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That damn pink tongue of hers popped out again, and all I wanted to do was suck on it.

My dick throbbed. Everything in me screamed to slam my mouth on hers.

I leaned down, whispering in her ear, “I can handle an entire team. One brat is easy work for me, Trouble.” The little hitch in her breath made me smile as much as seeing her pulse pounding in her neck.

It was a Herculean effort to force myself back. Her expression almost made it worth pulling away. Wild eyes with those pretty pink lips parted, ready to say something, but nothing came out.

My chuckle sure snapped her out of her shock, though.

“Joshua Monroe.”

“Still not my name.”

“Stop talking to me like that, Monroe. I’ll think you’re flirting with me,” she said it as if it were a joke, but her eyes searched mine as she picked at her nail polish. Green today.

“I am, Graciella.”

She gave me a surprised look.

We stared at each other for a minute, silence settling over us. Nothing but the whirl of clothes and the blood pounding in my ears.

“Even though you don’t trust me?” she asked, vulnerability coating her tone. “And don’t tell me that it’s not true. I know you don’t and…” She folded her hands in her lap, kneading them. “Listen, I’m sorry for how I went about getting this position. That was wrong for me to do, desperate or not.”

I swallowed, looking away for a moment before telling the truth.

“I’m not used to people helping me without an ulterior motive. It’s happened a lot in my career as a player.”

“And I did exactly that,” she said, head hung.

I’d figured she wouldn’t feel bad about how she got this job, or she’d think I was being too sensitive. It chipped away at what little barrier I had left.

“Yeah, ya did. But I mean, you never lied about that,” I said. “You were pretty clear from the jump you weren’t doing this from the kindness of your heart.” It came out harsher than I’d intended.

She jerked her head away.

But I wasn’t letting her off that easily. Letting this go that easily. I cupped her face, running the pad of my thumb across her cheek, brushing the corner of her mouth.

That tempting fucking mouth.

“I don’t let new people into my life, or into ours. I’m the only parent Goldie’s got. It’s my job to think about what’s best for her.”

Her face flashed with an emotion I couldn’t quite figure out. “I used to only think of others’ wants when making decisions about my life. Never my own. And somewhere in my course correction, I yanked the wheel a little too far in the other direction.”

The smile she shot me was soft, the little flames back to stars.

Every time I thought I had her figured out, she surprised me. I wanted to dig into her past, discover all her layers.

Because, as it turned out, Graciella Xochitl Barerra had a lot of them.

Tension coiled around us, an invisible thread drawing our mouths closer. Us closer.

“Monroe…” She whispered my name like a plea. Only, I wasn’t sure what she was begging for.

My thumb rubbed her soft skin, fingers sliding to the nape of her neck. “Graciella, can I⁠—”

“Daddy! Daddy, where are you?”

The bubble popped, and reality bulldozed its way to the forefront in the form of a little girl.