He turns to me, his brow raises as he waits for my answer.
“Well, they’ve pretty much checked out.”
“Shit, Poppy.”
“Please, don’t. It’s fine. I’ve got it all covered.”
“Maybe so but—”
“Please,” I beg. “Just leave it.”
“Come on you two,” Austin shouts.
“Go on, I’ll grab Cooper.”
Zayn stares at me for a few seconds too long, making me wonder what he really sees when he looks at me before taking off for my little brother. He may be a football player but in a second he has the ball away from Austin and is showing off his skills.
“I hope you’re not trying to impress me, Hunter.”
“Me? Never.” He winks, and I can’t help but laugh as Austin sets about explaining the rules of our backyard soccer game.
We run around like we have no cares in the world as we battle it out to be able to call ourselves the winners. Austin and Sofia laugh more than… well, I can’t even remember when they last enjoyed themselves this much. And I can’t deny that I’m actually having fun too, especially every time Zayn gets a little too close or decides to go in for a dirty tackle.
“Whoever scores next are the winners then it’s bath time,” I say despite the fact we’re all loving life right now, reality is only so far away and it’s a school night.
Sounds of Austin and Sofia’s complaints fill the air.
“Can Zayn stay for dinner?” Austin asks, already becoming attached to his new teammate.
“I’m not sure—”
“I’d love to, lil’ man,” he says, totally interrupting me.
“Are you sure?” I ask quietly when he walks past me to get the ball.
“Yes, now come on. You’ve got a game to win.”
“Oh please. It’s so ours.”
His lips curl into a smirk. “Here lil’ man, get ready.” He kicks the ball to Austin before reaching behind his head and pulling his shirt off.
My eyes drop to the skin he reveals. It ripples as his muscles flex beneath.
I’m still lost in my daze as Austin kicks him the ball and he skillfully dribbles it past me, kicks it back to Austin who scores the winning goal. Sofia comes to a stop where she was chasing him in an attempt to stop him and stares at me.
“Poppy,” she sighs with a roll of her eyes.
“S-sorry,” I mutter, irritated with myself for allowing the sight of Zayn’s naked chest to render me useless.
“Looks like we win, lil’ man,” Zayn says, high-fiving Austin who looks up at him like he’s God’s gift to soccer.
“Bath time, you two. Go and get sorted and I’ll be up in a little bit.”
They both complain but as always, they do as they’re told.
Zayn’s eyes are trained on me the entire time making my already increased temperature spike.
“Those were dirty tactics.”
“Oh baby, if you want dirty, I can give you dirty.”
I want to laugh but his stare is so intense as he closes the space between us that I can’t.
My stomach somersaults as his scent fills my nose and the heat of his body seeps into mine.
Reaching out, he tucks a lock of my hair behind my ear.
“You could have done the same thing,” he whispers.
“Take my shirt off in front of the kids, oh yeah, why didn’t I do that?” I sass.
“I have no idea because it was all I could think about.”
He leans forward to claim my lips but I manage to get my fingers between us so when he touches me, it’s not my lips he finds.
He growls in frustration but doesn’t force the situation. “Why not?”
“Look up.”
After a second, he does as he’s told.
“Little shits.” He chuckles quietly, confirming what I already knew. Both of them have run upstairs and pressed their noses against the window to watch us.
“Okay, well, I guess I’ll just have to wait until they go to bed. What time does that happen exactly?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’m still mad at you.”
“I know. I was hoping to show you that there’s really no need.” He moves his lips to my ear. “You already know that I can make you feel so good. And I think we’ve got unfinished business from earlier.”
I manage to catch the groan that threatens to rumble up my throat but I’m powerless to stop my thighs squeezing together.
“I need to go and make sure those two don’t drown. You really don’t need to stay for dinner.”
“What if I want to?”
“Why would you?” I ask, but I don’t mean for the words to come out loud.
“Many reasons.”
“Put your shirt back on, no one needs to look at that,” I say as I back away from him.
“Are you sure about that? Something tells me that you need to do more than look.”
Fucking hell.
“You can walk away as much as you like, Pops. You know that I’ll just keep hunting you down.”
“Keep an eye on Cooper,” I call over my shoulder.
I shake my head as I make my way into the house and up the stairs.
The TV booms from the living room where my parents are but I don’t even bother looking. Experience tells me that they’re not coming out for a while.
By the time I get upstairs, Austin is already out of the bath and Sofia is on her way into it. I hurry her up knowing that Zayn could be downstairs and seeing all kinds of things I really don’t want anyone seeing, but without insisting he leaves—which I already know he won’t do—or ignoring what everyone else in this house needs, there’s not a lot else I can do right now.
I leave them both to play around in their bedrooms before stopping off in my room to change my shirt after running around the yard for the past few hours. After pulling a tank over my head, I go back to see what trouble Zayn might have got himself into.
I’m not even at the bottom of the stairs when I hear his voice followed by giggles and coos.
What Is he doing? I smile to myself as I get closer and am able to make out the words.
“Where’s the bunny?” Giggle. “There he is.” More giggles.
My heart swells at hearing that little laugh.
I come to a stop in the doorway, cross my arms over my chest and lean my hip against the frame as I watch the two of them.
Cooper is still in his bouncer, but Zayn has lifted him onto the table in front of him so they can play.
“Where’s the bunny?” Zayn drops the stuffed toy out of sight while Cooper’s face lightens up with amusement before Zayn magically makes him reappear again. Cooper laughs like it might be the most incredible thing he’s ever seen and I start to wonder if I actually agree with him.
He must be able to feel my stare because after passing the bunny back to Cooper, Zayn turns his dark eyes on me.
Something crackles between us the second our eyes lock and it makes my breath catch.
“H-having fun?” I stutter, needing to fill the silence between us.
“Yeah, he’s pretty cool, this one.”
Zayn’s eyes drop from mine to where I have my arms folded under my breasts. They darken and his lips part as he takes in my cleavage.