Page 6 of Swooning for the Summer Manny

“Miss,” says Ryan.

As the game goes on, it becomes clear that Amelia is trying to drag it out as long as possible. As glad as I am that my daughter likes spending time with her new nanny, I feel guilty about how much time Ryan has given to her today. I make a mental note to compensate him extra for it.

“Do you want to play another round?” Amelia asks hopefully when they finally finish their game.

“Honey, it’s time for Ryan to leave,” I say, reaching out to rub her back. “Let’s say goodnight, okay?”

When Amelia rushes toward Ryan and gives him a big hug goodbye, I feel my heart squeeze tight. She’s just being her usual sweet self, I remind myself, thinking of all the times that she’s hugged her teachers at school. And yet there’s something about the present moment that feels…well, significant.

This is what it could be like, I find myself thinking before I can stop myself. A father for her. A man for her to look up to.

I shake the thought from my head, chiding myself for even going there. I’ve spent enough time feeling guilty about giving her “only” a mom. I’m enough. I’m giving her the best possible life that I can.

Still, I can’t deny how cute it would be to see her be a daddy’s girl…

As soon as that thought enters my head, it unleashes a full-blown fantasy. Suddenly I’m imagining Ryan and I getting married. Him officially adopting Amelia. Ryan and I having more kids together. It’s completely crazy, fantasizing something like that, and yet that’s exactly where my mind goes.

As if that would ever happen in real life.

Swallowing back the mixture of emotions swirling inside me, I ask Amelia to please clean up the board game while I see Ryan out. She looks a little grumpy about the request, but she does as I ask. I walk with Ryan out of the living room, waiting until we’re out of earshot to speak.

“Thank you for everything today, Ryan,” I say. “Moving forward, though, you really don’t need to do so much.”

“I enjoyed it,” he says, stepping ahead of me to grab his jacket from the coat closet. “It was a fun day.”

“Well, that’s good to hear, but I certainly don’t expect you to?—”

Before I’m able to finish the sentence, I trip on one of Amelia’s toys on the ground. And of course, because this is the way life works, I stumble forward, fully losing my balance and falling right into Ryan.

“Oh my God, I’m sorry,” I stammer, flushing as I feel the hardness of his body pressed up against me. Jesus, is this man made of solid muscle? Does he spend all of his free time at the gym?

“Are you okay?” he asks, his eyes full of concern. His hands are on my arms now, holding me steady, bare skin against bare skin.

“Yeah. Uh-huh. I just—I tripped.” I swallow, knowing I should take a step back to put ample space between us but finding it impossible to actually do it.

“It’s a minefield, isn’t it?” Ryan says, smiling. Ugh. That smile. I’m melting.

“Exactly,” I manage to say.

His hands are still closed around my arms, and my skin is radiating hot beneath his touch. Damn it. Now my nipples are hard. If he looked down right now, I’m sure he’d be able to tell.

But his eyes are locked onto mine. As I meet his eyes, my heart starts to race so fast that I can hear it pounding in my ears.

“Your jacket,” I mumble.

“Right,” he says, and finally lets go. As he pulls his jacket from the closet, he says, “Probably won’t be needing this much longer, huh? I heard this summer’s going to be a scorcher.”

“Oh?” I ask, still feeling the heat of his touch on my arms.

“Yep. The heat could be record-breaking, apparently.” He walks to my front door and pulls it open. “Goodnight, Karin. See you in the morning.”

“Goodnight,” I squeak out.

After he leaves, I let out the longest breath I’ve exhaled all day.

4

KARIN

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