Page 9 of Finding English

“Hello. Is that cake?” She stepped closer to him, her seemingly inquisitive nature overriding any shyness as she followed him to the kitchen where Cassie had disappeared.

“It is. Do you like cake?”

“Yes, but only chocolate or fairy cake.”

“I guess it’s a good thing I bought a chocolate cake then.”

Her little face lit up with a grin as she giggled, and he crouched down, so he was face to face with her. “You need to eat your dinner first though because that way you’ll be big and strong.”

He sensed Cassie move in behind him, silently observing him with her daughter. He had the unmistakable feeling of not wanting to flunk the test he wasn’t sure she knew she was giving him.

“Mommy says if I don’t eat all the different colored fruits and veggies, then I won’t be able to go to the moon.” Micky looked forlorn at her admission.

Henry glanced up at Cassie, who was smiling at them, her hands tucked into the pockets of her cut-off jeans. “Your mum is right. If you eat all the different foods, it will make you strong and healthy and clever. Then you can grow up to be an astronaut or a ballerina, or fly a plane, anything you want to be.”

“A dinosaur? Can I grow up to be a dinosaur?”

Henry found himself wholly captivated by this little bundle of dynamite. His instincts were telling him to hug the child, but he hardly knew her, and it wouldn’t be appropriate. “Not sure a dinosaur is an option.”

Her face fell, and he looked at Cassie for help.

She grinned but took pity on him and bailed him out. “Why don’t you go and see if JT and Billy want to play?”

“Okay.” Micky looked at Henry, her little head tilted so that her dark curls bounced, as her big brown eyes assessed him. “Do you want to play?”

He had no clue how to played with a four-year-old, having no experience with them.

“Henry is going to get a drink and talk to his friends first.”

“Maybe later, though,” he called as she dashed out the back door toward the noise.

He watched her go and shook his head with a smile before looking at Cassie. Her face was soft, eyes warm with love as she moved them from the door where her daughter had gone, to him. He wanted that soft look for himself, aimed at him for him, but for now, he was content to see it on her face.

“She’s adorable.”

“She is, but she’s also a handful.”

Henry chuckled, placing his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for Cassie, hauling her against his body, and kissing her breath away. “I bet she is, but would you want it any other way?”

“Not even for a minute.”

The joy on her face betrayed the love she had for her daughter, and he loved seeing this different side of her. At the lab, she was smart, efficient, and always thinking outside the box. Here she was one hundred percent mother, and he wasn’t sure which was sexier.

Silence descended over the kitchen, the noise from the garden a mellow chatter of laughter and friendship. The old denim cut-offs looked spectacular on her, especially with the turquoise halter top she wore that left hardly anything on show, and yet it still seemed like the sexiest garment he’d ever seen. But that was Cassie, hair up, hair down, jeans, trousers, dress, whatever she wore she looked terrific, but this natural, relaxed look, with her hair over her shoulders was his favorite to date.

His heart began to pound in his chest as she stepped closer, raising on her tiptoes so that she was almost face to face with him, her mouth so close he could practically taste her. Her hand came up, and she swiped gently at his cheek, the touch sensual and yet wholly innocent. Her pulse was pounding in her neck as she began to pull back.

“You had flour or something on you.”

Henry grasped her wrist in his hand, and felt the thrum of her heartbeat as he turned her hand and laid a kiss on her palm. Her eyes flared with heat, her lips parting on a silent sigh before he dropped her hand.

“Thank you.” He saw her fist her hand as if trying to keep his kiss in, or at least he hoped that was the reason.

“My pleasure.”

“Not yet, sweetheart, but soon.”

He turned knowing if he didn’t get out of the room in the next thirty seconds, he was going to pin her to the worktop and ruin all his careful plans to woo her.