Never Been Loved(34)

I swipe her hand and land a kiss in the middle of her palm. Her fingers  curl over it like she's trying to keep it safe. Don't beat your chest,  don't do it.

She actually looks surprised, her eyes are wide and her voice soft when she says, "Uh...what did you do that for?"

Because you're hot enough that if we were alone right now, I'd have you  over this counter, uh, if you'd let me. Because you're sweet to the kid,  because you're sweet in general, and I never wanted to OD on sugar so  bad.

I can't stop touching her, my thumb tracing the bumps of her knuckles,  hoping she feels a sliver of what she gave me last night. I wouldn't  mind seeing Sera out of control; hell, I wouldn't mind it one fucking  bit.

"I invited you for dinner, not to set my table. Matty can do it. Have a seat."

Sera gets to the table without saying another word to me, and I give  Matty the rest of the plates when he comes back for them, pretending the  floor's ice in his sock-feet. I pay for the pizza, and bring the box  over to the table after having re-cut all the slices.

The kid starts with his daily adventures, and he looks happy enough that  Sera seems to be the only one listening. I can't help but watch her  face for reactions, her expressions, the way she doesn't mind having a  legit conversation with a little kid.

"We made Play-Doh, but it didn't come from the yellow jar!"

Shit, she actually looks completely interested. I can't even fake it that well.

"Then, where did it come from, little man?"

"I made it!" Matty points at himself. Sera's eyebrows pop high like she  can't believe it. "Yeah! I made it. Out of flour and some other stuff,  and I painted it blue with red swirls. Then it turned purple!"

"Sounds like fun," she says, nibbling on her slice of pizza. Oh, man,  does she not like it? Hawaiian pizza isn't for everyone, you asshole,  why didn't you get an all-dressed one, too? Then I get distracted by her  teeth tearing the pizza and I'm having a hard time concentrating on  keeping the blood above my waist.

"It was. It was." Matty chews on his piece then looks at me like he's  waiting for story-time. Kid, don't do it, I don't want to talk about it …

"And you, Daddy? What did you do?"

Shit! He conned me, my own nephew conned me! Stall, here, wipe your mouth, and think of a good answer.

I'm not coming up with a good answer.

"Nothing special, buddy." My pizza's really interesting. Check out how  much cheese they piled on top this time around. Which means I gotta  adjust my insulin later - don't forget, MacLaine.         

     



 

"What did you do today, Hunt?" Sera asks, and I have to look up, making  sure my mouth's not open and she can't see what I'm chewing. I'm  grabbing my napkin like it's personally called my mother a whore, and  the plate was in on the name-calling, too.

Stop it. Just say the truth. Worst she can do is laugh. And laugh some more.

"Construction. I work in construction." That's what happens when you  barely finish post-secondary education ‘cause your body's fucking with  you.

I look at Sera's face, the way the colour blooms on her cheeks, the way  she's stopped chewing and isn't really looking at me, but stuck  somewhere in her head  –  hopefully with me front and center.

"Cool," she murmurs, taking a chug of her water …  like she's trying to cool down. Jesus Christ, is she thinking about me?

"Sera? Can you read to me again tonight?" Matty asks, completely  stealing all her attention, when all I want to do is press the  advantage, and press, and press …

"Sure, kid. Peter Pan again, or something else?" She looks at me and I  give the nod, because hell yeah, I want her here as long as possible.  After she reads to Matty means there's time for adult conversations, or  hell, zero conversations at all. My skin's tight and I can't look away  from her mouth.

I hardly hear Matty having a hard time.

"I..." Matty blows out air, carefully placing his pizza down on the  plate. The kid doesn't stop eating unless it's important. Rewind  –  what  did she ask him? C'mon, man, you can't have blanked out this bad.

"I don't want the story to end just yet. Can you read me something else?"

Sera's eyes get wide and big, and she has this little smile in the corner of her mouth that somehow goes straight to my dick.

"Ever heard of a boy named Harry Potter?" she asks, looking like she's hoping for a no.

Matty shakes his head, and Sera's smile gets even wider, showing off her  teeth. She looks so adorable, and the clothes she's wearing are driving  me wild. But it's like I'm not even here, with the two of them, all her  focus is on the kid.

"Right. We're going to read that tonight." She finally looks at me. "How  could you not read him Harry Potter? What's wrong with you?" She  actually looks at me like I've done a horrible thing.

If only she knew.

"Sorry. I got carried away," she says, looking at me with understanding.  "Harry Potter has a very special place in my heart and to not read it  to a kid is like blasphemy." Colour blooms on her cheeks, and I wish I  had the balls to reach out and stroke her skin there. "I don't just wear  the nerdy shirts and shoes. I have nerdy blood, and a nerdy heart."

I jump when she reaches for my hand, and I'm reminded at how bad I'm  strangling my napkin like it's gone and revenge-killed my family.

"Maybe you shouldn't pulverize your napkin," she tells me, smoothing out  my fingers and I'm not holding paper anymore, but the flesh of her  fingers instead. "I'm really happy you're letting me read to him. Thank  you."

C'mon, man, say something intelligent. Do something. Anything. She's on the same page …  I think.

I watch her put the mandatory space between us, but I flip my hand over  quick enough and get our fingers wound together, making sure she can't  pull away from me, not now, not when there's so much to do.

"As long as you promise to stay after he goes to bed. We need to talk."  Right, give her ultimatums, idiot. But she snorts, and then hides the  sound behind her hand, cheeks glowing red. The kid adds his laugh to the  mix, and I can't help it and follow suit.

"That was adorable," I say, kissing her knuckles, like some prince or  some shit, but Sera seems to like it by the way her mouth parts, and a  breath comes whooshing out of her.

"Why do keep kissing her hand, Daddy?"

Busted, MacLaine. You're in trouble now. How are you going to explain this?

"I'm showing her respect, buddy. I like Sera. I want her to be my girlfriend."

"I don't get it," the kid says, frowning at me.

"When I do this," I tell him, grazing my mouth against her knuckles  again, "I'm saying I like her." I'm probably doing all this wrong.

"Is it like when Peter kisses Wendy's hand?"

"Yeah, buddy. That's exactly it." Anything to get him to stop talking  about it, anything to get his attention away from me and Sera together.  Fuck, I don't know if there's a ‘together' yet.         

     



 

"I think I understand." Matty nods a couple of times, then looks at me  like he's filed away that info for later. "Daddy, can we go to the park  now? You said after supper we could go. Sera, wanna play soccer?" he  asks her without waiting for my reply. The kid knows how to get what he  wants all the time.

"Pffft. You don't want to play me, buddy. I'll kick your little bum,"  Sera says, getting into it. Most girls would probably knock it off,  having to play with a little kid, but she's all for it. She even blows  air on her knuckles like she's hot shit.

Well, she is.

Matty looks to Sera, then smacks his hand down on the table, all pissed  that she used a synonym for ass. "I thought you said a bad word. So?  Wanna play? I bet Daddy's better than you!"

The challenge has been issued, and all Sera does is look over to me and say, "I'll kick your bum, too. Game on?"

She shouldn't be allowed to play soccer dressed like that. How am I  going to concentrate on the ball when I'd be looking at some particular  female parts of her body? "You're playing dressed like that?" I ask,  looking her up and down, rubbing my mouth with a hand. My jeans are  uncomfortably tight, and I have to think of corpses to get myself to  calm down.

"I'll show you and your boy how a lady can kick gluteus!" She shrugs. "I'm trying to avoid losing quarters."

I keep rubbing my mouth, more slowly now. "Game on, then. When I kick  your...bum, even in those fine clothes, we're going to talk, aren't we?"

I watch her fidget, running her hands over that fucking skirt, not  looking at me behind the curtain of her hair. Then she tells me what I  want to hear.

"Yeah. We'll talk. But not before I score a hat-trick!"





Chapter 17



She has skills, I'll give her that, but Christ, she doesn't play fair. She just had to roll her skirt up, just fucking had to.

Her long hair is flowing in the wind, distracting me with its vanilla  frosting scent, and she keeps laughing and pulling these moves that got  me having to physically use my brawn to keep her from shredding my ego.  Not that I'd mind.