Chapter Two
Austin
Going home to no air conditioning wasn’t the way I planned to celebrate my good news.
The AC people will be over later to fix the unit, so I’ll have to deal in the meantime.
I pull into the garage, turn off the engine, and walk into the house, the sound of the alarm beep drowned out by music playing.
I step inside, feeling the heat immediately. Damn, it is a hot September. I glance down the hall into the kitchen, where my daughter is wearing a bathing suit and standing in a ballet pose, arms above her head.
“Like this. See? Copy me,” she says to Mia, who complies, her legs contorting into whatever position Bailey demands.
Legs I can’t stop staring at. Strong calves, tanned from playing outside with my daughter and long enough to wrap around my waist while I pound into her. Way not to think about her that way, I think, annoyed with myself.
I adjust my dick and wait in silence until they are finished dancing, giving my body a chance to calm down before announcing myself.
After Bailey twirls around and curtsies, I step out of the shadows, clapping. “Great job!”
“Daddy!”
She runs to me, and as usual, I scoop her into my arms. “Tell me about your first day of dance class. Looks like you already learned something.”
I listen to her chattering, paying attention so I’ll know when to nod, understanding I won’t be getting a word in edgewise and my mind still preoccupied with Mia.
“Who’s ready for me to order pizza?” she asks as she shuts off the music on her phone.
“Can I have plain?” Bailey asks. “I don’t like the roni things Daddy likes.”
“Pepperoni,” I say, “and it’s delicious.” I tap her nose. “Order half plain,” I say to Mia. “I’ll be back down in a few minutes.” I place Bailey down, and I start for the stairs.
“Austin?” Mia calls out.
“Yes?”
“Did you see a car parked on the end of the street when you came home? It was there all day and I just thought it was odd.”
I shake my head. “I came in the back way. I’ll go out to the front door and take a look,” I say, my stomach suddenly in knots for reasons I can’t put into words.
When I step onto the porch and look down the street, a black car is sitting on the corner, too far away for me to grab the license plate. Not that I have a reason to run down the plate. But any time something odd goes on, my thoughts and fears always turn to my ex-wife.
She made it a habit to hit me up for money, both when we were married and when she left me the first time. It wouldn’t be odd for her to want something and scope out the lay of the land before approaching me.
I narrow my gaze on the car in the distance. The sedan isn’t in front of my house, but alongside a copse of trees on a common area where people aren’t allowed to build homes. The car suddenly pulls away from the curb, does a half turn, and drives off the street.
I shut the door behind me, but the uneasy feeling lingers. Pushing it aside for now, I head upstairs to change into a pair of sweats and a tee shirt and wash up before dinner.
A little while later, we are seated around the dinner table. Everyone’s stomachs are full from pizza and our ears from Bailey’s chatter.
“I have news,” I say, my gaze on my daughter. “I changed my schedule up at work, and in a few weeks, I’ll be working from home. No more weird late-night hours.” I glance at Mia, who toys with her food, finding I can’t read her expression or thoughts on the matter.
“Yay!” Bailey claps her hands. “You can play with me when you’re home!”
I meet Mia’s now amused gaze. “Ummm, I’ll be working and you’ll be in school, but if you need me, I’ll be here. And no more missed dinners.” Or danger, which is the key reason for the change, not that I’ll mention that to my six-year-old.
“That sounds good,” Mia says, but she bites down on her bottom lip, clearly taken aback by the news.
“Don’t worry. I won’t be underfoot. My boss will keep me plenty busy, and I’ll be going into the office for regular meetings.”
Her lips twitch in a half smile. “If you say so,” she says somewhat neutrally, although I hear the uncertainty in her tone.
If I were a betting man, I’d say she’s come to the same conclusion I already have. With Bailey in school, we’ll be around each other more. Alone without a buffer, making it that much more difficult to keep any simmering feelings under wraps.
* * *
Mia
The week flies by, and the weekend arrives.
From high eighties, the temperature falls to the mid-sixties, typical Connecticut fall weather.
Unusually, I have Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday to myself.
Although I am on call if Austin needs me.
Today, Bailey’s grandparents are here to visit, and Austin and his parents take Bailey and her friend Lisa for an early morning at the Bronx Zoo before the lines become crazy.
Mrs. Rhodes extended an invitation, but I didn’t feel right intruding on family time if they don’t need me to work, and they insist they don’t.
The last thing I want to do is join them and pretend to be like the big, happy family we aren’t.
I know my place, and I plan to stay there no matter how hard it is slowly becoming.
I sleep in and then decide to take a walk around the neighborhood in the gorgeous fresh air, something that has become a ritual while Bailey is in school. As I round the corner where that odd black car parked earlier in the week, I am relieved to see it is no longer there.
I would love to walk a dog on my trips around the block, but it isn’t my place to suggest a pet to Austin.
Even if I did think a puppy would be good for Bailey.
One of the foster homes I lived in had a mixed-breed dog that slept at the foot of my bed.
I know many people weren’t as lucky as I was in foster care, which is the reason I want a big family of kids someday.
Kids I rescue from the system as I hadn’t been.
I round the corner back to the house, unnerved to now see the same car idling on the corner, only to have it pull away as I reappear on the street. I rush inside and shut the door behind me, heart racing but I don’t know why. I’ll just have to mention the car to Austin again.
I head to shower and I change into a comfortable pair of black leggings and an oversized shirt. I skip makeup and pull my hair into a messy wet bun on top of my head.
Austin texts me to let me know they are on their way home, and I walk downstairs to put out the cold cuts, bread, and salads for lunch.
Soon after, the alarm chime goes off, announcing their return. The side door opens, and the girls tumble in, giggling and laughing, the adults behind them.
“Mia! We saw gorillas!” Bailey yells, her excitement making her voice carry.
“They were so funny,” Lisa says, a grin on her face.
Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes walk in behind the girls, followed by Austin.
A baseball cap is backwards on his head and he wears a casual sweatshirt and jeans, a delicious look for the man usually in black slacks and white dress shirt I consider his work uniform.
I tear my gaze from his sexy self and glance at his parents.
They are a good-looking couple, making it easy to see where Austin gets his looks, and they are warm and sweet, and it is obvious how much they dote on their granddaughter.
“Tell me about gorillas!” I say, catching Austin’s shake of the head and finger over his lips too late.
Oops, guess I wasn’t supposed to ask that.
“The gorilla was playing with his privates!” Bailey says on a shriek, followed by uncontrollable laughter—hers, Lisa’s, and even Austin’s parents’.
To my shock, a red flush tints Austin’s cheeks. His daughter embarrassed him. Oh my God, how adorably sexy.
I swallow hard. “Okay, come settle down and eat, and you can tell me about the other animals you saw,” I say to the girls. Hopefully the others were better-behaved than the gorillas.
Austin shoots me a thankful glance, laughter dancing in his eyes. I grin, and that sexual attraction simmers along my nerve endings.
“Mia, you really should have come along. It was fun to see the various animals. You would have enjoyed it,” Sarah Rhodes says, her voice kind.
She has short, dark hair and brown eyes that remind me of her son’s, while Austin is the spitting image of his father, John, but the older man’s eyes are a mossy green. If his father is anything to go by, Austin will age well, not that I have any doubt.
“I appreciate it, but I had a nice morning. It was good for Bailey to be with her family.” I smile at the other woman.
“Mia, this looks wonderful. Thank you,” Austin’s dad says, walking over to the counter where I set out a variety of options for lunch. “Let’s eat!”
I laugh as the girls beat him to the counter, grabbing plates and putting together their sandwiches.
“You snooze, you lose, Dad.” Austin glances at the girls. “Easy on the mustard, Bailey Button,” he warns just as she squirts too much onto her bread.
“I’ll help them,” his mother says.
With all the commotion, the sound of the doorbell is muffled, but I pick up on it, as does Austin, his gaze flickering with a question toward the front of the house.
“I’ll get it!” I walk out of the room and stride to the door. “Who is it?”
When no one answers, I peek out the side glass pane and see a woman impatiently pacing back and forth. I open the door partway.
“Can I help you?”
An attractive brunette with a cool stare meets my gaze.
“I want to see my daughter.”
I go mute. Nothing prepared me for the eventuality of Austin’s ex, Bailey’s mother, showing up on our doorstep and demanding access to her daughter.
Wearing a bandage-style dress that is more appropriate for a nightclub than a visit with her child, she assesses me, looking me up and down.
Considering I dressed down, as I always do for my job, I doubt this woman finds anything worth noting.
I swallow hard, my hand still on the edge of the door, not opening it entirely. “I’ll have to talk to Austin.”
“Austin, is it? And just who the hell are you?”