If you were at my school with me, we’d hang out all the time.”
Her gray eyes grew soft on my boy, nearly making him melt in his chair. “You’re really sweet.” She leaned closer and lowered her voice like she was divulging a secret. “But I was super nerdy back then,” she confessed, wrinkling her nose up adorably. “And I was really shy.”
“Did you know our mom too?” Macie asked, pulling Danika’s focus her way. Something flashed across her expression just then. Something I couldn’t quite get a read on, but it left an uncomfortable feeling prickling at my skin nonetheless.
“A little. Not very well. But like I said, we all ran in different circles,” she answered. Her tone was still gentle, but it was almost stilted, like it was a struggle to get the words out.
“You ever feel like goin’ back, you just let me know,” Hardin said, his chest puffing out a bit. “I play football and baseball, so I’m pretty well known. You’d be hangin’ with the cool kids in no time.”
Her head fell back on a long belly laugh, the sweet sound of it and the sight of all that long, glossy hair trailing down her back made my gut tighten and my dick begin to swell. Christ, she had an incredible laugh.
“Thank you for the offer, Hardin, however I think my high school days are long over. But it’s really cool you play the same sports your dad did.”
I sat up a bit straighter at that, shock steeling my spine. “You knew what I played?”
Her eyes came to me, her creamy, porcelain cheeks staining pink. “Well . . . yeah.”
I wasn’t sure why I liked hearing that so goddamn much.
My gaze remained locked with hers from across the table, and the longer it held, the darker that attractive blush on her cheeks got.
This time she didn’t look away. It was as if she was frozen, at least until my daughter spoke up again.
“Baseball season’s starting up soon, and the booster club is holding a bake sale at the first game to raise money for the team.
You should totally sign up. Ms. Nona’s making her muffins, and everybody knows her muffins are awesome, but your stuff is even better. ”
“Yeah,” Hardin chimed in, more animated than I’d seen him in quite some time. “I bet if you sell some of your stuff there, we’ll make a ton of money. Probably won’t have to do another fundraiser for the rest of the year.”
Danika’s eyes darted back and forth between my kids. “Oh, um . . .”
“That’s a great idea,” I added. “You should do it, darlin’.”
“Okay . . . yeah. I guess I could sign up,” she said shyly.
“Yes,” Macie cried. “You could make those lemon bars like you gave Pop tonight. Those things are the best.”
“No, your éclairs,” Hardin insisted, looking at Danika like she’d just hung the moon. “Best éclairs in the whole world.”
Macie shot her brother a killing look. “No, the bars. They’re my favorite.”
“If you like them, honey, I could give you the recipe,” Danika said, easily snuffing out World War III that was about to happen at the table. She lowered her voice conspiratorially and winked at Macie, saying, “Just as long as you promise to never, ever give it to anyone else.”
“I promise,” Macie whispered, awe in her voice, like Danika had just offered her a map to a buried treasure or something.
“Okay then. We have a deal. And they’re really easy. You and your mom could make them together, no problem.”
My stomach sank as my baby girl’s gaze dropped down to the table, and when she spoke next, all the enthusiasm had disappeared from her voice. “My mom doesn’t really like that kinda stuff in the house.”
“Well, um, maybe your dad then?” She looked at me for help, hating the defeat on my daughter’s face just as much as me.
“Dad’s pretty lousy in the kitchen,” Hardin said, and my attention quickly cut to him.
“Thanks, bud.”
He shrugged, the smirk he was trying to hide pulling desperately at his lips. It was more than I’d gotten from him in a year, so I’d damn well take it. “Just statin’ facts.”
“I’ll have you know, there are some meals I can make really well.” Turning my focus back to Danika, I added, “Just not very many of them.”
My old man spoke next, sending the case home. “To give you a reference, his cookin’s somewhere between that petrified turkey and the Jell-O mold full of cat food on Christmas Vacation.”
I could have argued. I mean, I wasn’t that bad, but I was too lost in the sound of Danika’s laughter to say a word.
“Well, I guess I could teach you sometime,” she told Macie before turning to me. “That is, if it’s okay with you?”
“Please, Daddy. Please?” Macie pleaded, clasping her hands in front of her chest.
It was a struggle for me to deny my girl anything, but if it meant getting more time in with Danika, it was a no-brainer. “Fine with me. We’ll get somethin’ worked out.”
Macie’s fists shot into the air. “Yes!”
Too soon after that, Danika stood from her chair, clasping her empty coffee mug in her hands. “It’s getting kind of late. I should head home; I have an early morning tomorrow.”
“Leave the mug, darlin’,” Dad said, rising to his feet the same time I did.
“I’ll take care of that.” She did as ordered and came around the table for a hug filled with familiarity, and I was once again hit with the ugly reminder that, while she and my dad appeared close, this was the most time I’d ever spent in the company of the girl who’d lived right across from me for years.
“Thanks for the sweets and the company, Dani girl.”
“Pleasure’s all mine, Jed. Talk to you soon.” She placed a kiss on his cheek and stepped back. A second later, she was returning the hug Macie had shot in to give her.
“I’ll see you soon?” my girl asked, looking up at her with excitement.
“Sure will, honey,” Danika answered softly, smiling beautifully at my baby girl as she brushed a lock of hair from her forehead. “I’ll look forward to it.”
Hardin was standing at the end of the table with his shoulders back and chin tilted like he was trying to make himself look even bigger as she stepped up to him. He extended his hand and cleared his throat before saying, “Really good meetin’ you, Ms. Dani. You know, like in person.”
She graced him with a giggle and took his hand, lifting up on her tiptoes and pressing a kiss on his cheek, same as she’d done with my father. “You too, Hardin. And I’ll talk to Nona about that bake sale sign-up.”