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“It would seem that you don’t listen all that well, young lady.” The soft feminine voice, accompanied by a chuckle, came from behind Grant. “And I said he was installing the lights.” Running her fingers through the little girl’s curls, Lynn met his gaze. “Darin said to tell you that he finished putting the bulbs in all the lights.”
It was the first time she’d looked him in the eye all morning. They’d hadn’t shared more than a brief hello since he and Darin had arrived almost two hours before.
After having Darin help him by holding chalk lines and tape measures, he’d left his brother out front where there was a stoop for him to sit on as he worked at putting the plastic pieces of the light fixtures together.
Darin was about to drive him crazy that morning with talk about his date. In his excitement he’d reverted to repeating himself over and over again, and then laughing when he realized what he was doing.
“I gave him some lemonade and came out to ask if you wanted some.”
She licked her lips and he swore she was doing it on purpose to drive him crazy.
Her eyes didn’t mention lemonade at all.
And he started to get hard.
In jeans and a white blouse she looked young and fresh…and he could see through her blouse. Her bra had lace on it.
He was going out with that bra, or one like it, in just a matter of hours.
“I’m going to Daddy’s house,” Kara said. Lynn’s smile faded. And Grant saw a flash of some deep emotion in her gaze before she looked away, saying, “That’s him now, sweetie. Why don’t you run and tell Daddy hello?”
Grant wasn’t going to look across the grassy expanse to the sidewalk leading back to Lynn’s bungalow. He wasn’t going to intrude on this morning’s private goings-on.
With one last glance at Grant, Lynn turned and followed her daughter. He watched her go in spite of himself.
When Kara and Lynn reached Lynn’s ex-husband they were too far away for him to hear what was said but he didn’t miss the way Kara threw herself at the man. And the way he picked up his daughter, giving her a hug and a kiss, and then leaned forward to give her mother a kiss, too.
The bastard was wearing golf shorts, a polo shirt and deck shoes. His hair was stylishly short and he had a gold watch on his wrist.
He was smiling like a man who loved his family.
The family he’d walked out on.
Resentment flared within him. He’d never have that chance. Never know what it was like to greet his wife and child. To have the right to touch and kiss a woman any time of the day or night. He’d never wanted it before, either.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THEY WERE HALFWAY through dinner at a little Italian place she’d never been to before when Lynn realized she hadn’t thought of Kara and Brandon and Douglas once in the past hour. She probably wouldn’t have thought of them at all if Maddie hadn’t suddenly blurted out her daughter’s name.
“Oh, it’s eight o’clock, Lynn. Kara has to be in bed right now and she didn’t call to say good-night.”
Darin frowned, looking at Lynn. “She’s right. Maybe you should call to make sure she’s all right.”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Grant said. “She’s probably just staying up a little later tonight.”
Maddie was shaking her head before he finished. “Kara’s bedtime is eight o’ clock every night. Huh, Lynn?” The pretty blonde had worn a bright colored maxi dress with sandals and looked very cute. Some of the girls at The Lemonade Stand had done her makeup for her.
“That’s right, Maddie, it is,” Lynn said, disconcerted and concerned, too. Surely Brandon hadn’t forgotten that he’d said he’d call to have Kara say good-night.
But she’d forgotten the time.
Pulling out her phone, she checked to see if she’d missed a call.
“Call him.” Grant, dressed in black casual pants and an off-white oxford shirt, put his arm along the back of her chair as he spoke.
Lynn had already speed-dialed Brandon and was listening for the ring.
It wasn’t wrong for her to have lost track of time. Kara was Brandon’s responsibility that night, and he was as capable as Lynn of caring for their daughter.
