Page 95 of The Single Dad Project

I didn’t know that I would love so strongly, so completely that I question how I didn’t feel like something was missing inside me before then.

Jesus. Had she just admitted she loved him, was in love with him? He couldn’t move, shock seizing him. Something primal demanded he trek across the space separating them and yank her into his arms. Take her. Claim her. That same something nearly demanded she repeat her words, mark him as hers, too.

But the panic crackled through him more powerful than ever, fisting his lungs, his heart, polluting his blood. Refusing to let him accept what a part of him so desperately yearned for.

“Flo, I...” A frustrated growl because he couldn’t find the words. Couldn’t find the courage that she deserved. “I never meant to hurt you.”

It was all he could say. All that he had.

And he could tell by the flattening of her mouth and the pain glistening in her eyes that it wasn’t enough. It gutted him.

“You’ve said that, and you know what, Adam? I believe you. But it’s not enough for me,” she whispered, echoing the thoughts in his mind. She inhaled a deep breath, her shoulders straightening, her expression blanking. “Thank you for coming over to check on me. If you don’t mind, I’d like you to leave now.”

“Flo,” he called her name, even held his hand out toward her, but she took a step back from him.

“Good night, Adam.”

She turned and walked away from him, leaving him alone.

No, not alone.

He had his resolve and his fear to keep him company.

Like always.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“YOU, ADAMREED, are an ass.”

Adam glanced up from the stove where he stirred tomato sauce for the spaghetti he prepared for dinner and met his ex-wife’s narrowed glare. She stood on the other side of the breakfast bar, palms flattened on the surface. Sighing, he tossed a look toward the hallway that led to Justine’s room.

“She’s in her room,” Jennifer said, catching where his attention had shifted. “And I closed the door. I wouldn’t want her overhearing that her father is an ass.”

“Why, thank you for that consideration,” he drawled, tapping the spoon against the saucepan and laying it down on the saucer next to the stove. “And just think, it wasn’t too long ago when I was a great dad.”

“Oh, you are a wonderful father. But being an ass isn’t mutually exclusive.”

“Jennifer,” he said, switching the fire to a low simmer and then turning to face her. “What’s the problem?”

She straightened, crossing her arms and scowling at him.

“What’s the problem? You can really stand there with a straight face and ask me that?” She scoffed. “You’re screwing up a perfectly good chance to be happy with a woman who loves you, but hey, there’s no problem. Nothing to see here.”

His chest pulled tight at her mention of Flo’s loving him.How do you know? Did she tell you that?The questions bombarded him, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask them.

Didn’t think he had the right to. Not that Jennifer would answer. Not with her looking at him like she’d really enjoy slapping him with the serving spoon.

“Sarcasm duly noted,” he murmured.

Hell, he didn’t need this. It’d been hard enough seeing Flo nearly every day on the renovation set for the past eight days and not talking to her outside of anything related to the job. Being so close yet, emotionally, hundreds of miles away. She was beyond him, and he only had to look into the mirror to find out why. His reasons might be real and solid, but the image of her face as she turned from him followed him into sleep. It wouldn’t leave him alone.

“Jennifer,” he said, the weariness that had been dogging him for the past week seeping into his voice. “I don’t want to talk about this. Let it go.”

“Too bad.” She slapped her hand on the bar top then rounded it, stepping into the kitchen. “What’re you doing, Adam? Flo is hurt, and Justine already notices that she’s not coming around your house. She misses seeing Flo every day. And though you work with her, I’m betting you miss her, too.”

“How do you know Flo is hurt?” he demanded, pushing off the stove. “Has she said something to you?”

Jennifer’s scowl deepened. “Of course not. She wouldn’t. But her refusal to admit anything at all about you—or what happened between you two—says it all. That, and I recognize pain when I see it. And Flo is covered in it. Same as you.”

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