We were only about fifteen feet away from the group of guys at the doors, so I lowered my voice as I asked, “How is losing a bet and doing extra work lucky?”
“’Cause it meant I was the one who you almost bumped into in the parking lot.”
Whoa! Even after I was a complete dork, the hot cop was flirting with me. He didn’t give me the chance to react before he led me into the gym with his hand at the small of my back. I heard someone cry out, and then he set my bag on the floor as he stepped away from me. I felt the loss of the heat from his hand, but I understood why he’d moved it when a little girl came running across the room towards us.
Those panties that’d just about melted out in the parking lot? They were joined by my ovaries that went boom at the sight of those muscular arms lifting up a dainty girl with long, dark hair and blue eyes that were a perfect match for the hot cop’s.
Chapter 3
Leo
“Hey, baby girl. You all ready—”
My daughter didn’t let me finish my question before she squirmed in my arms and asked, “We aren’t leaving yet! You didn’t forget, did you Daddy? You have hair class tonight so you can learned all about how to make my hair pretty.”
“It’s learn, not learned,” I corrected her out of habit. I chuckled at my daughter’s exasperated sigh, but then my attention shifted to the sexy teacher I’d helped into the building when she struggled a little with lifting her tote bag off the floor. “Maybe we should help your teacher get set up since you’re so excited for this class.”
Lynn’s blue eyes darted over to the woman and widened. Her voice was soft as she asked, “Are you gonna teach my daddy how to do my hair?”
“I sure am, sweetie.”
The smile she aimed at my daughter was soft and sweet, making her even more stunning. Lynn had inherited my keen eye for observation and wasn’t one to keep her thoughts to herself, so I wasn’t surprised when she turned to me and whispered loudly enough for most of the room to hear, “She’s really pretty, Daddy!”
With her dark hair hanging down her back about an inch past her bra line, wide brown eyes fringed with the longest lashes I’d ever seen, plump pink lips that were begging to be kissed, round tits encased in what looked like it might be a pale, lacy bra from the glimpse I’d gotten when she bent over, and the perfect ass her jeans showed off; the sexy teacher was more than just pretty. Judging by the looks the other dads were giving her, including the married ones, I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.
She was too damn gorgeous for her own good. And mine too. My eyes locked with hers as I answered my daughter. “She sure is.”
Lynn continued in the same whisper-shout, “Do you think she can make my hair as pretty as hers?”
“Your hair is already as pretty as mine. Prettier even.” She hefted the bag up onto the round table closest to her and started to pull a bunch of girly shit out of it. “But I can help your daddy with things like putting it up in the perfect ponytail or maybe even a French braid if he has enough patience to learn how.”
“Ooh! A French braid!” Lynn wiggled out of my hold and smiled at both of us, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “That’s what I want Daddy to learn! He can do it. I know he can ‘cause my daddy can do anything if he tries hard enough.”
Those big, brown eyes of hers took on a wicked gleam that had my cock pressing against the zipper of my pants. “I’m sure he can.”
I willed that fucker back down, stunned that she’d gotten such a strong reaction out of me in front of my daughter. I was the boss of my cock, not the other way around. Except when I was around this woman apparently—and I didn’t even know her name yet. If that wasn’t a sign of how out of practice I was when it came to women, I didn’t know what else could be. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to back away and let one of the vultures circling us swoop in and steal the sexy teacher away from me. I just needed to brush off my dusty flirting skills and put them back to work to keep her focus right where it should be. On me.
“He definitely can.” I flashed her a grin that grew wider when a hint of pink swept across her cheeks. Then I set my left hand on my daughter’s shoulder. “This is my baby girl, Lynn.”
“I’m not a baby anymore, Daddy. I’m in kindergarten now,” she huffed.
“Definitely not a baby anymore,” the sexy teacher agreed with a smile.
“You’ll always be my baby girl no matter how old you are,” I told my daughter before switching my attention back to the woman whose grin was as wide as mine had been a moment ago. “And I’m Leo.” I held out my right hand. When her palm slid against mine, it felt like it belonged there. The color in her cheeks darkened, and I had a hunch it was because she felt the spark of our chemistry as much as I did.
“I’m Carrie.”
“Carrie,” I echoed softly, enjoying the sound of her name on my lips.
“Yeah,” she sighed, her hand tightening around mine.
“Can we help you like Daddy asked, Miss Carrie?” Lynn piped in, bouncing on her toes in excitement. “Then we can get to all the fun stuff even faster!”
Carrie tugged her hand out of my grasp, and I reluctantly let it go. “Sure you can, sweetie. How about you take these”—she pulled out a gallon-sized, clear bag of hair elastics in a variety of colors—“and give four of them to each of the girls for their daddies to use when we do ponytails and braids? Do you think you can do that for me?”
“Yes, I can count way past twenty. Up to a hundred sometimes,” Lynn boasted as she took the bag from Carrie and darted over to another table.
We both watched her give one of the other little girls four hair elastics, after digging through the assortment to make sure each one was a different color. Once we were convinced she could handle the task, Carrie turned to me. “Can you set out all the blow dryers, flat irons, and curling wands?”
She lost me somewhere in the middle of that. “I’m not sure what a flat iron or a curling wand is, but I think I can handle it.”
“You’re in charge of anything with a cord,” she explained.
“Perfect.” I nodded. “If it needs electricity, I can definitely figure it out.”
We made quick work of getting everything set up for the class, and then I spent the next hour watching Carrie interact with the girls. I liked how she gave each one her full attention when she was helping perfect a ponytail or fix a braid. What I didn’t like was how often she had to deflect the attention of one of the dads away from flirting with her and back to their daughter’s hair.
I was aware of everything Carrie did, even when I was focused on Lynn’s hair, and I didn’t miss a single time when one of those bastards tried to steal her away from me. Because, yeah, as fucked up as it sounded since I’d only met her barely more than an hour ago, it felt like that’s what they were doing. Going after my woman.
So even though Lynn was thrilled I had perfected the art of the ponytail and braid, I was antsy as hell by the time the class ended. Luckily for me, my baby girl ran over to say goodbye to one of her friends and gave me the opportunity I needed to take the first step in staking my claim over Carrie.
She’d just finished packing up her supplies, and I hefted her tote bag up over my shoulder before she could pick it up herself. “Oh!” she gasped. “You don’t have to help me carry all that back to my car. I can handle it.”
“It’s not a big deal. I’m headed the same way since I’m parked right next to you,” I reminded her.
“Right,” she drawled. “I knew that. I guess I’ll just say thank you then.”
“You doing anything Monday night?”
She shook her head. “I don’t have any plans yet.”
“You wanna show me your gratitude, you can let me buy you dinner.”
Her brown eyes went wide as she titled her head to the side and her dark hair spilled over one shoulder. “Like...on a date? But what about Lynn?” she asked as her gaze searched the room for my daughter.
“You got somethi
ng against single dads?” It’d be odd if she did considering she setup and taught a class to help them do their daughters’ hair, but I’d learned the hard way that women made crazy decisions all the time.
“Of course not! My favorite man in the world is one.”
I took a step back, my eyes dropping to her bare ring finger as my brows went high.
“Not a husband or boyfriend or anything like that. I meant my dad,” she hurried to explain.
Lynn came barreling towards us, and Carrie’s voice trailed off. The three of us headed out the door together, and I put Carrie’s bag on her backseat before I got my daughter situated on her booster seat in my truck. When I swung back around to the driver’s side, Carrie was waiting for me.
“Give me a call when you get the chance, and we can talk about those dinner plans on Monday,” she offered, tugging my hand out and jotting ten digits on it with a black pen. It was an old-school move and cute as fuck.
“You marking me as yours?”
“I guess you’ll have to call me and see,” she laughed, moving around her car to climb into the driver’s seat.
It’d better be a yes since I fully intended to mark her right back as mine. And I planned on being damn quick about it, too. Even after seeing how Nico was with his wife, Sophie, I never believed his stories of what the Mayson’s called “the boom.” I’d figured he was fucking with me about how the guys in his family had all known the instant they met the right woman. Or that if it was true, I assumed I was too jaded after what Jenna had pulled on me to ever be able to even consider letting myself react to a woman the way he’d described. But fuck if I didn’t understand exactly why they called it the boom the minute Carrie crashed into me.
Chapter 4
Carrie
Leo didn’t bother with the stupid games most men played, like making me wait a certain number of days before calling me. Instead, it was barely a few hours later, shortly after he’d put Lynn to bed, when my phone rang. We only had the chance to talk for about ten minutes before she came out of her room and asked him for a drink of water. But then he called again the next night. And the one after that too. So when we met for dinner on Monday night, most of the first date awkwardness was gone since we’d already started to get to know each other over the phone. But no amount of talking would have gotten rid of my nervousness, not with the pull I felt towards him. It was beyond magnetic.
When I spotted him in front of the hostess stand after I walked into the restaurant where we were meeting, it felt like butterflies took flight in my stomach. He was wearing a pair of khaki pants that cupped his ass like it was their job. The material of his long-sleeved, blue shirt that was a close match for the color of his eyes was stretched taut along his broad shoulders and back. He looked insanely hot from behind, and it only got better when he turned to face me.
I almost tripped over my own feet at the punch to my gut I felt seeing the intensity in his eyes when they scanned me from head to toe. I was fascinated by how the blue seemed to deepen a shade...and by the heat in his gaze as he stalked forward to wrap me up in a hug.
“It’s damn good to see you,” he rasped before I felt his lips press against the top of my head. His masculine scent filled my nostrils, going straight to my head…and my panties. Dear lord, the man was a force to be reckoned with, and that was without even trying.
“I’m happy to see you, too.” I stepped out of his embrace and tipped my head back to smile up at him. “Although I’ve got to admit I’m surprised you beat me here.”
“I might be a Southern man who usually has a laidback approach to being on time”—he laced his fingers with mine and led me towards the hostess who was holding two menus while she waited for us— “but not when I have the right motivation.”
I waited until we were seated at our table to respond. “Can I assume I’m the motivation that got you to show up early early instead of Southern early?”
The sexy grin he flashed me got those butterflies swirling in my belly again. “Yeah, you’re safe to assume that.”
“Wow,” I breathed.
Just wow.
I must’ve done something right in my life to have found myself sitting across from a super-hot guy like Leo who had no problem letting me know exactly how interested he was in me. I wished I knew what it was because I’d sure as heck keep it up if this is what I got for whatever it was.
“Not sure why you sound so shocked by that, darlin’.” He reached out and slid his palm against mine, his fingertips sending tingles along my skin where they glided against it. “Any guy worth spending time with you damn well should give you the respect you deserve by getting his ass to a restaurant when he’s supposed to be there. A woman like you should never have to wait on a man. If anything, it should be the other way around.”
“That’s sweet,” I sighed. And oh-so flattering. “But I hope I didn’t make you wait too long.”
Not just because it was rude, but also since only an insane woman would leave a guy like Leo waiting on her. If I left him waiting around for too long, someone else was bound to snap him right up out from under me. I had no doubt that he got hit on by women all the time, and just the thought of it had me grinding my teeth...as ridiculous as that reaction was considering I’d only known him for three days and this was our first date.
“I barely made it here before you.” He gently squeezed my hand before letting it go to pick up his menu. “I’d just checked in with the hostess on our reservation, turned around, and there you were. Looking so fucking gorgeous, I wished we weren’t in such a public place.”
I tugged at the collar of my shirt and cursed myself for choosing my favorite long-sleeved top, even though it made my boobs look fantastic. “Is it suddenly super-hot in here?”
His lips tilted up in a sexy smirk. “Don’t you know, darlin’? The temperature notched up a few extra degrees the second you walked through the door.”
“Whew!” I fanned myself with my menu. “And you just keep on ratcheting it up even more.”
“What can I say? I like to bring the heat.”
“Wow,” I breathed. Again. Because the thought of him and all the heat he’d bring to bed left me speechless and squirming in my seat.
“Too much? You need me to tone it down a bit?”
“Yes.” I thought about it for a second. “Maybe.” Then after another moment. “No. Definitely not.”
“I’m going with your last answer since it’s the one I like the most.”
“That works for me.” I wiggled my menu. “But maybe tone it down a tiny bit so I have enough brain power to figure out what I want to order.”
“Sure, I can do that.” His gaze dropped to my boobs. “But there’s nothing you can do to tone it down, so let’s hope I have enough brain power to find something too.”
My cheeks filled with color, but it was more of a flush than a blush. And it quickly spread across my entire body. I lifted my menu up and opened it, hiding myself from Leo’s view. “There. Problem solved for both of us.”
“I’m a lucky man.”
“How so?” I asked as I scanned the menu and noticed they had one of my favorites, chicken marsala.
“Because you’re beautiful, kind, and smart.” He dropped his menu onto the tabletop at the same moment I did. “And you crashed into me on Friday night, instead of some other guy.”
“I wouldn’t call it crashing exactly,” I argued.
“You’re a tiny thing, but you almost knocked me off my feet.”
“I’m not tiny!” I huffed. “I’m five foot five.”
He quirked one dark eyebrow at me. “Hate to disagree with you, darlin’, but to me that’s tiny.”
“Whatever.”
The waiter walked up as I sighed in frustration, and Leo chuckled softly. But his good humor soon disappeared when the waiter didn’t seem able to lift his gaze from my boobs while I ordered. When Leo loudly cleared his throat, the waiter jerked his head up and took a step back when he looked in Leo
’s direction. I quickly understood why when I caught the muscle jumping in his jaw and the pissed off look in his eyes as he glared at the guy. I stifled a laugh of my own as he gritted out his order and the waiter scurried away as quickly as possible.
“Single dads. Waiters,” he sighed. “You’re gonna keep me on my toes everywhere we go, aren’t you?”
“Possibly.” I set my elbow on the edge of the table, rested my chin on my palm, and leaned forward. “I caught what the waiter did to piss you off, but I’m not sure what you mean by the single dads thing.”
“That’s fine by me. No need for you to get it because I’ll be around to handle them if we run into the same issue again.” His lips kicked up in another smug grin.
I tilted my head to the side and tried to level him with a glare, but the giggle that slipped out ruined the effect.
“You never did say, what gave you the idea for the daddy daughter hair classes?”
I narrowed my eyes at him, shook my head, and then waited while the waiter dropped off our drinks before I answered, “You know how I mentioned that my dad is my favorite guy in the world?”
“You mean when you left me hanging while I thought you were talking about you having a guy in your life?”
“For like half a second, you big baby,” I laughed. “Anyway, he raised me on his own after my mom walked out on us when I was two. It didn’t take long for him to realize how bad he was with my hair, so he took me to get it cut anytime it grew past my shoulders. But when I turned six, I put my foot down and refused to let them anywhere near my hair with a pair of scissors.”
Leo took a sip of a drink as he nodded. “I can see that happening with Lynn if I tried to keep her hair shorter than she likes.”
“My dad didn’t put up much of a fight, but it meant he had to figure out how to do my hair in the mornings so it didn’t look like a rat’s nest after I slept on it. One of the ladies at the salon where he finally broke down to take me took pity on him and scheduled me for her last appointment of the day. After cutting my hair, she spent about an hour showing him how to do pretty much everything.”
Until Leo Page 2
