“Well?” Lucas asked, knowing damn well that he’d just watched his kiddo swallow a fiery mint rather than her pride.
“It was good,” she said.
“Want another one?” he asked. Holy hell, the way these two matched wits now, the teenage years were certainly going to be interesting.
“I don’t want to take all of Paige’s candy,” Maddie said. She was trying her best to play it cool, but the deep breaths she was taking through her mouth were a dead giveaway.
“How about some water?” Lucas asked.
Maddie smiled, although Paige wasn’t sure if it was because of her victory or thirst. “Yes, please.” She drank nearly half the contents of her Dora the Explorer water bottle, then wiped her mouth on her sleeve and yawned.
“Time for a nap?” Lucas asked.
Maddie looked horrified. “I’m almost five, Daddy. Only babies take naps.”
He nodded. “What about a piggyback ride? Do big girls accept those?”
She giggled as Lucas swung her onto his back. When she was settled, the three of them began making their way back to the inn. They had just started up the wooden-plank walkway when Lucas whispered, “This one thinks she doesn’t need naps anymore but…”
He turned so Paige could see Maddie’s face. She was sound asleep, with her cheek pressed against her father’s shoulder. “Let me run put her down.” He disappeared up the stairs, and when he returned, he was just finishing a phone call.
“That was my sister,” he said, shoving his phone into the pocket of his jeans. “She’ll be by to grab Maddie in about an hour.”
“She doesn’t have to leave on my account. I mean, you haven’t gotten to spend much time with her the last few days.” Paige was still getting to know Lucas, but one thing was already abundantly clear. His daughter was his world. She felt guilty that her presence had kept them apart the last few nights. Then again, maybe he didn’t want his daughter spending so much time around a relative stranger. “Unless you don’t want me…”
“Oh, but I do,” he said. The rough timbre of his voice seemed to vibrate right through her. Paige’s brain short-circuited, and for a few beats she completely lost her train of thought. “I meant if you don’t want me to spend that much time around your daughter. It’s not like you really know that much about me. I could be a crazy person.” She was certainly acting like one. How was it that she could be so completely calm and put together at the office, then so completely awkward around Lucas?
He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her waist. It was all Paige could do to keep from leaning into his embrace. Instead, she brought her hand to rest on his chest. The contact was meant to be simple. Yet feeling the solid contour of his chest, the rise and fall of each breath, the rapid beat of his heart, suddenly felt anything but simple. It felt intimate and immediate. It felt real.
“Maddie had a great time today.” He dropped his lips to her ear. “So did I.” She felt his warm breath against her skin, and her knees nearly buckled. “And I was hoping tonight we could pick up where we left off last night.”
“Oh?” she said. Her voice sounded all breathy, as though the air in the kitchen was suddenly too thick. Then his hips brushed against hers, and she felt for herself just how ready he was to pick up where they left off. “Oh,” she said with much more enthusiasm.
Paige wondered if everything had to wait until later that night. Was it okay to kiss while his daughter was upstairs napping? She had no idea what the protocol was for making out with a single dad. All she knew was that if he didn’t kiss her soon, she might spontaneously combust.
She looked up at him, and for several long moments, they said nothing. The air between them seemed charged with awareness and need, but they’d been there before, twice in fact, and the moment had always come and gone.
Not this time.
Lucas leaned forward ever so slightly and touched his lips to hers. It was soft and gentle, yet sent a spark rushing through her like a live wire. She thought that might be it, just a quick peck, a placeholder and promise of what was yet to come. But then he reached up, cupping her jaw and deepening the kiss. Her fingers slid into his hair, and her lips parted, inviting him in. He took full advantage, and suddenly she was hot everywhere, yet shivering at the same time. A delicious ache built inside her, and without thinking, her body went lax against his, and for a few brief moments she forgot about everything except how badly she wanted to have this man over her, behind her, inside her…
Lucas groaned ever so softly, then broke their kiss but not their contact. For several sweet seconds, his forehead rested against hers while their collective breathing slowed. When he finally pulled back, an adorably cocky grin curved his mouth. “Did that convince you?”
Paige wobbled ever so slightly. She would have loved to have a sexy comeback for him, but at the moment, it was taking everything she had just to remain upright, let alone form a coherent if not somewhat witty response. But then her brain jump-started and the synapses began to fire. “How about a compromise?” she said.
“If your compromise involves my balls being as blue as they were last night…”
She laughed. “No, not at all.”
He dropped his lips to her neck.
“I was going to suggest maybe a compromise for the evening.”
“I’m listening,” he said. Except he wasn’t just listening, he was distracting. And the trail of soft kisses he was leaving on Paige’s neck were making it very hard for her to keep track of what she was saying.
She gave him a gentle shove. “I can’t focus when you do that.”
“Sorry, sorry,” he said. But the boyish grin on his face told Paige he was anything but sorry. Horny maybe, but definitely not sorry.
“Why don’t you spend some time with your daughter while I cook dinner for the three of us, and then she can go spend the night with her aunt.”
“Agreed. But with one caveat.”
“So now this is a negotiation?”
He gave her a look that very clearly accused the pot of calling the kettle black. “I will spend time with Maddie and you. I’ll run to the store to get what we need, and then we can all three cook dinner.” He moved closer, and his hands found their way back to her waist before sliding over the swell of her hips. “Then we can have some grown-up time.”
Grown-up time. Paige liked the sound of that. Forget getting her ears pierced, she thought just before Lucas kissed her again, this was definitely the best perk of being an adult.
Chapter 14
Lucas couldn’t remember the last time he felt so alive. He was wired. He was amped. He was horny as hell.