Page 32 of Single Dad's Second Chance

I nodded, feeling so much lighter just to finally admit it. “I can’t stop thinking about her. About wanting something more with her.”

He furrowed his brow. “For how long?”

I scoffed. “Forever.”

“No. I meant how long have you been wondering about hooking up with her?”

“I don’t want a hookup with her. I want…”

He groaned, raking his hand through his hair. “Shit. Henry. Come on. You went through this with Mackenzie. You can’tseriously be telling me that you wanna repeat history and sleep with someone in the office again.”

“Mackenzie came on to me. She pursued me. And it’s not the same at all. Mackenzie was a hookup. Mia wouldn’t be.”

He frowned hard, looking at me like I was the world’s biggest idiot. “You’re playing with fire.”

I was, but there was no way to climb out of the flames now.

Mia was imprinted on my soul, and I wouldn’t feel complete until I knew for a fact that we couldn’t be together.

12

MIA

Even though my nervousness about having to talk to Henry lingered, I woke up excited for the Dunn company’s annual family picnic. It fell on the following arcade night, but I doubted Jason would care about missing it this week. He loved the picnic, as did many others. Employees brought their families. Many even brought their dogs. It was truly a family reunion, and they didn’t skimp. Renting out a huge park space, they had food booths with catered food, a beer garden area, so many games and rides and activities for kids. Bands would take turns at the dance floor laid out, and the other funnier games for adults, like the pie throwing that Henry and I had fun at previously, would be a draw.

Sometimes, it saddened me, seeing my “family” at the office showing up with real families. I didn’t have one. No parents or grandparents. No siblings or cousins. Not even an aunt or uncle. It was just me, and witnessing others with loved ones sparked an ember of heartache to flare hotter.

This year, I wouldn’t have the time to be sad or mope. The beer booth that Henry and I had partnered up to volunteer at was busy. I wasn’t surprised. This picnic rivaled the Christmas party spirit-wise. Around jokes and laughter, we fell into thefast-paced demands of serving drinks. I didn’t even have the time to ask him about that kiss. I suspected he wanted to follow up about that lunch hour when Ann made Jason cry, too. So far, we hadn’t found a moment to simply talk, and we wouldn’t here, either.

“You’re spilling. Spilling. Spill alert!” I told him, the warnings with increasing volume.

He cursed under his breath, rushing to flip up the tap on a beer after getting another sleeve of plastic cups from the side of the counter.

I laughed, too amused when he tipped over another drink in his haste to get that cup out of the way.

“You’re getting sloppy back there, Boss,” someone teased as they waited for a drink.

“It’s hot in here,” Henry joked back good-naturedly.

“More like steaming,” I added as I pushed my sweaty hair back behind my ear again.

“Then I guess it can’t be so bad if you’re both wearing more beer than you’re serving!” someone else taunted.

I moved the handle on a tap too quickly, splashing foam to fly up. “Whoops!”

Henry laughed, coming closer to swipe his finger along my chin. “Got a little there.”

With all the drinks served and no one at the other side of the counter, we finally had a moment to breathe. To catch up. To just be. And we did so with him locking me in an intense, smoldering gaze as he dragged his finger along my skin, then licked the foam off his fingertip.

Oh. Help. Me. God.I swore my knees turned to rubber. I felt shaky and unsteady, so primed and revved up from his heated stare.

“Thanks,” I replied, wondering if I sounded as breathy and helpless to this desire as it seemed like I did.

“I’m glad you’re here.” He stepped closer, seeming to search my face. “With me.”

“Nothing beats volunteering to supervise the pie throwing booth, though.”

He took one more step toward me. If he neared me any further, he’d be in my space. Within reach to kiss. I licked my lips, glancing at his, and an unbidden flare of desire stunned me.

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