Page 32 of Reckless

Logan kicks me under the table while we eat dinner with the kids. “Don’t look soeager.”

My brother, his best friend Joey, my kids, and I are having dinner in thekitchen.

“What are you talking about?” I shove a bite of Tori’s shredded beef in my mouth and barely contain a groan because it’s sogood.

He leans closer and lowers his voice. “The whole trick is to not let women know you wantthem.”

I wait until Joey washes the kids’ hands to respond. “You do realize I was having sex when you were still in Little League, right? Besides, I’m not making a play forTori.”

There’s no way I’ll forget the way she threw down the gauntlet at her sister’s house.No sex. Ever.That hasn’t helped the dreams I started having two nights ago after the ice cream incident. I woke up with my hand in my boxer briefs like a damn fifteen-year-old.

“No?” His eyebrow curves up. “Not gonna bang the hotnanny?”

Smacking him in the chest, I give him a look. “No. And neither are you. In case you werewondering.”

He grins like anidiot.

The front doorbell rings, and my heart leaps in my chest. Joey offers to answerit.

Groaning, I drop my face in my hands.Am I seriously nervous over this woman? A woman who has sworn nothing is gonna happen between us?Fucking figures. Not that I need this kind of complication with the court date for my divorce two weeks away. That’s the best reminder that I suck atrelationships.

Fuck. I did not just use the R-word rightnow.

I’m not in a good place to have one yet, not with the truckload of baggage weighing me down at themoment.

This gives me pause because I’ve always been a one-woman kind of guy. Sleeping around with random chicks does nothing for me. If given a choice, I’d always pick something special with one girl over meaningless sex withmany.

But is this really something I should be exploring with my kids’nanny?

Damn. I know how to get myself in messed-upsituations.

Female voices come down the hall, and the second I see Tori, I smile. She looks more relaxed, and her face brightens when the kids go barreling into her for ahug.

I open my mouth to say hi, but my brother beats me toit.

“Hey, gorgeous. How’s yoursister?”

I bristle at his term of endearment, and he smirks at me. Asshole. But she is gorgeous, even in cutoffs and an old t-shirt. It’s the affection in her eyes for my kids, though, that really hits me. I love how she gives them all herattention.

Tori’s laughing at Cody’s sloppy kisses. “Good. I swear Kat’s giving birth to a giant. Her baby is enormous, but don’t tell herthat.”

Logan shivers like he’s about to have a seizure. “Pregnant women scare me. Too manyhormones.”

Joey rolls hereyes.

I point to my brother’s best friend. “Tori, this is Josephine. She went to school with Logan and somehow manages to put up with this lazy bag of bones. She helped me out today with the kids so I could get some workdone.”

Tori gives her a sweet smile. “I love your hair. It’sbeautiful.”

Joey touches her blue locks. “Thanks.Someonetold me I look like a deranged Smurf.” She punches my brother, and he puts her in a headlock with one arm while he scrolls through his phone on the other. She’s still hanging halfway upside down when she points to Tori. “But your hair is,wow. It’s sopretty.”

“Thank you. It needs atrim.”

“I could doit.”

Motioning toward Joey, I explain that she doeshair.

“Yeah?” Tori perks up. “How much do you charge? Just to trim the deadends?”

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