Page 51 of Sleigh My Heart

She grinned. She knew exactly how many. She had to track down paint a time or two. “How many?”

“More than I thought. I asked them to email you the lists, but I did get copies.” He pulled out a file folder from his work bag and handed it to her. “You can keep those.”

Michelle’s eyes bulged at the list. “Wow.”

“And that’s not the cash sales.”

She scanned the names. None jumped out at her. Crap.

The doorbell rang. Nick glanced at the app on his phone before picking up the cash on the counter and going to the door. Two minutes later, he set two large pizza boxes on the table.

Her stomach growled.

He flipped the lid up. “Dig in.”

Ava slid to a stop at her chair. “Did you get cheesy bread?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Nick still held the second box. “But I think we should let our guest have first crack at it, if you don’t mind.”

“I’m good. Ava can go first.”

“No, she’s my child. She can eat her weight in cheese bread.”

A little laugh escaped from Ava. She slapped a hand over her mouth.

“That can’t be.” Michelle’s gaze bounced from Nick to his daughter. “I think I need to see this. No way this little person can eat more than one piece.”

Ava giggled.

“You just issued a challenge.” Nick put two pieces and a slice of pizza on Ava’s plate. “This girl could live on pizza and cheese bread.”

Over the next twenty minutes, Michelle watched the little girl not only eat everything on her plate, but an extra piece of cheese bread.

“She’s a girl after my own heart.” Michelle took a bite of her second piece of pizza. She, too, had devoured two pieces of cheese bread.

“I’m done. Can I be excused?” At Nick’s nod, Ava placed her glass in the sink and her plate in the trash.

Ava bounded up the stairs, singing a song Michelle had heard her nieces and nephews sing. A minute later, she was back with a slinky animal draped over each arm.

“This is Bandit and Snowball.”

“Wow.” Michelle turned from the critters in Ava’s arms to Nick. “Ferrets. I didn’t see that one coming.”

He shrugged.

“Do you want to hold them?”

Before she could answer, a white furball was shoved into her lap. “Well. Hi there, um, Snowball.”

It didn’t take more than a few minutes for Michelle to see why Ava loved these two. They were cute and soft, and when they set them on the floor, they played and played. She even caught Nick chuckling at the antics of these two.

Now that Ava and the ferrets were in the living room watching a movie, Michelle was acutely aware that she and Nick were alone at the table. Mere inches apart. His eyes moved from hers to her mouth.

The look on his face said he was hungry for more than pizza.

She swallowed.

His gaze floated back to hers. He reached out. A gentle touch at the edge of her lip. Then he sucked the finger into his mouth.