All Stars Fall (Seaside Pictures #3.5)(25)

“Daddy?” Bella’s voice sounded at the door. “Is it a storm?”

“Yeah, baby,” I said in a raspy voice. “It’s a good one though.”

“How do you know?” She padded over to me, then reached up. I pulled her into my arms and smiled while Penny still seemed frozen in shock.

“Well…” I grinned at her then looked over at Penny as I whispered, “Sometimes the dark makes us brave, and that makes the storm good, not bad.”

Penny bit down on the lip I’d just tasted and then grabbed the flashlight with a shaky hand and placed it on my bed. “I’ll just…be heading to bed.”

“You’re staying!” Bella squealed, “Please sleep in my room! Please! I have princess bunk beds.”

I opened my mouth to say no.

Instead Penny beamed. “Actually, I’d love that, let’s go!”

“Follow me!” Bella scrambled from my embrace and bolted out the door.

“Using my daughter as a human shield?” I whispered under my breath.

Penny crossed her arms and stared me down. “Maybe.”

“Are you still going out with Drew later?”

“Does it matter?” she fired back.

“Yes. No. Maybe.” I gulped and ran my hands through my hair. “He’s just…”

“The kind of guy that kisses the nanny?” she whispered, her cheeks going pink again.

“Penny, no, that’s not…”

She just shrugged and left me alone in that room.

Wondering how the hell I was going to fix it.

Because the reality was, I had all the power in the situation. I was paying her to watch my kids, to keep them alive; I was paying her as an employee. I’d basically just kissed my employee and had been seconds away from lifting her shirt over her head or just ripping it from her body.

And she was going to be on a date with Drew.

Drew, the same guy who had slept his way through Austin, Texas.

Twice.

What could go wrong?





Chapter Thirteen



Penelope




Fact. I’d let it happen.

Fact. I’d known it would happen.

Fact. I hadn’t pulled away.

Fact. I’d liked it.

I’d called Fallon the next morning freaking out and she still had the same sage advice as before, adventure, let it happen, agh!

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a date with a girl who stared so hard at a burger.” Drew shoved a fry into his mouth and then took a sip of his beer.

Mine was untouched.

Because I was still thinking about the kiss.

The kiss that shouldn’t have happened.

The words before the kiss about wanting to share his life with someone who got it.

And the little crack in my heart that seemed to open even more as I realized I wanted exactly the same thing. I’d never been the sort of girl who wanted anything huge.

A family.

A real family.

Was that so much to ask for?

According to Trevor, no. And that was the thing, he was famous, but still so normal in the desires of his heart. It made him so maddeningly attractive that I couldn’t even hold a conversation during my date with Drew.

It didn’t help that things had gone back to normal with Trevor, I had dinner waiting for him the last three nights, he greeted me with a huge smile when I showed up at one, usually with some sort of food substance on his person, and on and on we went, in perfect sync, around one another, laughing about the kids.

But not acting on anything.

We were never alone.

Maybe that was a good thing.

Yeah, my stomach dropped and then filled with erratic butterflies, all hell bent on escaping, at once.

A very good thing.

“Sorry.” I picked up a fry and shoved it in my mouth. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

“Right, because making coffee is basically the same thing as solving world hunger. Not that I’m hating on your job, we all need coffee. You’re basically a saint to us sinners, but tell me one thing.” He sat forward. The guy had such lethal eyes, so piercing and deep that no sane person could look away. “What sort of answers do you think you’re going to find on an empty stomach?”

“Ah, so basically if I eat my food, I’ll be all powerful?”

“Well.” His smirk widened as he leaned in and whispered. “They are fries.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Be honest, are you here because you want to be here, because you’re bored, or because you want to piss off Trevor by feeding his employee?”

His expression fell a bit and then he leaned back and crossed his arms. He had bracelets on both wrists, the colorful rope kind that his bandmates seemed to collect since most of them were covered in them. His black V-neck went down so low I could see half his chest tattoo. His fingernails were painted black, and I was almost positive he had eyeliner on, unless that was real, and he really did have such intense eyes. If it was, not fair, not fair to any of us.

Drew had always been the bad boy of the group.

The one that every girl said they loved but never chose to marry when it came to playing the whole kiss, date, marry game.

No, the marry one had always been Trevor.