Page 30 of Other Side Of Never
As soon as he left, I faced Kian and dropped into the booth across from him.“Kian, I’m sorry.”I twisted my hands together.“Sometimes I’m too aggressive.I didn’t mean any harm.”
He gave his head a shake.“What?No!”He exclaimed, his voice raspy, then he shook his head once more.Voice returning to normal, he continued, his eyes crinkling with amusement as he rubbed a large hand over his chest.“Lady, you are potent.You should come with a warning.”
I rolled my eyes and blew out a relieved breath.“We’re okay?”
“You’re fine, I need another shower,” he grunted.Tilting his head to the side, his hazel eyes heated, he accused, “You might be a bit of a sadist.”
I pretended to think about it.“Maybe,” I paused, “but eventually I would grant you a happy ending.”
His brow lowered and his voice took on that commanding tone that sent goosebumps racing across my flesh.“Okay, Bridget, that’s enough.A man can only take so much.”
Bridget.
I nodded soberly, secretly more than a little pleased, and brought my hand up to my forehead in a rough salute.“Gotcha, Sir.”
He grinned at me then jerked his chin toward the kitchen.“Get out of here before I do something embarrassing and very public that we’ll both regret.”
Laughing, I swung my round ass out of the booth and walked back to the kitchen, an extra sway in my hips.High-fiving Isaiah on his way back to the table, I bent quickly.“What’s Daddy’s favorite kind of cake?”
“He likes vanilla,” he assured me.
“Does he?”I mused, not so sure about that.
“Yup.”He nodded eagerly.“Are you going to make us a cake?”
I held my finger to my lips.“Can you keep a secret?”
He nodded solemnly.
“I’ll surprise you with it later.Don’t tell him,” I warned.
He zipped his mouth shut, then mumbled from the side, his words garbled.“I won’t.”
I laughed and stood up, tousling his hair.“I’ll go get you guys some breakfast.”
“Pancakes?”he asked suspiciously.
“With chocolate chips,” I assured him.
I don’t know why I bothered giving them the menus.Taking that small decision out of Kian’s hands was an easy way to take care of them, and they needed as much caretaking as they could get.
After they left, Susie, thankfully, called someone else in so I could escape home to bake Kian’s cake.
At quarter to six, I jumped into the shower to freshen up.Foregoing makeup as this was most assuredly not a date, I pulled my hair up into a lazy bun on top of my head.
I carefully packed the cake, buttercream and vanilla topped with tiny, hand-molded, chocolate tools and the words ‘Happy Birthday Daddy’ piped out in icing in the middle, into one of Anita’s sweets boxes.Tucking a few of Isaiah’s favorite cookies in the corner, I locked the door and made my way to Kian’s.
Standing on his doorstep, I realized there was not a single iota of romantic sentiment in my body.
Here at his home at night, with no one else around to make it safe, flirting was out of the question.I breathed a sigh of relief that it really was a harmless flirtation.I was there strictly as a friend.
God knew he needed one.
I’d lost count of the number of birthdays I’d celebrated alone.Even when I was married, there didn’t seem to be time to celebrate mine.
At first, Gary fretted and apologized for the fact I shared it with his oldest son.
After a while, it just faded into the background.
