Page 4 of Temptress

She sniffled through the line. “I know, but mom guilt is a very real thing. I feel like—like I’m abandoning her.”

I wasn’t sure what I’d done right in a past life that I’d been lucky enough to make a child with a woman as amazing as this one, but I knew how good I had it in the co-parenting game. I’d heard horror stories. I counted my blessings that things weren’t like that for us. “Oh, honey. That couldn’t be further from the truth, and the rational part of you knows that. It’s only one year, not a dozen of them; it’ll fly by before you know it. If the ache for home gets too bad, I’ll put you on a plane for an extended weekend myself. But just know, I’ll be sending your ass back too.”

She laughed, sounding a little lighter.

“For fuck’s sake, Kim. This is your time to be a little selfish, yeah? Find some British prick—but one with good teeth—and let him fuck you until you can’t walk. Enjoy yourself.”

“You know the whole bad teeth thing is only a stupid stereotype, right?”

“Don’t give a fuck, doll. Just have fun. Live life. You have my word that I’ll keep our daughter alive until you get back.”

“Thanks, Si,” she said softly. “Speaking of... how is she?”

I heaved out a sigh. “You mean besides sullen, grumpy, and pissed at the world?”

“Yeah, all that. Actually, now that I think of it, maybe I’m dodging a bullet by missing out on the teen angst and drama for a while.”

I felt my lips curve into a smile. She wasn’t wrong about that. “Well, she hates me, she hates the house, she hates the town and the neighborhood—”

“So what you’re telling me is she’s a normal, hormonal teenage girl.”

My chin jerked back. “Jesus Christ. Are you telling me this shit is what youallgo through?”

“Believe me, Silas, being female is drawing the short straw in so many ways. Such as the fact that the world hasn’t exploded into nothingnessbecausewe exist, yet you assholes with penises refuse to give us the credit we’re due.”

“True words, doll. True words.”

“And she doesn’t hate you,” she said reassuringly. “She loves you like crazy. She’s going through a lot right now. Her world’s basically been turned on its head. Once she finds her footing again, her moods will level out.”

I hoped so, because every time she looked at me like I destroyed her life, I felt like someone was shoving a goddamn fire poker through my chest. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

She let out a breath. “You do that. And thanks, Silas. I feel better after our talk.”

“I’m glad, honey.”

“So, how’s the move going? You met any of your neighbors yet?”

I thought back to the woman who lived right beside me, the total fucking smoke show, and felt my jaw getting tight. That hadn’t been expected, that was for goddamn sure. It wasn’t often I got caught off-guard, but seeing her flouncing across my driveway, a body built for sin and a smile that would make most men fall to their knees, I’d been stunned speechless for a moment—or several moments.

Then I caught her scoping out my left hand, specifically, my ring finger. I saw the flair of interest in her honey-brown eyes and the tip of her tongue peeked out to run across her bottom lip enticingly as she looked me up and down.

She was good, I’d give her that. She knew how to snap her hips side to side enticingly as she walked, how to bat those eyelashes and smile coyly. One look at her pouty bottom lip and I knew without a doubt that she was a woman who was used to getting what she wanted, and she enjoyed the hell out of playing games in order to get it. She probably led men around by their dicks on a regular basis.

But I wasn’t that guy. I didn’t have the time or inclination for those kinds of manipulations. I had a kid who hated the very air I breathed to focus on. The last thing I needed was the complication of this woman, myneighbor, making me consider getting my dick wet for the first time in too damn long.

I’d pawned off the responsibility of raising Darcy on Kim for too long. I was past due to step up to the plate, and there was absolutely no room for distractions. And that was exactly what Sloane Chambers was: a distraction on mile-high legs with a killer rack and an ass that didn’t fucking quit.

For some reason, thinking about my new neighbor made me incomprehensibly grouchy. Not that I wasn’t already a grumpy bastard most of the time anyway. Just ask my daughter. But I didn’t understand my reaction to the woman I didn’t know from Adam, so I decided right then and there it was probably for the best to avoid her at all costs.

“Nah, nothing so far.” I didn’t know why the hell I’d lied, and I didn’t care to think too hard on it, not with a disaster of a house and a miserable daughter to deal with.

Best to push it and the woman out of my mind.

“Okay, well I’ll let you go, I’m sure you’ve got a lot to do. And I promise totryand be less of a helicopter from now on.”

“I’ll do you a favor and not hold you to that.”

She pushed out a snort. “Thanks for that. Don’t let Darcy forget about our Zoom call later this week. I’m missing her face desperately, even if all she’s using it for lately is to frown.”

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