Page 81 of The Maxwell Brothers
Paisley narrowed her eyes, looking at me intently without saying anything. I focused on the traffic as we approached the parking lot of the shopping center. My daughter was silent until we entered the underground garage.
“Dad, do you know what kissing is?” Paisley asked as I parked. I nearly bumped into the car in front of us.
My eyes bulged as I wondered where this was coming from.
"What?" I said, looking straight at her in the mirror. “Why are you asking?”
She shrugged. “No reason.”
What the hell?There was always a reason.
Once I parked the car and turned off the ignition, I turned to look straight at my daughter.
"Doyouknow what kissing is?" I asked her.
She rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”
"You're nine years old," I exclaimed.
"Yes, I'm nine years old, not nine months. Some girls in my class have a boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" I sputtered.
Why didn't Lexi tell me anything about this?
This was wrong. A boyfriend at nine years old? What was happening with the world? I was completely out of my depth in this conversation.
My mind raced back to what Lexi told me about boys. It was a good thing we were meeting her, because I needed her advice on this. I felt the irrational need to lock my daughter in her room until she turned eighteen, but somehow, I didn’t think that was the answer.
The shopping center was extremely crowded, but luckily Paisley only loved one shop and we went straight there. Typically she tried on one hundred outfits and chose five. I dreaded the experience usually, but Lexi joining us made it better by a factor of one million.
I took out my phone, messaging her.
Tate: (Im)patiently waiting for you. We’re at Paisley’s favorite store…
Lexi: I’m on my way.
Tate: Since we’re clearly not going to the movie, do you want to have dinner with us?
Lexi: Are you trying to lure me back to the house for “a glass of wine”?
I chuckled, because that was the code I used to convince her to stay over every evening after Paisley went to bed this past week.
Tate: Yes.
Lexi: Was that DIRTY TALK? Because my panties combusted. Spontaneously. Of their own accord.
I grinned at the phone. Since our trip last weekend, I’d been looking forward to every moment I could spend with her, but the few hours after Paisley went to bed weren’t nearly enough. I wanted to hijackallher time.
Lexi
When I arrived, Tate was sitting in an armchair looking pretty miserable. I didn’t blame him. This store was all about teenage life, from the weird music to the weirder outfits, but it was a hit with many kids Paisley’s age.
Even sitting in that ridiculous pink armchair, he looked sexy as hell, as usual. He was wearing jeans and a polo shirt, and I wholeheartedly approved of the outfit. If I wasn’t mistaken, they were his sex-bomb jeans. Yeah, I had a ranking of his jeans, and these were at the top of the list.
His expression suddenly lit up when he noticed me. I had flutters in my belly, and my already combusting panties seemed to vanish into thin air.
Paisley came out of the dressing room a second later, essentially throwing an ice bucket over me.
