Page 13 of Delinquent Daddy (Banks/Kincaid Family 2)

38

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

"Still feel like standing out here?" he asked. "Because, at this point, I don't care where the hell we talk. As long as I get some goddamn answers. Right now."

"Okay." Ellie quickly nodded, finally becoming compliant.

"Let's go inside." She stepped forward and nearly went sprawling flat on her face as she tripped over the grocery bags she'd dropped.

"Oh," she mumbled, glancing down.

She swept one bag into her arm and reached for the other, except Boston leaned down and snagged it with one hand.

She looked up, surprised. His cool blue eyes studied her dispassionately.

She flushed and looked away. "Umm, thank you," she mumbled and hurried past him. With him so close behind her, her fingers shook as she tried to unlock the front door.

Leaning her single sack against her hip and chest to help balance it, she made three attempts before she finally slid the key home and managed to get them inside.

As she stepped over the threshold, something wet and gooey soaked through her shirt. She glanced down as she flipped on the interior light and groaned. Yep, she'd completely forgotten about the eggs. Yellow goop seeped through the brown paper bag, leaking down the side.

"Great," she mumbled. This was just icing on the cake.

Dropping her purse to the floor at her feet after she slid it off her shoulder, she backed away and watched Boston fill the room, still holding her other bag of groceries down at his side with one fist. Her eyes lifted, and she blushed as he glanced at the egg stain on her left breast.

39

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

"I..." she started, feeling like a total moron. "I need to clean this up. Just...wait right here," she called, already turning away and hurrying toward the kitchen.

Her pulse jack-hammered a mile a minute. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she dumped the rumpled bag on her counter and hauled the mangled egg carton from the top.

Filmy egg white dripped through her fingers as she deposited the whole container into the sink.

After rinsing her hands and dampening a washcloth, she extracted more groceries from their death tote, sponging them clean. She'd just wiped a sticky smudge off her plastic salad containers when she was struck anew by the situation.

Her daughter's father waited down the hall in her living room. Boston Kincaid was in her house, waiting for answers she didn't want to give. Vision blurring, Ellie grabbed the edge of the counter and coached her breathing back to normal.

Okay, she could deal with this. There was no reason to panic. She should leave the groceries to unpack later and finish her talk with Boston, though, oh God, she didn't want to stop dealing with the groceries. She wanted to continue washing them and putting them away, pretending everything was still normal and her whole existence wasn't being threatened.

Worst case scenario, she'd end up losing her little girl forever. Since that was very unlikely, she should just settle down, because she could deal with anything else he threw her way. But at the mere thought of losing her baby girl...

Her breath hitched. Cassidy was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

40

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

Ellie's pulse doubled, and she became dizzy all over again.

Fighting off the black dots blotting her vision, she straightened and smoothed down her slacks. She needed to go out there and confront him before Cassie made it home, which was pretty much any moment now. But as her hands slipped over her blouse, ironing out wrinkles, she encountered the egg mess.

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