Drawn into Love (Fluke My Life 4)

I don’t mind the place that I’m subletting, but spending close to five grand a month for rent makes me feel nauseated. Then again, there aren’t too many places in the city in decent areas for less than that.

“You got it.” He grins, showing off his bleached-white smile. “Now come on. I’ll take you out to lunch.” He closes the door to the house behind us as we step out onto the front stoop.

I look at my watch and shake my head. “I can’t. I need to be across town.”

“All right. I’ll just get all the paperwork for the offer ready and email the documents you need to sign.”

“Sounds good.” I give his arm a squeeze before he sticks out his hand for a cab that pulls up a second later. “Do you think telling them I’ll pay cash will speed up the process?” I ask as he opens the taxi door for me.

“It won’t hurt,” he says with a shrug. He’s not even surprised at the idea of someone paying a million in cash for a house. Then again, as a Realtor in one of the most expensive cities in the world, he’s probably used to it.

“I’ll keep an eye out for your email.” I smile as I slide into the back of the cab. Looking at the house as the car pulls away, I can feel my stomach fluttering with nervous excitement.

Chapter 2

JUST THE TWO OF US

LUCAS

“Daddy, I’m ready for you to come tuck me in and read me a story,” Madeline says. My little girl is standing just outside her bedroom door, her dark hair still wet from her shower, with a sweet smile on her little face and wearing a pair of bright-pink pajamas with unicorns all over the cotton material.

“Did you brush your teeth?” I glance at the clock and see it’s already eight.

“Yep.” She smiles, and I narrow my eyes.

“Did you put all your girl stuff back on your shelf in the shower?”

Her eyes light up, and a giggle escapes her lips. “Yes, Daddy.”

“Thank goodness.” I place my hand over my heart as she hops into bed, pulling the blankets over her lap. “I don’t need another glitter accident like the one I had last week.”

She falls back into bed, laughing hard.

Smiling at her, I can’t help but laugh myself. It’s funny now, but it wasn’t funny last week when I accidentally used her body wash instead of my own, leaving a coating of glitter on my skin that seemed impossible to wash off. I went to work looking like that damn silver troll doll from that movie. Thank god I didn’t have to meet with any clients that day and was able to hide out in my office.

“You’re so silly, Daddy.” She sits up with a smile on her face.

“So what book are we reading tonight?” I watch her turn on her lamp before I turn off the overhead light and head across the room to sit on the edge of her bed.

“This one.” She hands me the book.

I look at the cover and smile. “Again?”

“It’s my favorite.” She scoots over, and I lie down next to her. I lift my arm so she can tuck her small body against my side like she has been doing since she was a newborn.

“All right.” I open the book and start to read the story of the princess and the pea, stopping only once her soft snore fills my ears. Seeing that her eyes are closed, I place my lips against her smooth forehead and hold them there. I never thought that one day it would be just the two of us, that I would end up a single father. When I met Madeline’s mother, Eva, I didn’t really think much about the kind of woman she was—I got stuck on her looks and her entertainment value. I was a dick . . . or maybe I was just thinking with my dick when it came to her. She was beautiful, had a great smile, and could be funny in the right situation. We had off-the-charts chemistry, and, at the time, all of that was enough for me. But when she told me she was pregnant, everything changed.

I had grown up seeing my parents in love and making their marriage work. I had always wanted a family, and I thought I could make one with Eva if I tried hard enough. I asked her to marry me when she was two months pregnant. We got married the next month in a small ceremony at my family’s church. For a while things were good—I won’t lie and say they were great, because they never were, but they were good. We found a routine that worked for us, mostly involving me allowing her to do whatever she wanted to do.