Page 174 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
Lila has already done all of this, but I don’t know the first thing about how to take care of a baby. I was just doing full squats with Asher in my arms. It was probably all Lila could do not to laugh at me.
She drops onto the couch beside me. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to get any work done around this place,” she says. “If it isn’t you distracting me with kisses, it’s your mom distracting me with baby goats, and now Olivia distracts me with a baby? You Hawthornes. Giving me such terrible working conditions.”
“Yeah, it really looks like you’re suffering,” I deadpan.
Lila rolls her eyes. “Listen. Someone has to be responsible around here. And I do need to get the bakery numbers from you by this afternoon. The supply order has to be in first thing tomorrow if we’re going to get everything delivered in time for the festival.”
I nod, filing away my Perry-doesn’t-know-how-to-be-a-dad worries for another time. “I’m just about finished running the calculations. Almost everything sold out last year. We need to make more, it’s just a question of how much more. Twenty percent? Thirty? I don’t want to make too much and have the extras to go to waste.”
“If it were me, I’d go for the higher percentage,” Lila says. “Then if there’s extra, you can donate it to the food bank and at least take the tax deduction.”
“Huh. That’s actually a really good idea.”
Lila smiles. “Don’t sound so surprised. I have one every once in a while.”
That’s an understatement. All of her ideas are good ones. But that’s such an un-Perry-like sentiment, it’s possible I’m heavily biased.
I reach over and grab her hand, recognizing that I have to act before my brain can talk me out of it. “Hey, I want to ask you something.”
She laces her fingers through mine. “Okay.”
“How would you feel about coming to the restaurant opening with me next weekend? Not to work. Not as my assistant. As my date.”
Her eyebrows go up, but she doesn’t respond right away.
“I know it’s on a Thursday night, and that’s a school night, which means you’d probably have to get a babysitter for Jack, but my whole family will be together—even Flint—and I just . . . I want you with me.”
Was that too bold? Too forward? Too official?
A million different expressions flit behind Lila’s eyes before she finally smiles. “Did you really think I’d turn down the opportunity to eat Lennox’s food?”
I breathe out an exaggerated sigh to mask the relief-filled real one. “You had to bring him up, didn’t you?”
“AndI get to meet Flint? I’ll have to pull thePeoplemagazine out from behind the couch and brush up on my celebrity facts.”
“Sometimes having so many brothers is very annoying.”
Lila chuckles and shifts, one foot tucked under her so she’s sitting sideways on the couch, facing me.
“I promise you have nothing to actually worry about.”
“I don’t, huh?”
She smirks and leans close, close enough for her nose to brush against mine, but she doesn’t kiss me. “Yep,” she whispers. “I already picked my favorite Hawthorne.”
I reach out a hand, hooking it around her waist, and tug her a little closer. “Is that right?”
“Mmmhmm,” she breathes. “I mean, with that downy soft hair on Asher’s little newborn head, can you blame me?”
I freeze. “You are not funny.”
She chuckles, her shoulders shaking with soft laughter as she finally presses her lips to mine. “Kidding, kidding,” she whispers in between lazy kisses. “I promise you’re the only Hawthorne man for me.”
I lean into another kiss, wishing I could fully let go. I’m the only Hawthorne for Lila,but that’s not really enough, is it? She also needs me to be enough for Jack. To be a father. And if thelast five minutes I spent with Asher is any indication, I amill-equipped.
“Okay,” Lila says, breaking the kiss and patting my knee. “Back to work. I also need you to approve the budget for the temporary staff we need to hire to run the festival. And as far as I know, the truck that’s supposed to pull the flatbed for the hayride still isn’t fixed.”
“How did I ever do this job without you?”
