10. Kevin

KEVIN

Lexi’s giggles met me as I opened the door from the garage into the kitchen. My favorite melody in the world was quickly followed by what had become my second favorite sound, CJ’s husky chuckle. When I’d hired the man, I’d been so sure this wouldn’t work out, but I’d ended up with so much more than I couldve ever hoped for or imagined. Not only did Lexi have an amazing caretaker, but he’d become my friend.

And that was okay. True, I was his boss, but George was mine, and it worked out fine. Okay, yes, this was a little different since I was CJs employer, and George and I both technically worked for Dawson, but potato, potahto. What mattered was I hadnt crossed any lines with my daughter’s manny in the physical sense.

Not that I didnt want to. Not that I didnt think about it all of the time. Nope. I didnt continually shove thoughts of our incredible few hours together down. No, what mattered was my little girl and how much she adored the man who Id hired to care for her. Yeah, that was it, and Id deny anything else.

“Im gonna catch you, Lexi.”

“No,” she screeched, rounding the corner quickly with one of her little toy trucks in her hand. She finally realized I was home and squealed, “Daddy.” She crawled in my direction as quickly as her little body would take her.

As I dropped to a crouch in front of her, CJ rounded the corner. “Vroom. Vroom. Im coming for you.”

“Help me, Daddy. Da big tuck wants to eat my car.”

“What?” I asked, laughing.

Lexi came to a complete stop and lifted the toy vehicle in her hand up toward my face. “Cars, Daddy. So many cars.”

“Oh, thats a nice car, Lex-Lex. Where did you get that?” My eyes flicked past my daughter toward the big man crawling around on his knees with her big car carrier truck. For the first time, I noticed that it was full of Matchbox cars. He grinned sheepishly.

“Day CJ’s cars, Daddy. From when he was little like me.”

My gaze bounced back to him. “What?”

He sat back on his butt, knees in the air, and leaned his hairy forearms across them. I gulped. Damn, how was every part of this man’s body so sexy to me?

“I knew my mom had saved these from when I was a kid. They were like my favorite things in the whole world. When I was over there for family dinner on Sunday, I asked her if they were in the attic. She said yes, and I planned to go up and search for them, but Id promised my nephews Id play cards with them. My dad sent me a text yesterday that my mom had sent him up searching for them, and he found them. Thats where I went last night after dinner. I ran to my parents’ house.”

My thoughts all jumbled together. He’d purposefully brought these for my daughter to play with? He’d gone to his parents’ house? I hated to admit it, but I’d been gutted when he left last night instead of staying for our new dinner, dessert, and movie time ritual. Luckily, hed been back in just over an hour, and it had embarrassed me how relieved Id been. Not that he hadnt had enough time for a quick hook-up, but it couldnt have been a real date or anything with how fast he’d returned home. Not that this was his home, but he’d stopped spending the night out on the weekends, and he had a room here, so… For fuck’s sake. If my confusion over my own response last night hadn’t messed with my head enough, now here he was telling me that hed run to his parents’ to pick up something for my little girl.

“Daddy, come see. Deres so many.”

I ran my hand over my little girl’s silky curls. “Well, I’d better come see then.”

She bobbed her head up and down. “Yeah, Daddy. It’s da best.”

When I stood up, she grabbed my hand and dragged me to the playroom. In the middle of the room was a large bin filled with multiple carrying cases of all types of little toy cars.

Helplessly, I turned to CJ. “You brought all of these for her to play with?”

The larger man shrugged his shoulders and held out his hands. “Dont worry. I already found a place for the bin. It wont get in the way.”

I wasn’t worried about where we’d put them. The whole house had been overrun by everything Lexi since before she was even born. Since she was already completely distracted by her new toys, I stepped closer to him. “Shes going to think she can keep them,” I hissed. “And what if she loses some or breaks them?”

CJ moved in closer, leaving us in the same position as that first night at Rafters. Close enough that the warmth from his body felt like it was reaching for me, trying to draw me in closer. Maybe that was just me, wanting to be enveloped in his heat. “These are a gift for her to do what she will. I dont expect them back.”

My eyes widened. “CJ, you cant do that. You said your mother kept them for your children.”

His gaze slipped from my face to my daughter, where she happily drove two cars toward each other. “You should have seen her face when I brought them in from my car this morning. It was magical.”

I stared up at the side of his face and wondered if he understood just how magical I thought he was. This man was upending my whole world with his kindness, the way he doted on my daughter, how he fixed all of our meals and paid so much attention to us. Jesus. What was I going to do with him?

“Kevin, is this okay?” He searched my eyes, concern written all over his face. “Did I overstep?”

“No.” I shook my head. “Its just…that was just really so considerate of you.”

Looking pleased, he gripped my bicep. “You had me worried there for a second.”

The urge to raise up on my toes and thank him with a kiss or perhaps drop to my knees and give him an even more pleasurable thank you clawed at me. CJ’s orbs darkened to a gray-blue, and I shuddered.

“Daddy, come pay.” Lexi’s little voice dragged me out from the midst of the storm of emotions I’d been battling since last night. The low of him leaving, the sheer relief of him coming back so quickly, the confusion of my own thoughts, and now something that felt like more than simple gratitude at his presence in our lives. Taking the reprieve my daughter offered, I imprinted the feel of CJ’s fingers wrapped around my arm into my mind. I’d been so worried about being his employer and doing something wrong physically that it hadn’t occurred to me that I might actually be the vulnerable one here.

CJ

“Is someone knocking at the door?”I asked as I opened the box in the middle of the kitchen table. At the four-week mark, Kevin had declared Wednesdays pizza night.

“Door, Daddy.”

With confusion stamped across his face, Kevin rose from his seat at the table. “Who the heck could this be?”

Lexi jumped down and sped ahead of him. “Come on, Daddy.”

He chuckled as he followed her, then I heard the sounds of him unlocking and opening the front door. “What are you guys doing here?” floated back to me, along with Lexi’s squealed, “Aunt Margie.”

An unfamiliar masculine voice said, “What kind of greeting is that? Aren’t you happy to see us?”

Kevin sputtered, “Of course I am. But why are you here?”

“I told you we should call first,” a womans voice said, humor in her tone.

“Come on, Aunt Margie.”

The womans laughter grew closer, and I turned to face their direction, sad that our dinner was interrupted. Kevin had guests now, so Id take my pizza upstairs so they could visit uninterrupted.

Lexi reappeared in the arms of a pretty blonde woman who was followed closely by a man who appeared a few years older than Kevin. Both smiled in my direction as he came toward me with an outstretched hand. “Hi, you must be CJ. Im George. We thought it was about time we met the man spending so much time with our niece.”

“Uh, hello.” As I shook his hand, I flipped a glance at Kevin.

He looked all kinds of embarrassed as he shrugged his shoulders at me, walking over and slumping into his normal seat. “Were about to have pizza. You might as well join us.” I bit back a smile at his pouty tone and how much it reminded me of his daughter when she didn’t get her way. Did this mean he was as upset at our typical evening being interrupted as I was?

The woman huffed. “I know my husband is rude, but arent you going to introduce me?”

Kevin straightened quickly. “Im sorry, Margie. CJ, George is my ex-best friend and boss, and this is his wife, Margie. Normally, Id say shes the nice one, but she did let him show up without calling first.”

She rolled her eyes, then, holding Lexi in one arm, she reached the other out and shook my hand as well. “Nice to meet you, CJ.”

“Hello.”

Lexi grabbed the womans face between her little hands, squishing her cheeks. “CJs my manny, Aunt Margie. I wove him.”

The woman—Margies—face softened. “Oh, honey, Im so happy to hear that.”

Lexis head bobbled, unruly curls going everywhere, as she nodded. “Yeah. He pays with me and colors and cooks good food.” She leaned closer to Margie’s ear in an attempt to whisper. “Better den Daddy and Nana.”

Margie smiled over at me. “He does, does he? No surprise with your father”—said father scowled in her direction—“but your grandma’s a great cook so that’s saying something.”

Lexi squirmed, and Margie deposited her into her chair. “Yep, so yummy, but dis is pizza night.”

“Yes,” I said. “Please sit. There’s plenty.”

Margie shook her head. “No, thank you. We had dinner before we came.”

George rubbed his hands together briskly. “Not that we’re not happy to join you. Ill never say no to a slice of pizza.”

Margie snorted. “No, you really won’t.”

Kevin huffed.

Picking up a paper plate, I laid two pieces on one for myself. “Ill take this up to my room so you guys can visit.”

Responses came at me from all directions. “Where you goin’, CJ?”

“No, please stay.”

“But I was looking forward to getting to know you.”

But the response that meant the most, the one that set butterflies fluttering in my belly, came from the man whod stolen my heart. “Why would you go upstairs? This is your home. If anything, George should leave.”

Before I could respond, George wadded up a napkin, throwing it across the table at Kevin. “Why you picking on me? And why does Margie get to stay?”

Kevin picked up his slice and said, “Because I like her better.” Then he took a large bite of his slice.

Lexi peered at her dad through narrowed eyes. “Dat not very nice, Daddy.”

I dropped my head, shaking it slowly and gazed up at Kevin from under my lashes. “No, Kevin. It’s really not. We need to set a good example for our girl.”

A sharp inhalation of breath sent my attention back to Margie. “Are you okay?”

She gave me a shaky smile, but George smirked at Kevin like the cat who caught the canary and rubbed a circle between his wifes shoulder blades. “She’s fine. No worries here.”

Confused, I turned back to Kevin, whose cheeks had gone a delicate pink. “What just happened? I feel like Im missing something.”

George pulled out a chair for his wife and settled her into it, then sat down next to her and grinned at me, wiggling his eyebrows. “Nope.” He popped the P like a teenage boy. “I’m pretty sure youve been here for every second.”

Sudden clarity dawned inside of me. Holy shit, George and Margie knew about my hook-up with Kevin, and I’d just called Lexi our girl. I was too busy curiously watching Kevin’s reaction to be embarrassed by it, though.

“It’s awfully cozy in here. And our girl says it’s pizza night. It’s just so…domestic.”

“Shut it, George,” Kevin muttered, before shoving another huge bite into his mouth.

Margie raised her hand up to cover her mouth and nose and pretended she was sniffing, but we all knew she was giggling.

“Whats wrong, Aunt Margie? You have cold?”

Margie cleared her throat, then dropped her hand and reassured Lexi, “No, honey. Im fine. Uncle George was just being silly, and he made me laugh.”

George crossed his arms over his barrel chest and leaned back all kinds of smug. “Im just keeping it real.”

Kevin groaned, keeping his attention focused entirely on his meal. I felt like I was at a tennis match, my head, going from man to man to see what would happen or what would be said next. George winked at me, but Margie drew my attention. “Ignore them, CJ. Tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you become a manny?”

I launched into the story of how I became a manny, finding a new friend in Margie the longer we talked. And unless I was reading the room wrong—which I was pretty sure I wasn’t—I’d found a couple of allies in the silent campaign I was waging to win Kevin’s heart.

The couple stayed until Lexi was yawning, and it was time to put her to bed. We’d missed out on our evening TV viewing, but it had been a really fun night, and it did my heart good watching Kevin interact with his best friend. I’d missed my normal time with the father-daughter duo, but there was always tomorrow.

As Aunt Margie and Uncle George took turns hugging Lexi goodbye, Kevin leaned toward me and whispered, “I don’t suppose you’d like to watch a grown-up movie with me after I put Lexi to bed?”

Laughing, I asked, “A real honest-to-goodness grown-up movie? Not Trolls or Cars?”

He shuddered. “No, after subjecting you to an evening with George, I feel like I owe you some actual adult entertainment.”

“Hey,” George said, throwing an arm around Kevin’s shoulders. “I resemble that remark, but I agree. You two should change into comfy clothes and watch a movie. Alone. Together.” He waggled his eyebrows.

Kevin’s cheeks pinkened, but instead of sending him running and hiding like I thought it would, he elbowed his friend. “Get out of my house.” Then, to me, he said, “I’ll see you in a few.” When he retrieved his daughter, he kissed Margie goodnight on the cheek and disappeared upstairs.

Once his footsteps faded, George gazed at me with a speculative gleam in his eyes. “So?—”

“Nope.” Margie clapped her hand over his mouth, cutting him off. “They’re grown men. They don’t need your help.” Then she winked at me and marched her husband toward the front door. Before closing it, she turned back to me and mouthed, “Good luck.”

Damn. Was I that obvious? Maybe so, but I had no time to dwell on that. I was going to take George’s suggestion and change my clothes, and then I’d make us popcorn to eat with our movie. Yes, that was exactly what I’d do.