Page 22 of Perfect Imperfections

He shook himself out of his thoughts and glanced at the bread. “Great job.”

“Really?”

Chubby cheeks rounded with her wide smile.

“Yup.” Her less than gentle butter spreading had destroyed only two pieces of bread. Less than usual. “You want to sprinkle the garlic? Not too much, remember?”

“I remember, Daddy.”

He watched as she carefully tipped the spice shaker over the first few slices of bread, growing impatient and dumping heaps of garlic powder on the last two. Thankfully, those were the ripped pieces and would likely go straight into the trash.

“Great job, angel. Now I’ll pop them in the toaster oven. Can you set out the silverware, please?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Charlotte jumped down off her stool, running to the cutlery drawer, excited to be helping. His heart swelled watching his daughter, the light in his life, and thought again how if not for one amazing woman, he could have lost her. A woman who would be here soon, in his house, eating the meal he prepared for her. When was the last time he’d made a woman a meal? He couldn’t remember. He also couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this strange fluttering of anticipation in his gut.

And he had no damn clue what to do about it.

CHAPTER 8

Ellie stood outside the address Sullivan had texted her. Spit lodged in her throat as she tried to swallow. This place was enormous! There was a three-car garage and the home itself towered above the midsized pines perfectly manicured out front. She knew by the address he lived in the nicer part of Sunlight, but she did not expect…all this.

Duh, he’s a doctor. Of course, he had a big house. Probably has a big bank account too.

Suddenly, she felt out of her element. Dinner to her usually meant noodles from a box or a frozen pizza. Sullivan probably had all his meals made by a personal chef or something.

“Crap.”

The nice, but cost-efficient, bottle of twelve-dollar wine in her hand would be used to water the houseplants in a place this nice. How could she have forgotten Sullivan was a doctor and therefore brackets above her in the income department?

“Doesn’t matter,” she muttered to herself. “I’m not here to date him. I’m here to enjoy a thank you dinner and see Charlotte.”

At the reminder of the spirited little girl, her nerves calmed. That’s right, she was here to see Charlotte, not the girl’s father, or at least, not only him. This was a simple, friendly thank you dinner. Nothing more. Panic averted. For the moment. She ran a hand over her hair. The wind today had picked up the second she got out of her car and, of course, she’d chosen to leave her hair down for once. What she wouldn’t give for a brush right now. The fine strands always became a tangled mess at the slightest breeze. Oh well, nothing she could do about it now.

She also couldn’t do a thing about her outfit. Sullivan had indicated the dinner was casual, so she’d dressed as she normally did. Jeans and a T-shirt. Cam would kill her for wearing the graphic tee with an adorable tabby and the words “you’ve gotta be kitten me” printed on it. But Ellie wasn’t on a date—no matter how much her friend insisted it was when Ellie accidentally spilled the beans about her dinner at the Greens’ house tonight—so she didn’t need to impress anyone. She just needed to be herself. She liked animals and puns. Put them together and bonus points.

She raised her fist to knock on the beautiful dark wood double door. Insecurities rising again. Seriously, who had double doors? This place wasn’t even a house. Weren’t homes this big called mansions or manors or something? What if he had a butler? What would she do? She’d never met a butler in real life. Only seen them on TV shows. Okay, there had been the one at the Haunted Mansion at Disney, but that guy had been an actor playing a role.

Visions of the horrible ways she was going to screw up tonight’s dinner, and how angry Sullivan would be, filled her mind. He’d toss her out for being uncouth. Gossip about her with his society friends. Word would get back to her boss and she’d somehow lose her job, fall behind on her bills, be forced out on the street!

“Stop it!” she chided herself, hand going up to tug on her earlobe. “None of that stuff is going to happen. Stop doing this.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Acknowledging the radical path her brain had taken her on was not logical and in no way probable. The negativity and dark thoughts were trying to force her down again, but she wouldn’t let them. Sure, tonight might not go swimmingly, but she’d been invited, and Sullivan knew full well where she worked. He had to know how vastly their lifestyles differed. All she had to do was be herself and everything would be fine.

She’d just finished calming herself down when the door swung open, and she found herself face to face with the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on.

Sullivan Green.

“Hi.”

“Hello.” She thanked her lucky stars there was no stodgy old butler to contend with. “I, um, thanks for inviting me.” Then again, if she’d been dealing with an old wrinkly dude, instead of Sunlight’s hottest doctor, maybe she could settle for a coherent sentence.

“Thanks for coming.”

“This is for you.” She thrust the bottle his way, suddenly unsure about everything. Her hands trembled as he took the wine from her grasp.

“Shiraz.” He smiled as he read the label of the bottom-shelf alcohol. “My favorite.”

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