21. Alan
21
ALAN
I t was not a particularly comfortable ride back to Alan’s house with a massive erection that refused to diminish fighting for space in his pants.
Kendra’s kiss lingered on his mouth. Not just the taste of her, slightly peppermint and something earthy, but the feel of her pressure on his lips, the warmth of her breath, and the brush of her tongue.
Had he been too frank in the expression of his feelings? Were they moving too fast? He wasn’t sure what Kendra had been starting to say when Amy interrupted them, but he knew that she’d been startled and had braced himself for a dismissal. She might be hot for him, but she was clearly not interested in attaching herself to a man…and what did he have to offer anyway?
He didn’t expect to work at Tiny Paws indefinitely, and his work with the agency took him all over the world. What kind of boyfriend could he be? What kind of father to Amy?
Which brought his thoughts back around to Amy’s father, a huge, undoubtedly important, gap in his understanding of Kendra.
The temptation was too much, and as soon as Alan got home, he put Kendra’s information into the search field of his Internet browser, hoping for…what? Divorce records?
He microwaved a frozen burrito, realizing that he’d never had dinner, and looked at what came up.
She had a few traffic tickets, and two citations for trespassing in her van, all promptly paid off. No criminal record, no civil cases. No prior marriage or name changes. (Alan told himself he wasn’t relieved. Or disappointed.) She had veterinary certification in Montana, and an expired certificate in Nevada.
There was a bare-bones webpage for her vet service. The photo on the home page was more flattering than her driver’s license. She was holding a baby lamb and standing in front of her van with a squint-eyed smile, sunlight making her golden hair a halo around her. There was a list of general services, a link to her business license, and a contact form. Nothing in her bio gave any clues that Alan didn’t already know. She had a business Facebook page that hadn’t been updated in two years, and an Instagram that had a few more recent photos of baby goats and a few horses. No interactions on either page were more than generic comments, several of them clearly invitations to date or MAKE EASY MONEY FROM HOME.
Alan stopped short of using his agency resources to snoop further. This was all public information, he shouldn’t go further.
There was no father listed on Amy’s day care application, nor on her public birth records, and no relationships were listed on Kendra’s social media.
So where was he? Who was he? Why wasn’t he here being a father to adorable Amy?
Feeling a little like a stalker, Alan shut down his laptop. He was not going to be that guy , even if he thought that he and Kendra could be amazing together and he wanted to know everything about her.
If he wanted to know any more, he would just ask her, Alan decided, stripping off his clothes and he abruptly recalled Kendra’s quiet, sexy account of taking off his shirt first when the air hit his skin. The hard-on was back at the reminder, and a hot, soapy shower was definitely necessary before bed.