Page 11 of Single Dad Dilemma
“Oh, I don’t know—keeping my kids without permission? You’re a stranger; you could be a serial killer, for all I know.”
I smiled. “Only for overbearing men who have the social skills of a potato.”
“A—”
I took a step closer, and his eyes flashed. “You should be thanking me.”
“Thanking you? Are you drunk?”
“No,” I answered smoothly, “but at the moment, the desire is high.” I cocked my hip out. “You could thank me for playing with your kids all afternoon—and they’re delightful, by the way. They must take after their mother.” His eyes flashed, but it was going to take a hell of a lot more than that to stop me. “I have a strong suspicion they lied to me about being allowed to ride a mattress down the stairs, but ...”
His gaze was relentless. “And what made you come to that astute observation?”
My eyes tracked every inch of his body—head to toe and back up again—and that felt like a good enough answer. His nostrils flared, and he took a step closer too.
“They should have been at home. The moment the housekeeper came over here and told them they weren’t allowed to stay, any adult with a modicum of rational thought would’ve sent them back home with her.”
“Oh, believe me, my ability to think rationally was in short supply when that woman opened her mouth.” At my icy tone, his head reared back slightly. “She was lucky I didn’t break her fucking nose, the way she spoke to them.”
His eyes flickered, but he didn’t ask.
I tilted my head. “So no, I didn’t send them home with her, because she was a bitch who shouldn’t have been responsible for anyone’s children.” I smiled again. “So I let them stay here. We played. We madea mess. I fed them dinner. And now they’re all yours, asshole.You’re welcome.”
With that, I yanked on the door, ready to slam it in his face. His hand smacked against the surface, and I let out an incredulous huff.
“Wait,” he growled, color high in his cheeks. “Just ... hang on. I was frustrated and worried, and maybe I ...”
His deep voice trailed off, like the words were physically hard for him to say.
“Maybe you jumped to conclusions and snapped at me for something that wasn’t actually my fault?” I asked.
He licked his bottom lip. “Maybe,” he said between gritted teeth.
“If that’s your attempt at an apology, we’ve got a long way to go, buddy. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a house to clean up, and you’ve pissed me off enough for one night.” I stepped forward and knocked his hand down, taking unholy, leg-shaking, orgasm-level satisfaction at the way his hard features slackened with shock, right before I slammed the door in his face.
Chapter Four
Barrett
“I’m not quite sure where we went wrong with you two. Were we too strict? Not strict enough?”
I laid my head back on the couch and sighed. “You were plenty strict, Mom. I think it just ... happened.”
She snorted. “This does notjust happen, son. I saw one of those videos online; people are so clever with what they notice, you know?”
“So I’ve been told.” I tried not to sigh again, but when one calls their mother for advice on how to handle the kids who are pissed at him, this is not the direction one wants the phone call to go in. Suggestions of help were the expectation; instead I was getting a full breakdown of why I was so uptight.
“These two girls—women, I suppose—have a whole channel—or profile, whatever you want to call it—dedicated to just you and your brother. Isn’t that something?”
I smiled grimly. “It’s something, all right. I don’t think I want to know what they were talking about.”
“Oh, it wasn’t bad. After the game on Sunday, one of the girls made such a fuss about how she saw you smile at one of the players, and she went back and compiled footage of every time you’ve smiled on camerain your professional career—even when you were still playing. Can you believe it?”
“People are incredibly bored and have developed a crippling need to be seen online because it makes them feel significant to a toxic degree. So yes, Mom,” I said evenly. “I can believe it.”
There was a slight pause. “Aren’t you going to ask how many times you’ve smiled on the sidelines?”
“No.”
