The sudden image of them walking down the aisle with her dressed in a gorgeous white gown instead of the mint-green bridesmaid number she’d wear that weekend had Lena’s cheeks flaming again. Where the hell did that come from? She’d known the guy, what, five minutes? Usually, the married-happily-ever-after fantasies took a few weeks to start running rampant. Though, really, he’d kept Tyler entertained, and he was funny and drop dead gorgeous. She’d certainly done a lot worse.
Then again, Elliot really wasn’t relationship material. Lena had heard stories from Cher. Stories that were funny when told over family dinners, but not so funny when her child was in danger of becoming too attached. Elliot was much more the sweep-them-off-their-feet-love-’em-then-leave-’em type. Different girl on his arm every week. Not the type a single mother needed to be messing with.
Thankfully, Elliot had turned his attention back to Tyler and didn’t seem to notice her momentary flusterfication.
“Tyler’s been telling me all about being the ring bearer,” he said.
Tyler didn’t take his eyes off the game but called over his shoulder. “I have ta carry them on a pillow, and I have ta go slow so I don’t drop ’em. Elliot showed me.”
Elliot laughed. “You’re going to do great.” He turned back to Lena. “We practiced a little.”
“Yep!” chimed in Tyler.
Lena’s heart was in danger of melting around the edges. Until she reminded herself that no matter how hot or charming the man in front of her was, he was a headache, or heartache, waiting to happen. For her and Tyler. She shoved her hair behind her ear and looked around the room. Anywhere but directly at the handsome hunk-of-a-hero in front of her. She needed to steer clear. “So, what happened? I passed out?”
“Yeah. Damn near gave me a heart attack. I almost didn’t catch you.”
“Sorry about that,” she mumbled.
Her cheeks burned, both in mortification that she’d dropped like a fly for no real reason and at the thought that he’d caught her. And carried her up to his hotel room where he had tucked her into his bed. Where he slept, probably naked as gorgeous hunks do. In her fantasies, at least.
She swallowed and tried desperately to get a grip. She was drooling over the poor guy like she’d never seen one before. Her gaze raked over him while she pondered that thought for a second. To be fair, she hadn’t seen one quite so well put together before. At least not close up. Still. She needed to chill the hell out.
He laughed, an easy going, happy sound that eased her embarrassment. There was something about him that was extremely comforting. Well, aside from the high school crush-like tingles running riot through her body. But instead of wanting to die from sheer humiliation because she’d passed out while her son had been in two feet of water, Elliot made it seem like a normal, everyday occurrence that was no big deal. He was very sweet.
Too sweet. Tyler was already looking at the guy with a mild case of hero worship that was only going to get worse.
“It was no problem at all, really. I had the hotel doctor come up. He said you probably have a mild case of heat exhaustion. He gave you some fluids and a little something to help sleep it off. You should be feeling much better in a few hours, but he suggested taking it easy and said to make sure you drink lots of water. Oh, speaking of which…”
Elliot hurried to the small fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. “Here you go. Drink up. Doctor’s orders.”
His light brown eyes had such a lighthearted twinkle in them Lena couldn’t help but give him a grudging smile.
“Yes, sir,” she said, cracking the lid off the bottle and taking a sip.
“Tyler was telling me you don’t really like the water. Pools and things, I mean.”
Lena’s cheeks grew warm. “Yeah, that’s a bit of an understatement.”
“Hmm. And you’re about to spend an entire week at a beachside resort, surrounded by them.”
Lena’s mouth went dry. “Yeah,” she managed to squeak out. She cleared her throat and tried again. “My best friend was supposed to be here to help with Tyler. Take him to the pool and the beach and basically wrangle him while I’m busy with wedding stuff.”
She repressed a shudder, barely. “But when I called her this morning, her flight had been delayed due to weather, so I’m not sure when, or if, she’ll make it. And Tyler wanted to swim so badly. There’s a view of the pools from our room, and it looked so fun. And I don’t want him growing up with the same issues I have, so I thought it would be okay if I took him down for a few minutes. But then he wouldn’t get out…”