Page 35 of The Hot New Single Dad Next Door

He stomps away.

I drop to my knee. “Liam, honey,” I say beneath the roar of the bike. “Come on. Let’s go back inside.”

I guide him back in, aware of Scott’s protective stance on the porch. It’s not until Mark is long gone, the sound of his motorcycle a distant memory, that Scott comes back inside. He locks the door behind him before returning to the living room to check on us and Sonya.

Then the two of us walk back to the kitchen together, and I fall into his arms. Scott holds me close and kisses my forehead; the strong anchor I so desperately need.

“Scott,” I whisper in his embrace. “Will you stay with us tonight?”

He looks me in the eye and nods.

10

LOTTIE

Iput on a strong and happy face throughout the night, but I keep one ear open at all times, listening for Mark’s bike.

Scott does, too. I see it in the way his head shifts at the slightest sound or how his eyes will scan the windows at every opportunity. Sometimes, he’ll look at me across the dinner table or at the other side of the couch and he’ll smile and I wonder if he’s smiling for the kids or if he’s thinking about our kiss.

I know I am.

I’ve wanted to kiss you since I tasted your muffins.

My skin tingles with the memory of his touch. Firm yet tender. Soft yet possessive.

And Liam. My baby boy standing behind him, trusting him.

It’s enough to make my belly rumble and my heart ache.

It’s an easy task to get the kids excited for a sleepover. Sprawled out on the living room floor with pillows and blankets, the two of them fall asleep quickly. Happy and unafraid.

But I listen. I wait.

When we’re sure that Mark will not show himself again, I excuse myself to bed. Scott gets comfortable on the couch, happy to be a watchful eye throughout the night.

I’m exhausted, but I can’t keep my eyes closed. I lie awake, my skin still tingling. My body quivers, full of want. I imagine that kiss over and over again. I feel it in my fingers and toes. In my breast. In the deepest places of my heart and soul.

Deep in the night, I rise out of bed. Tugged by some phantom thread, I walk across the room and open my bedroom door.

“Scott,” I whisper in surprise, his form standing in the hall, his hand inches away from the knob. “What’s wrong?”

He doesn’t answer.

He takes a step closer, his body mere inches away from mine. I look up into his eyes as his hand comes to my cheek.

Scott kisses me, and I kiss him back.

Every nerve in my body sings, eager to pick up where we had left off before. I wrap my arms around him, delighting in the hard pull of his body against mine.

I step back, drawing him with me into the bedroom, and we softly close the door.

Moving together, our lips never parting, we stumble toward the bed. We fall blindly onto it in the dark, our bodies whispering against the bedsheets as Scott pushes me toward the pillows. Heat blazes between us. I spread my knees and he pushes between them, rocking me with a grinding rub that makes me quiver for more.

We undress each other. We touch the newly exposed skin, each kiss fueling our fire. I gasp and he groans, the sounds smothered and silent; little secrets passed between us in the dark. Scott kisses down my body, teasing my nipples between his teeth. I cover my mouth with one hand, the other curling through his hair as he travels downward, his name on the tip of my tongue.

With a swift tug, he pulls my shorts down, then returns, his kisses hard and fast. I push his pants down, feeling his hard cock spring free.

Neither of us stops. I’m certainly not interested in thinking this through, my body throbbing for him.

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