Page 30 of Single Dad Christmas

“Well, I was feeling particularly desperate that day.”

Her eyes widened.

He leaned forward and put his hand on hers, and sparks flickered inside her body. “And I might have desperately wanted to see you again, socially.”

“You could have just asked me out.”

“I don’t think I was that honest, even with myself.”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t done this for a long time, remember?”

“You haven’t even dated since Amy?”

He grimaced. “I know. Pathetic.”

“No, not at all.”

“When we moved to Australia, I made a choice that Taylor was going to have my complete focus. I just didn’t realise how much of me she’d need. It’s a bottomless pit, at the moment.”

“So, why me?” Louisa asked, her stomach swooshing.

Noah stared at her for a long time, between slightly narrowed eyes, then shrugged. “I’ve always had a thing for glossy brunettes.”

She laughed. “Hey!”

“I like your accent,” he added.

She rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know,” he answered, finally, seriously. “I just felt like I needed to see you again.”

Her breath hitched in her throat because it was so simple, and so, so perfect. “Me too,” she said, so softly the words were almost carried away by the night air.

He’d fantasisedabout having Louisa here, in his bed, for a whole night, and now that she was fast asleep, he found he couldn’t settle. He paced his room and eventually pulled on a pair of shorts and a shirt, moving to the window and staring out of it. The big old Oak was a shadow against the night sky. He remembered climbing that tree as a child; he remembered hisyoungest brother falling out of it and breaking his arm. He paced to the bed, looked at Louisa, and sighed, then moved back to the window.

He was restless with a strange sort of energy. It was like the pieces of his life were moving in a way he couldn’t make sense of.

This was supposed to be casual, but it didn’tfeelcasual.

He had no idea how long Louisa was planning to stay in Sydney, but he knew he was limited in what he could offer her, anyway. Taylor remained his focus. There was no changing that. If she weren’t going through this disastrous stage of development, where she hated pretty much everything he said or did, maybe he could foresee a future where Louisa could slot into his life more permanently.

Could even…what? Marry him? They’d known each other less than two weeks. Besides that, she’d just broken up with someone. It took him years before his marriage with Amy ended before he could even look at another woman.

Louisa acted as though Ares’s engagement didn’t bother her, but surely it had to, on some level at least.

She was close to her family; they lived in Moricosia. Had she said anything, at any point, to suggest she might consider permanent relocation?

And what if she did? Taylor might be like this for years. He had no way of knowing what the future with her held, but she was his kid, and he’d give her everything he had. But he wanted to keep seeing Louisa, in a way that would work for them. He’d prefer not to be hiding out in her place all the time, too. He wanted to date her properly, take her out, do things with her, but her concerns about the press were real and valid; there was no point pushing that.

Whatever way he looked at it, frustration spread through Noah, because he found he wanted something more and different, but knew he couldn’t get it. But what if he threwcaution to the wind and just rolled the dice on all this? Maybe Taylor wouldn’t be so mean to Louisa? She had friends at school, presumably, she treated them well. Perhaps it was just Noah who got the full force of her acidic anger.

A rumbling noise caught his attention and he moved swiftly to his bedside table, where his phone was charging. Taylor’s face filled the screen and a clutch of anxiety flooded his veins.

“Tay?” He answered softly, striding from the room. He could hear laughing in the background, and lots of voices. “Are you okay?”

“Dad?” There was a childlike quality to her voice he hadn’t heard in a long time. “Are you home?”

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