She backed up. ‘You wouldn’t dare?’
‘Wouldn’t I?’
She backed up some more, finding her thighs meeting the side table that sported plastic cups, juice jugs and a birthday cake.
‘You’ve nowhere to run, princess.’
She was laughing and serious at once, the conflicting dance making her all the more appealing, all the more flushed. ‘Lily! Lily! Come and rescue me. Your daddy’s going to tickle me.’
‘Coming, Sphea!’ came his daughter’s battle cry, followed by an all-male cry from the rest of the mini-partygoers and suddenly he was attacked, legs, arms, neck, the kids doing their best to take him down. He laughed, swinging this way and that as the kids giggled and cheered each other on.
Sophia relaxed as she realised she was safe, her hand reaching out for his beer bottle as he passed it to her shortly before hitting the floor. And then he became a crawling tickle monster, being tickled and tickling back with more children than he could count.
‘Go easy on him, kids,’ Samantha cooed. ‘We don’t want to scare Lily’s daddy away altogether.’
Sophia laughed, her genuine amusement lifting him inside and making all manner of bruising from the over-zealous tickling he was taking worth it.
She definitely wasn’t scared or fearful of him, of whatever this was, now. Her behaviour, even her words on the doorstep, told him that. And if she wasn’t scared, then why should he be?
They were grown adults going into this with their eyes wide open... What could possibly go wrong?
CHAPTER NINE
‘THANKS SO MUCH for sticking around to help me clean up, guys.’ Samantha pulled Sophia into a hug. ‘Dan will be home just in time to enjoy the magic of the delayed sugar rush.’
‘And two extra kids too. You’re brave to add a sleepover to the mix!’ Sophia laughed, pulling back to look her friend in the eye. ‘You’re such a good mum.’
‘Or crazy,’ she joked. ‘I’m not sure which.’
Samantha turned to Jack and pulled him into a hug too, surprising him with the gesture if the wide-eyed look over her friend’s shoulder was anything to go by.
‘Thank you, Jack. It’s not often the dads stick around; you’re a bona fide modern father.’ She patted him on the chest as she released him. ‘I’m très impressed.’
Sophia forced back the mental retort that he’d only done it because he didn’t trust either of them to take care of his daughter. It was bitter and, in truth, though it might have factored in his decision to stay, he’d clearly had fun. More importantly, so had the kids. And he’d been a fully fledged part of that fun. He hadn’t stood in the shadows keeping watch; he’d got involved and been a huge hit with all of Noah’s friends. A huge hit with Sam too.
As for Sophia, well, she already knew there was no hope for her...
‘It was a novel experience.’ He rubbed the back of his neck. His smile was...bashful. And making him all the more appealing with it. ‘Enjoy the sleepover.’
‘I will. I have wine and I’m leaving Dan in charge!’
They all laughed, save for Lily, who tugged on her daddy’s hand. ‘I wish I could sleep over.’
Samantha scooted down to give her a squeeze. ‘With three stinky boys, you really don’t, but you never know, maybe we can sort something for another time. I’d be glad of the female company.’ She looked up at Jack with a smile. ‘She’s always welcome.’
‘Yes, well...’ He cleared his throat and placed his hand on Lily’s shoulder. ‘I think you’re right, tonight’s not the night for it.’
‘But some other time, Daddy?’
‘We’ll see.’
‘That means no.’
Sophia took pity on him and said, ‘I might have an alternative idea.’
Lily looked at her, all hopeful.
‘If your daddy agrees, you could sleep at mine?’
Lily beamed, her hopeful gaze now set on her father.
There was a crash from inside the flat and Samantha winced. ‘Right, on that note, I’m leaving you guys to it. I just hope that noise has nothing to do with Dan’s latest construction model!’
She dashed inside and closed the door, leaving Sophia and Lily looking up at a shell-shocked Jack. ‘Well... I...what, tonight?’
‘Sure.’ She shrugged. ‘I have no plans, the guest room is made up, and we can watch the latest Disney film and eat ice cream, just like any good sleepover. Maybe I could even paint your nails?’
Lily let out an excited squeal and started bobbing up and down. ‘Please, Daddy, please, pretty please, pretty, pretty please.’
Sophia was pushing him. Deep down she knew it. She was toying with his trust boundaries and almost willing him to fail. Because if he failed, it would make it so much easier to keep some distance between them. To let him go in a week’s time and not wonder what if.
‘Daddy...’ Lily tugged on his hand some more. ‘Please, I’ve never had a sleepover.’
‘I’m just not sure how it would work.’
‘It’s really simple.’ Sophia smiled up at him. ‘Lily and I get the quilt off the bed, plonk ourselves in front of the TV and eat copious amounts of ice cream, pausing only to paint our nails.’
‘And me?’
Her smile became a confused frown. ‘You?’
‘Where would I fit into this sleepover?’
‘You’d like a manicure too?’ Her voice was elevated, her panic obvious.
‘Oh, yes, that would be fun!’ Lily blurted, nothing amiss in her world. ‘I could paint yours, Daddy, you could do Sphea’s, and Sphea could do mine.’
Sophia spluttered, unable to keep the weird choking sound in. This was not what she had in mind. But it clearly worked for Jack, whose face had lit up dramatically.
‘Something wrong, Sophia?’
‘No,’ she hurried out.
‘So, can we, Daddy?’
‘If Sophia is happy, then I’m all for it.’
‘But...but I only have the one spare room. You’d have to share or take the sofa.’
‘The sofa is good enough for me.’
‘Right... Okay then, sleepover it is.’ She turned in a dazed fashion and headed to her apartment across the hall, hearing Lily’s laugh following her.
‘Isn’t it funny how Noah has two friends staying over and now Sphea has two as well, Daddy?’
‘Yes.’ Jack chuckled. ‘Very.’
She could feel his eyes burning into her back and caught the husky edge to his voice. Funny was not the word she would have used.
Dangerous. Yes.
Funny. No.
When I say I want you I mean it...
She’d really said that. Really, really said that. Against this very wall, just a few hours ago...promising him so much and now...now he was about to have a sleepover, at her place, with his daughter... No, no, no!
Clever move, Sophia Lambert. Clever and stupid and so messed-up.
She’d wanted him to trust her with Lily. She’d wanted him to feel comfortable leaving his daughter with her, just her. Not only for Lily’s sake so she wasn’t missing out, but because, though he might not trust Sam, he should trust her.
And instead she’d ended up with both. Daddy and daughter. In her apartment. For a night!
What exactly was the etiquette for a sleepover when the child came with their father and you wanted that man so badly you propositioned him outside a kids’ party?
She had no idea, but she’d better work it out sharpish...and make sure he knew whatever it was too.
* * *
Jack stood back as Sophia slotted the key in the lock. Somewhere at the back of his mind there was an almighty reel of panicked nonsense telling him this was a bad idea. But right now his daughter was happy and he...well, he was curious.
He wasn’t even sure that was the right word,
but when Sophia had had him pinned to the wall and taken what she wanted with the promise of—
He quit the recollection as she turned to look at him. Here it came, the excuse, the get-out clause. He could sense it in the nervous flicker of her lashes, her sweetly parted lips that she dampened and ran her teeth over...
‘Did you—?’ She broke off, colour streaking high across her cheekbones. ‘Did you want to go back to the hotel and get some things?’
Things? He frowned, then stood to attention just as quickly. She means clothes, you idiot!
Her brow lifted. ‘Like clothes...toiletries...’ her eyes flicked to Lily ‘... Baby Bear?’
Lily gasped. ‘Baby Bear! I need Baby Bear.’
‘No problem. I’ll call Ms Archer, ask her to pack a bag and get it couriered across.’
‘Of course. Couriered over...right.’
‘If you’d rather we arranged it for another night...?’
‘But, Daddy, we leave in seven sleeps. When will we have time?’
‘Seven sleeps?’ Sophia repeated, her hand still resting over the keys in the lock. He wanted to deny it, to say he had longer, that they had no intention of leaving yet, but that would be a lie and served no purpose other than to make her, and thus him, feel better. It wouldn’t change the inevitable. The takeover deal was almost done and dusted; they had no reason to stay. None at all.
‘Yes, we fly Saturday afternoon.’
She lowered her lashes and took a small breath. ‘Then tonight it is.’
She pushed open the door and flicked on the lights, the soft white walls giving off a warm ambience as opposed to the grey Samantha had opted for next door. Lily raced in behind her and started poking her head through the open doors.
‘It’s just like Noah’s!’
‘Yes.’ Sophia smiled at her, then turned to Jack, her lips softening a little and doing something weird to his chest.
‘Are you sure—?’
‘Where am I sleeping, Sphea?’ Lily bustled up to them, interrupting his impulsive need to check she was truly all right with this.
‘Come on, I’ll show you.’ Sophia offered out her hand and Lily grinned at her, her obvious affection for this woman who’d only been in their lives a week chiming with his own. ‘While Daddy makes his important call to Ms Archer...’
‘Yes, right, I’ll get on with it.’ His voice sounded gruff, his chest too full to breathe properly. He smiled to hide it, but he wasn’t so sure he’d succeeded, not if the questioning look Sophia sent over Lily’s head was anything to go by.
‘Okay?’ she mouthed.
He nodded quickly and turned away, pulling his mobile from his jacket and dialling Ms Archer. Ever efficient, she answered promptly and he was done in five. It took him another five to compose himself enough to join the two women who had put him in this alien position. Their chatter was incessant and he only had to follow it to find them in the open-plan kitchen-cum-diner-cum-living area.
Sophia was warming something on the hob while Lily sat on a stool at the breakfast bar which separated the kitchen from the rest of the space.
‘I’ve had one request for a fully loaded hot chocolate,’ she said, looking at him over her shoulder. ‘What can I get you?’
He slipped onto the barstool next to his daughter. ‘What’s a fully loaded hot chocolate?’
‘It’s topped with marshmallows and cream, Daddy.’
‘Sounds good.’
‘You fancy one too?’
He could hear the surprise in Sophia’s voice and laughed. ‘Why not?’
She shook her head. ‘You’re full of surprises, Jack McGregor.’
‘What? Can’t a grown man indulge once in a while?’
That high colour was back in her face and this time he knew it was the thoughts at play in her head, thoughts that he’d triggered by the double meaning of indulge. She gave him a small smile and went back to stirring the milk in the pan. Next to him Lily was sifting through what looked to be mail.
‘Hey, don’t be so nosy, kiddo.’
‘I’m just looking.’
‘That’s precisely my point.’
‘It’s okay,’ Sophia said. ‘It’s just the junk mail I didn’t have time to go through at work. It’s mainly brochures and stuff. Sometimes there’s some interesting—’
‘Wow! Look at this, Daddy!’ Lily had a brochure spread out before her, her eyes like saucers as she pointed one of her small fingers at what looked like a giant bubble. ‘You can stay in one of these and look at the stars all night!’
He grinned. ‘Looks like fancy camping to me.’
‘But look at the sky, Daddy. Does it really look like that or have they just done something with a computer to make it all...fancy?’
‘That’s the lights of aurora.’
‘Aurora?’
‘Aurora borealis, the northern lights.’
‘Bore what? It looks like magic.’ She lifted the brochure and turned it this way and that, her eyes wide, fascinated. ‘Magic in the sky.’
‘It’s amazing, isn’t it?’ Sophia said to her as she pulled mugs out of a cupboard and scooped chocolate powder into each.
‘Have you ever been?’ Lily asked.
‘No.’ She stirred the milk into the cups. ‘I’m not good with snow and to see it at its best you need to go in winter.’
‘I love snow!’
Sophia gave a soft laugh. ‘Most kids do.’
Her voice had turned distant, her eyes on the task in hand but unseeing. Was she thinking of her sister? The memory of that tale sent a shiver running through him now and the impulse to reach out for her was overpowering.
‘Can I help?’ he asked, coming up behind her, his hand gentle on her lower back.
She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and his chest ached for her, his own smile filled with understanding, compassion.
‘It’s okay; I’m almost done.’ She went back to the hot chocolate, squirting in cream and sprinkling on marshmallows with a dramatic flourish designed to hide it all. ‘Voila!’
She lifted two of the mugs and carried them to the counter, while he scooped up the third.
‘These are impressive.’
She quirked a brow at him. ‘You can say it.’
‘Say what?’
‘They’re a cardiac arrest in a cup.’
‘A cardy what?’ Lily said, her brow wrinkling as she reached out for the one nearest to her and her eyes became fishbowls once more.
Sophia grimaced at Jack as she mouthed a sorry and he just smiled at her. ‘Don’t worry, I don’t think even that would put her off.’
She blushed. ‘Can’t have a hot choc without all the trimmings. It’s criminal.’
Lily laughed. ‘Now I get it—cardy arrest. You are funny, Sphea.’
He laughed and shook his head. ‘Isn’t she just?’
Sophia looked to him, her own laughter sparkling in her eyes. He lifted the mug to his lips, felt the cream tickle at his nose and saw her eyes lower to the sight, her blush deepening. What wouldn’t he give to know what she was thinking? ‘You want to explain how you drink it?’
‘I quite like watching you work it out.’
He cleaned off the tip of his nose and watched as she closed her mouth over a marshmallow and some cream and felt his body tighten. His hand clenched tight around his mug.
‘Mmm, it’s so good,’ Sophia murmured. ‘How’s yours, Lily?’
‘Perfect,’ his daughter said, sticking her finger straight in and scooping up the topping, then popping it into her mouth with zero elegance. Mood officially killed. ‘Dee-licious! Isn’t it, Daddy?’
‘Yup.’ Not that he had tasted yet...
They all moved to the small dining table and Lily dragged the brochure into the middle of them, the double-page spread
open with the bubble-like hotel room surrounded by woodland and the aurora lights flooding the sky. There were images all the way around it showing the various sights Iceland had to offer: waterfalls, the black sand beach, the basalt stacks, geo-thermal pools, geysers... It really was a sight and his daughter was clearly fascinated.
‘It’s such a great concept,’ Sophia said, spying his focus. ‘Being able to sleep under the stars, all warm and cosy with a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of it all.’
And yet she wouldn’t go because of the white stuff also liberally sprinkled throughout the shot. He leaned closer to her, his arm brushing against hers. ‘It is incredible.’
‘But is it real or have they just made it up?’
‘What, the bubbles or the sky?’
‘It’s all real,’ Sophia said, her finger swirling over the bubble in the picture. ‘This is in Iceland.’
‘Iceland? Have I ever been to Iceland, Daddy?’
‘No, neither of us have.’
‘I’d like to go some time.’
‘I’m sure you would.’
‘Could we all go?’
Sophia choked on her chocolate and turned away.
Jack decided that there was no way to answer his daughter’s impulsive question so instead he asked her another. ‘What was your favourite bit about today?’
Lily pressed her lips together, looked to the ceiling and hummed. ‘All of it! Having friends to play with—Noah has so many friends—and then when we all jumped on you and that was so funny.’
‘Funny for you maybe...’ he rolled his shoulders ‘...my body isn’t so sure.’
Lily laughed, giving him a playful shove. ‘You were great, Daddy. I’m lucky to have a daddy like you.’
His chest swelled, even his eyes pricked, and then he caught the warmth in Sophia’s gaze and he was hooked.
‘But we have a problem...’
He dragged his eyes to Lily, surprised by her sudden downturn, even more so by her solemn frown.
Uh-oh.
‘How do I get friends for my birthday party in Tokyo?’
CHAPTER TEN
‘A SLEEPOVER AT the age of thirty—who would have thought it?’
Tempted by the Tycoon's Proposal Page 10
