Page 20 of Tempted By her Daddies

The darn thing just wouldn’t . . . budge!

It finally flew off her foot and nearly unbalanced him in the process.

Jesus.

That could have been embarrassing.

“Are you okay? Oh God. My feet don’t stink, do they?” she cried.

To his shock, she grabbed her foot and drew it up to her nose. “Not too bad. Could be better. Could definitely be worse.”

He had to grin.

That was something he hadn’t expected. And he wasn’t talking about the fact that she was extremely flexible. She’d made that look so easy.

No, he was smiling over the way she’d just declared that her foot had a slight smell to it. Not that he could smell anything other than vanilla and macadamia. A combination of scents that he hadn’t realized was missing in his life.

She dropped her foot. “Why are you smiling like that?”

Roman attempted to wipe the smile from his face, but it was difficult. “You’re just cute.”

“Cute? Is that an insult?”

“How could being cute be an insult?” he asked as he drew off her other roller skate.

Luckily, this one came off with more ease.

“I don’t know. Maybe not an insult. It’s just . . . cute isn’t sexy or mysterious or gorgeous.”

“You’re all those things,” he said. Then he quickly got to work putting her shoes on, so she didn’t notice the redness in his cheeks.

Had he really just called her sexy and mysterious?

“Really? Kids are cute. Lambs are cute. Cupcakes with pink icing and glitter are cute. Puppies are cute. You know what all of those things have in common?” she demanded as he started lacing up her shoes for her.

Should he do a double knot?

He didn’t want the laces coming free and her tripping over them.

Yes, he better do a double knot.

“They’re cute?” he asked as he finished. Right, now he needed something to clean her hands with and bandage them up.

“Well, yes. But they’re also small.”

He frowned slightly. “Is there something wrong with being small?”

“I guess not. But when you’re small, people tend to call you cute.”

Ahh. So this was a height issue.

He understood it now.

Well, not really. But he should acknowledge and respect her feelings.

“I’m sorry for calling you cute,” he told her sincerely. “I won’t do it again.”

“Well, you don’t have to go that far.”

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