Page 54 of Walk Off

“And now I get cake!” She bounded off happily, only concerned about cake and not at all worried that her mother’s heart was about to bounce right out of her chest.

Dallas and Ruby followed Jasmine, leaving her alone with Kyle. “So that was—” Kyle stopped, unable to finish his sentence.

She did it for him. “Fast. Crazy. Unexpected.”

“Amazing.” She saw the truth in his eyes. “I haven't even given any thought to how it would feel to have someone call me dad, so I don’t know what I was expecting. It sure as hell wasn't like this.” His hand touched his chest right over his heart. “It might be my new favorite word.”

She understood just what he was saying. “When she said Mom for the first time, I think I smiled for days. Granted it was more like Ma, but I knew what she was saying.”

He stepped toward her but stopped before he took another step. She saw in his eyes how much he wanted to get closer, to touch her.

She wanted the same thing. The only difference was, she knew she had to stay strong.

“So I found some videos on my phone of Jasmine as a baby and I brought lots of pictures.” Talking about Jasmine was a safe topic.

“I can’t wait to see them.”

They joined everyone else in the large kitchen before she could do something stupid, like drag him to the ground and climb on top of his toned, sexy body.

She passed him her iPad where all her digital photos were stored. She’d already opened the folder. “You can swipe through those.”

“Mom said if you want, we can print some off and you can frame them to hang in your house,” Jasmine said around a bite of her cake. “Where do you live?”

“Jasmine, what did we say about talking with your mouth full?” Celia asked.

Jasmine finished chewing and swallowed. “Not to do it.”

“That’s right.”

“I’d love to have some photos of you to hang in my house. And to answer your question, I live in Arizona.”

“Is it a big house like this one? Uncle Dallas plays soccer, that’s why he has such a big house.”

Celia was mortified. “Jazz, it’s not nice to ask those sorts of questions.”

“It’s fine,” Kyle said, trying not to laugh. “Actually, I live in a condo that is not much bigger than your apartment. It’s just me, so I don’t need a lot of space.” When he spoke, he wasn't looking at Jasmine, he was looking at her.

He was telling her this information. That he lived alone.

She tried not to hyperventilate while he went back to flipping through pictures.

“When is your birthday?” Kyle asked Jasmine.

“May twenty-third,” Jasmine proudly replied, excited that she’d remembered.

“What time was she born?” Kyle asked, only this time it was directed to her, not Jasmine.

“Middle of the night,” she answered. “Two forty-three.”

“God, that was a night,” Ruby said. “Remember how long we waited to call the doctor because you swore you weren't in labor, even though you were doubled over in pain?”

“You were in pain?” Kyle looked stricken. “Was it bad?”

“I wasn’t in that much pain,” she said as if it was no big deal.

“You have birthing goggles on,” Ruby said.

“What the hell are birthing goggles?” Dallas asked.

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