Page 41 of Shot Through the Heart

I bite the corner of my lip, knowing full well she thinks she’s winning, even though we have dessert almost every night.

“She will.” I nod seriously. “Which means you better get a move on getting dressed. The sooner we get our day started, the sooner Lele gets her ice cream.”

Harper drops her block with an excited squeal and pushes to her feet just as the doorbell rings. Her eyes go wide as saucers.

“Zoey!” she shrieks and changes course to the front door.

“No, Harper, that’s not who’s here.”

She stops her attempts at twisting the handle and I’m suddenly very thankful she can’t reach the deadbolt lock, or she would have gotten the door open.

“Who is it?” Harper yells through the door and I laugh even though my stomach is a mess with nerves.

“Uh, Greyson.” His muffled voice comes through the door. After bending down to pick her up, I unlock the door.

Harper eyes Grey warily as she rests her head on my shoulder. All her earlier sass is completely gone in the face of a stranger.

“Honey, this is…a friend of mine. We used to go to school together.”

Her arms tighten around my neck, but she doesn’t stop staring at Grey. I offer him an apologetic smile, but he doesn’t seem completely bothered by her shyness.

“These are for you,” he says carefully, holding out a small bouquet of colorful daisies toward Harper before lifting a bigger bouquet of yellow roses toward me. My heart does an odd pitter-patter in my chest at the tentative smile.

Greyson’s always been good-looking, but the man in front of me now is breathtaking. His hair is long, pulled back in a half ponytail while the rest hangs to his shoulders. The muscles of his arms are mouthwatering, and I tear my gaze from dropping any further.

There will be no drooling over my baby’s daddy.

“Thank you,” I say, adjusting my hold to balance Harper on one hip before reaching for the roses with a faint blush rising on my cheeks.

“Those are for me?” Harper asks quietly, her Th coming out with more of a D sound.

Greyson nods, his eyes bouncing between the two of us.

“Yes, they are. I didn’t know what your favorite color was.” He fidgets with the plastic around the multicolored daisies. “So I found ones with every color in them.”

“I like the rainbow!” Harper exclaims, much louder than I was expecting. I jerk my head to the side but cling to my now wiggly toddler as she dives forward to take the flowers.

“What do we say, sweetie?” I offer gently.

“Thanks,” she tosses out, squirming in my arms to get down. “They need a cup, Mama!”

She runs off toward the kitchen and I motion for Greyson to come in before following her.

“They’re pre-cut, so it should be easier to get hers in water,” Greyson says as he closes the door behind him.

“Smart thinking,” I say and head into the kitchen to show Harper how to put the packet of flower food into the cup with water before adding the flowers.

“Now yours, Mama!” She claps, running to the cupboard where her cups are kept.

“Hold on, honey, Mama’s need something bigger to hold them,” I tell her, crossing over toward the fridge. I stare up at the cabinet that I know the vase is in and curse under my breath. I’m not that short. I’ve been five-foot-eight since high school. But whoever designs a kitchen with storage above a refrigerator clearly never thought of anyone below six feet.

I push to my tiptoes, fumbling with the cabinet handle, when warmth closes in at my back. Greyson steps up behind me, reaches around, and opens the cabinet with ease. My cheeks flush even more at the feel of his body pressing against mine and I’m grateful he can’t see my face.

He spots the vase and grabs it to hand to me, and I mumble out a rushed thank you before spinning around him to show Harper. I feel Grey watching us as I show Harper how to trim my roses and put them in the vase, but I don’t dare risk a glance at him. Especially while holding scissors so close to Harper.

Once both our bouquets are in water and they’re both organized to Harper’s liking on the table, I start guiding her toward the stairs.

“All right, now you really need to get dressed.”

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