If I Only Knew(18)

“Yup.” She grins. “Are you my new daddy?”

“Are you mad?”

“Does that mean crazy about you?”

Jesus. Danielle has her hands full. “No, it means just crazy. Is your mother home?”

She shakes her head. “Nope. It’s just us.”

Wonderful, I think to myself.

“I love your accent,” Ava says stepping forward.

Dear Lord, this girl is positively mad. “Would you give this to her?”

“Want to come in? You can wait here, we could . . . talk.”

“Yes, because that sounds like a fab idea,” I roll my eyes. “You’re quite the little trouble maker, aren’t you?”

Ava shrugs, moving closer again while I step back. This is not going well. All I need is her mother to think I’m coming onto her child.

“I have daddy issues,” she says.

I jerk back at her comment. What a strange thing to say. Then again, she has lost her father, which would make sense as to why she’s acting out.

And then I see it. She’s me.

“How old are you, Ava?”

“Sixteen.”

Her father died at the same age mine did. I was so angry at the world when I lost him. The cow who drank too much and got behind the wheel. She stole someone I loved and I wanted everyone to pay for it.

It seems Ava is dealing with the same.

Daddy issues indeed.

And Danielle has no idea what else might be in store.

“Well, it was a pleasure meeting you,” I say as I take a step back.

“Don’t go,” she says quickly. “My mother . . . she’ll want you to stay. You know how she is. Hates leaving me all by myself. I’m sure she’d be fine with her very good-looking assistant watching me until she gets back.”

I’m many things but a fool is not one.

“You’re a minor,” I remind her. “And while I appreciate the compliment, there’s no way I would ever take you up on that. You’re a beautiful little girl, but I’m a grown man.”

“I’m not a little girl! You don’t even know me.”

That’s where she’s wrong. “I know more than you think. You lost your father, and you’re trying so hard to figure out how not to feel all your anger. Am I getting warmer?”

She’s trying to come up with a retort but falls short. “Whatever.”

Despite her attitude, I can see in her eyes that I struck a nerve. “Take it from me, you should be careful who you say things like that to,” I tell her. “I may be a gentleman, but another man might not be.”

“Thanks for the unwanted advice.”

As much as I hate to admit it, I kind of like her. She reminds me so much of myself I can’t help but think she’s fantastic . . . since I am and all.

“You’re quite welcome.” I smile as if she actually meant it and wasn’t being a sarcastic prick.

A car turns into the drive and Danielle emerges, opens the back door, and helps a younger child out.

She approaches with a disapproving look. “Ava, you know you’re not supposed to open the door.”

Ava shakes her head, accompanied by an eye roll. “He was hot and I wanted to meet your new boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” the boy asks.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Danielle tells him. “He works for Mommy.”

The small boy walks over with his hand extended. “I’m Parker Bergen.”

“Milo Huxley,” I say as I give him a nice strong shake. “Quite a grip you have there, Parker.”

“Dad said a man is measured by his handshake,” he tells me.

I smile. “Your dad was right.”

I fight back the feelings that start to make their way up around my heart. I will not care that she’s a widow with two kids. My job was taken by her, which means she’s enemy number one. First rule of war is not to have any empathy for the other side.

“Go inside, Parker. I’m going to talk to Milo for a minute about boring work things.”

He nods. “Nice to meet you. I like your accent. It’s like Thor’s!”

I laugh. “Thor wishes he was as bloody cool as I am. I’m more Loki than Thor anyway.”

“So, you’re a bad guy?” he asks.

I decide that yes, I’m most definitely the villain that you can’t help but love. I tell Parker, “I think Loki is misunderstood and has a do-good brother that makes him crazy, don’t you agree?”

Parker purses his lips as he ponders what I said. “I think Loki makes bad choices.”

He would be right again, but since I’m drawing parallels to my own sibling’s life, I feel the need to defend him. “But if Odin didn’t have favorites, Loki wouldn’t need to prove his worth.”

“Well, maybe if Loki didn’t do bad things, he could be the hero,” Parker disagrees.

“How old are you?”

He smiles. “Six.”

Why am I arguing with a child?

“Talk to me when you’re nine.”

He laughs.

“All right then, that’s enough super hero analysis,” Danielle says as she puts her hand on the lad’s shoulder.

Parker looks up with sad eyes and then sighs. “Okay, Mom.”