‘Cheers!’ she said, offering up her drink.
‘Cheers.’
He chinked the bottle against her glass and took a long pull of the cold liquid, realising not only how much he needed its cooling temperature but that he hadn’t drunk straight from the bottle in a long time.
He heard a giggle behind Samantha, an easily recognisable giggle, and he looked over her head to see Sophia’s sparkling blue eyes on him.
He raised his brow at her. ‘What?’
‘Nothing...just the sight of you slumming it with the rest of us, no champagne in sight... It tickles me.’
His eyes didn’t leave Sophia’s laughing ones; the urge to kiss her was overwhelming. ‘So, it tickles you, does it?’
He stepped around Samantha and headed towards her.
Her eyes flared, her smile turning wary. ‘Uh-huh.’
‘If you want something real to tickle you, I’m game.’
She backed up. ‘You wouldn’t dare?’
‘Wouldn’t I?’
She backed up some more, finding her thighs meeting the side table that sported plastic cups, juice jugs and a birthday cake.
‘You’ve nowhere to run, princess.’
She was laughing and serious at once, the conflicting dance making her all the more appealing, all the more flushed. ‘Lily! Lily! Come and rescue me. Your daddy’s going to tickle me.’
‘Coming, Sphea!’ came his daughter’s battle cry, followed by an all-male cry from the rest of the mini-partygoers and suddenly he was attacked, legs, arms, neck, the kids doing their best to take him down. He laughed, swinging this way and that as the kids giggled and cheered each other on.
Sophia relaxed as she realised she was safe, her hand reaching out for his beer bottle as he passed it to her shortly before hitting the floor. And then he became a crawling tickle monster, being tickled and tickling back with more children than he could count.
‘Go easy on him, kids,’ Samantha cooed. ‘We don’t want to scare Lily’s daddy away altogether.’
Sophia laughed, her genuine amusement lifting him inside and making all manner of bruising from the over-zealous tickling he was taking worth it.
She definitely wasn’t scared or fearful of him, of whatever this was, now. Her behaviour, even her words on the doorstep, told him that. And if she wasn’t scared, then why should he be?
They were grown adults going into this with their eyes wide open... What could possibly go wrong?
CHAPTER NINE
‘THANKS SO MUCH for sticking around to help me clean up, guys.’ Samantha pulled Sophia into a hug. ‘Dan will be home just in time to enjoy the magic of the delayed sugar rush.’
‘And two extra kids too. You’re brave to add a sleepover to the mix!’ Sophia laughed, pulling back to look her friend in the eye. ‘You’re such a good mum.’
‘Or crazy,’ she joked. ‘I’m not sure which.’
Samantha turned to Jack and pulled him into a hug too, surprising him with the gesture if the wide-eyed look over her friend’s shoulder was anything to go by.
‘Thank you, Jack. It’s not often the dads stick around; you’re a bona fide modern father.’ She patted him on the chest as she released him. ‘I’m très impressed.’
Sophia forced back the mental retort that he’d only done it because he didn’t trust either of them to take care of his daughter. It was bitter and, in truth, though it might have factored in his decision to stay, he’d clearly had fun. More importantly, so had the kids. And he’d been a fully fledged part of that fun. He hadn’t stood in the shadows keeping watch; he’d got involved and been a huge hit with all of Noah’s friends. A huge hit with Sam too.
As for Sophia, well, she already knew there was no hope for her...
‘It was a novel experience.’ He rubbed the back of his neck. His smile was...bashful. And making him all the more appealing with it. ‘Enjoy the sleepover.’