Page 65 of Treat Her Right

Feeling haunted, Zack turned to scowl at them. Love?Love.He hadn’t known her long enough, only a little over a month, but he did know she wasn’t what he’d always wanted in a female. She obviously had what he enjoyed, but that kind of enjoyment wasn’t appropriate for the father of a little girl.

He said very quietly, “Shit.”

“Oh give it up, Zack.” Josh threw a potato chip at him and it bounced off his chest. “You walk around looking like a dying man, and there’s no reason for it. Just bite the bullet. Tell her how you feel.”

Even now, Dani was next door with Wynn. They were sitting in the grass, a giant roll of paper between them, finger painting. It had become Dani’s favorite new pastime, thanks to Chastity. She and Artemus, with all their outrageous, oddball, delightful ways, had become surrogate grandparents and his daughter loved them. They hadn’t yet found a place of their own, but Zack knew when they did move, Dani would miss them.

It was nearing Halloween and the fall air had cooled, breezing in through the open kitchen window and the screen door. But still Zack felt too hot, too contained. He dropped back into his chair and said, “I don’t know.”

Mick sipped his coffee. “Don’t know what?”

“Anything. I don’t know what to do, what I feel.”

Josh offered, “She’s a pretty special woman.”

Zack propped his head on his open palms and tunneled his fingers through his hair. “She’s not what I was looking for.”

“I wasn’t looking for anyone when I found Delilah. It doesn’t make any difference.”

“I can’t just think about myself.”

Josh tipped his head. “What the hell does that mean?”

“It means I’m a father. I have to consider Dani.”

“Dani adores her, and vice versa.”

Zack clenched his hair. “I wanted someone domestic, someone calm and reasonable.”

Josh laughed out loud. “Domestic you got. Calm and reasonable? And you wanted her to be female right? Good luck.”

“Having women troubles, Josh?” Zack asked suspiciously.

Mick grinned. “Woman—singular. Amanda Barker, the lady putting together the charity calendar? Well, they’ve already started shooting and Josh here still hasn’t agreed. She’s getting…insistent. Seems she won’t take no for an answer.”

“She’s a pain in the ass.” Josh shrugged. “Everywhere I turn, there she is. But I just ignore her.”

Zack dropped his hands and shook his head. “Yeah, right. Like you’d ignore any woman.”

Josh sat back and crossed his arms behind his head, a man at his leisure. “She’s not like Del and Wynn.”

Both Mick and Zack straightened. “What are you talking about?”

“They’re real women, straightforward, funny, down to earth. They don’t whine and cry and complain just to get their way, and they don’t continually fuss with their nails and their hair. I doubt you’d catch either of them getting a facial. I like all that earthiness.” He nudged Mick with his elbow and said, “They’re both everything a guy could want—and more.”

Mick glanced at Zack. “Do you want to kill him or should I?”

Zack shook his head. Everything Josh claimed was true. Wynn worked hard, played and laughed hard, and she never seemed concerned with the typical things women considered. Not in a million years could he imagine her whining. “I think your Amanda sounds responsible.”

“She’s notmyAmanda, and yeah, so? Wynn is responsible.”

Zack stood again. “Ha! Wynn is outrageous. She speaks before she thinks, acts before she’s considered the consequences. She pretends to be one of the guys and dresses so damn sexy it makes me nuts.”

Mick and Josh looked at each other. “She wears sloppy clothes.”

“Sloppy sexy clothes that fit her body and show glimpses of skin and… How the hell would I live with someone like that?”

Mick stared down at his coffee mug. Very quietly, he asked, “How would you live without her?”

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