Page 42 of Hot Dad Summer

He stood up and motioned towards his bike. “Let’s go.”

Because I needed a minute and because I was angry, I shook my head. “I need to wash up first. Leave if you want to. I can get a ride.”

He let the words sit between us and didn’t bother doing anything with them. I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror as I washed my hands and lectured myself about how stupid I was being. It was embarrassing and I had to get a grip on my emotions.

Max was still there when I walked out of the shop. He raised his eyebrows at me and I ignored him as I climbed on. Holding him tight like the first time felt like a slap in the face so I lightly gripped his sides, just for him to grab my hands and yank me into his back.

“Hold on tight if you don’t want to crack your skull open.” He only started the bike once I was adequately wrapped around him. Then, over the roar of the engine, he yelled over his shoulder at me. “I want you, Daisy. That’s the whole problem.”

For the rest of that ride I fought to keep from smiling. Nothing could happen so I truly had nothing to smile about. Yet there I was, happy as a clam that the man I liked liked me back. Disgusting.

32

***Daisy***

“Hank! Do not eat that!” I chased behind Hank as he had a great time trying to eat Wes’ rain boot. “Drop it!”

Wes stepped into our path and Hank immediately dropped the boot and sat still for him. Then he just bent down, grabbed his boot, and patted Hank on the head.

I would’ve spent more time being amazed about Wes having so much control over my dog but I heard the overwhelming sound of booming thunder and jumped about a foot in the air. Before the kids could even start screaming I was running to the living room.

Hazel was sitting on the couch, holding both Poppy and Charlie as they cried. As soon as she saw me, though, her own eyes filled with tears and she crumbled. I curled up with all three of them and tried to soothe them as a rare summer storm raged outside. Hank climbed onto the pile of children after a few minutes and his presence helped calmed them more than I ever could.

The only way I got them to go to bed that night was to let them all sleep in my bed with Hank. The storm was still going strong but I shut the black-out curtains and read to them until they passed out.

It’d been a painfully long day, all of it spent trapped inside because of the weather. I was tapped out and needed time with adults. Even if it was awkward and stiff because of our own mistakes.

The guys were all sitting at the kitchen island when I found them. It was even storming too bad for Max to hide out in his workshop so he had to deal with seeing me. He’d been doing a great job of avoiding me since our bike ride back to the house. It would’ve been impressive if it wasn’t so infuriating.

“They’re asleep finally.” I opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. “I moved the monitor into my room with them so we’ll hear if the storm wakes them up.”

Flynn moved around the island and stood behind me to rub my shoulders. I let myself enjoy his hands for a few seconds before I recognized the rising tension in the room. Stepping away from Flynn, I did the only thing I could think of to distract all of us from the larger issue at play.

“How about a movie?” I forced excitement into my voice. “Y’all never use the theater room. It’s not like there’s anything else to do with it storming like this. I’ll make popcorn and even let y’all pick the movie.”

Flynn leaned down and kissed my forehead. “This is why they pay you the big bucks. That sounds amazing.”

Wes hesitantly agreed while watching me closely. “I’m in.”

Max stared longingly at the door. “I guess there’s nothing else I can do.”

“You could read. You could take care of your side of the paperwork for the trust. You could-”

“I’m going to watch the movie, Flynn.” Max growled and stomped past us, towards the theater room at the other side of the house. He left grumbling about how fucking annoying Flynn was.

“We’ll go pick the movie.” Wes grabbed Flynn and pushed him away from me. “Come on, asshole.”

I realized my hands were shaking as I poured a bag of popcorn into a large bowl. I yanked them back to my side and pressed them into my thighs hard. I couldn’t fall apart after initiating the movie night. I chanted to myself that it was a movie night and therefore, no reason to be nervous.

I filled two bowls with buttered popcorn and balanced them and four bottled waters as I made my way to the theater room. I’d laughed at the room the first time I’d seen it years earlier. Who owned their own personal theater? There was even a candy bar until the kids found it. After Candygate, the door to the theater got a lock and the candy stash was hidden just in case.

Instead of individual recliners for their theater, they’d installed large, deep couches so the kids could all sit together. I walked down the two levels to reach the first row of couches and chose my seat while the guys were all still standing around, debating movies. I dropped the drinks at the edge of the couch and crawled into the middle spot of the middle couch. I settled with both bowls of popcorn in my lap and felt pleased with myself and my idea until I felt the guys look back at me.

There was a ridiculous display of brotherhood as they shoved each other to get their first choice seat. Flynn and Wes were focused on each other and it allowed Max to calmly sit on my right, his large body making the couch dip so I leaned into him. I offered him the popcorn and he reached in to grab a handful.

Wes managed to win the stealth shoving battle with Flynn and he flopped down next to me hard enough to send the waters flying. Flynn grabbed them and passed one to me and then to Max. Wes’, he put on the floor in front of the couch. I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped.

“Grow up.” Wes growled and then turned his phone to me. “Pick one. We narrowed it down to these three.”