Page 10 of Single Dad Dilemma
Larry’s bitch face wasn’t bad either.
“Larry,” I admonished, “get back here.”
Naturally, Larry did not feel like listening to me, because why would he? Now he wanted to go outside, trotting his little ass toward the open door.
Their dad leaned over and grabbed the dog’s collar, and Larry growled ominously in his throat.
Well, as ominous as a fifteen-pound dog wearing a diaper could sound.
When Hot Angry Daddy lifted his head, the annoyance lighting his eyes made me swallow against a dry throat. “Please take the animal,” he said calmly.
Our fingers brushed when I took hold of the collar, and the heat of his skin had me rolling my lips over my teeth. My fingers hadn’t thawed out since I got to this frozen wasteland called Buffalo, and it was really tempting to ask him if he’d let me put my hands underneath his shirt just to warm them up a little bit.
The impulse was so strong, imagining his horrified reaction so amusing, that an ill-timed laugh bubbled its way up my throat. I covered it with a cough. Barely.
His gaze turned to me and narrowed dangerously.
“I’m Lily,” I said. “I’m house-sitting for Scott and Patty.”
“I know.”
That was it.
Nothing else.
No name, no attempt at niceties—and you can bet your ass I narrowed my eyes right back. He saw it, too, and I swear there was a flash of a challenge in his eyes, like he was daring me to push him.
There was no way he could’ve known, of course, that a challenge of that nature was like waving a red fucking flag in front of a bull.
Because the kids were gathering their coats from the kitchen, we were left alone in the entryway, and his eyes tracked over my messy hair, dipping briefly to the flash of ink under my collarbone and the other on the inside of my arm.
No one—not even Hot Angry Daddy—was going to make me feel self-conscious. I got looks like that all the time. That was the other thing about people. They were so painfully predictable that I just barely stemmed the eye roll. Judgment left me feeling cold, too, the frigid blast of air coming from this guy cutting straight to the bone, much in the same way the weather did.
One was natural. Something we couldn’t control.
The other was man-made, and ugly when unleashed simply because someone couldn’t control their reactions to a person whom they knew nothing about.
Bryce hitched his bag over his shoulder and stopped to give me a high five. “Thanks for letting us wreck your house,” he said, his adorable little half smile melting my heart.
“Anytime.”
Maggie’s eyes were red rimmed, and she flung herself against me for a hug, which I returned with an awkward pat on her back. “This was the best afternoon of my whole life,” she said between sniffles.
In response to the slightly dramatic statement, her dad looked skyward, his chest expanding on a deep breath.
I cleared my throat. “It was great to meet you, Maggie. Come play with Larry anytime, okay?”
Oh, he did not like that I said that.
His gaze locked on mine as his children marched through the door and headed back to their home.
Larry growled in his direction again, and I turned, opening the door behind me to set him in the office. Instead of an annoyed bark, Larry gave me a look likeIs this completely necessary?
The silence between us stretched into something horrifically awkward, and when I finally quirked an eyebrow, his expression flattened.
“I was waiting for an apology, but I guess that’s not coming,” he ground out.
Slowly, I folded my arms over my middle and stared him down. “An apology? For what?”
