Paige heard a yelp from the living room. “Gotta run, Sammy. Something is up with one of the puppies.”
“Puppies?” His voice was so high she was surprised anyone but a dog could hear.
“Yeah, Lucas and I rescued them from a storm drain. Long story.”
“Call me back then because this I have to hear.”
Except she didn’t call him back because by the time she got the pups settled, Lucas had returned with the groceries. He’d no sooner walked into the room when Maddie appeared at the bottom of the stairs, crying because she’d been put to bed without Stanley—was that the avocado or the bear?—and Samantha began barking by the back door.
“I swear everything was under control until a minute ago,” Paige said over the din. She had been totally killing the whole babysitting thing. As long as all the babies she was sitting were asleep. Talk about striking out at your first at-bat.
But Lucas took it in stride. “Why don’t you go let Momma out, and I’ll see if I can find Stanley.” He turned to Maddie. “Did you see if maybe he had just fallen off the bed?” Paige heard him ask as she left the kitchen.
Once the dogs and the child were settled, the three humans in the household began to make dinner. Lucas tossed the salad while Paige made the pasta sauce, with Maddie in charge of dumping ingredients into the bowl. She was also chief food taster, a title that was bestowed upon her with an official ceremony that involved her standing on a chair wearing an apron and trying not to giggle while her dad knighted her with a wooden spoon.
They sat in the dining room with Maddie at the head of the table, which seemed only fitting seeing as she was the only one in the room who had received a royal accolade. “That was yummy,” she said after she took her last bite of pasta. Judging by the amount of sauce on her face, Paige wasn’t entirely sure any had made in into her mouth. Still, it was sweet of her to say, and Paige found herself more than a little gratified by Maddie’s seal of approval.
“Thank you,” Paige said. “My mom taught me how to make that. I would have made a crème brûlée for dessert, but I forgot to pack my torch.” She smiled at her own joke. “What’s your favorite flavor of crème brûlée, Maddie?”
“Crème bru what?” she asked.
“It’s a dessert,” Lucas said. “Kind of like pudding but with a sugar shell on top.”
Maddie nodded as though she understood the intricacies of burnt sugar. “I’ve never had a lady cook for me,” she said matter-of-factly. “Just a daddy.”
“What about your aunt?” Paige asked. “Doesn’t she cook for you?”
“Aunt Sophia gets me lots of meals in white containers,” Maddie replied, and the three of them shared a laugh.
“Did someone say my name?” Sophie said as she came through the front door.
“Maddie was just telling us how you keep her alive with takeout containers,” Lucas said.
“Hey, we can’t all be Martha Stewart.” Her eyes widened at the sight of the pasta primavera. “But it looks like someone here is.” She grabbed a plate out of the cabinet behind her and began loading it down with fettuccine.
Lucas stared at her nonplussed. “No, please, help yourself.”
Sophie stuck her tongue out at her brother before shoveling a forkful of pasta into her mouth. “This is good,” she said, echoing her niece between bites.
“Her mommy taught her how to make it,” Maddie said. She smiled at Paige as if they were conspirators in some secret club. Paige was cool with that. As long as the club didn’t involve toads. “What else did she teach you how to make?”
Assuming “how to make a vodka martini” probably wasn’t the answer she should give to a four-year-old, Paige offered the only other recipe of her mom’s she knew by heart. “Oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies.”
Maddie bounced in her chair. “Oooh, can we make them now? Pleeease?”
“Afraid not,” Lucas said before Paige could reply. “You and Aunt Soph need to put a move on if you want to watch an episode of Ryan’s World before bed.”
Maddie held up three tiny fingers. “This many.”
“One,” Lucas said. It was a valiant attempt to hold his ground, but even Paige knew he was fighting a losing battle. Lucas was a bit of a pushover when it came to his daughter. After being away from her for three nights, the poor guy didn’t stand a chance.
“Okay, two,” Maddie countered. The satisfied grin on her face gave Paige the impression that had been her goal all along.
“What is it with the women in my life and negotiations?”
For a moment, Paige wondered if she was included in that group, but then Lucas glanced at her and winked. It was a small gesture that not only answered her unspoken question, but set off a flurry of butterflies in her belly.
“Fine,” he conceded. “Two. Then right to bed.”
“But I’m not sleepy,” Maddie said on a yawn. What was it about kids and sleep? From what she’d learned from her friends who were parents, being stubborn about going to bed was a universal trait, something Paige couldn’t quite understand. What’s not to love about climbing into bed after a long day and snuggling deep beneath the covers? Were kids really that worried they were missing out on something important while they slept? Did they think the adults only imposed an earlier bedtime for pip-squeaks so that they could have an all-you-can-eat ice cream buffet without interruption? Or maybe they thought all the adults played with their toys after they went to bed. After eight o’clock, it was Barbie and Lego time for the over-thirty age group. Not a bad idea, Paige thought. Throw in a few themed cocktails, and you’d have quite the retro happy hour.
“Alright, munchkin,” Sophie said. “Time for you and me to hit the road.”
“Let me grab Kermit,” Maddie said as she slid off her chair. She returned a moment later with the shoebox in hand.
“I’ll walk you out,” Lucas said. He began to follow his sister and daughter to the door, then looked back to where Paige had started stacking dishes. “Leave those,” he said. “I’ll do them in the morning.”
Leave dishes until the next day? Was he crazy? Paige was about to launch into the million reasons why she could never do that, but then Lucas’s expression darkened as his eyes raked over her in a heated glance that took her breath away. Nothing went unnoticed—from the warm blush that rushed across her cheeks, to the stray curl she tucked behind her ear, to the way her sweater pulled across her breasts, and the way her jeans hugged her curves.
His voice was rough when he spoke, revealing the effect his once-over had had on him as well. “Wait for me.”