Only One Kiss (Only One 1)

His hands drop from my arms, but the tingling he left from his touch remains.

“Now, what did you buy?” he asks, walking over to the two bags that I brought in. “What the hell is this?”“It’s a jolly jumper,” I say, walking over to him and grabbing the thing from his hand. “Zoey loved hers.” I put it together in no time, and then he just looks at it. I walk over to Ari and take her out. “Are you ready to bounce?” I ask her. She just looks at me as I put her in it, and then she bounces. Sitting on my knees in front of her, I clap my hands as she bounces and then look over at Ralph as he just stares at us. “Is everything okay?”He looks at me and then looks at Ari and then back to me. “I’m going to order pizza.”“I thought you said you wanted shrimp scampi,” I say. Getting up, I look at him and then the other bags. “I can have it done in twenty minutes,” I say. “Go give her a bath, and by the time you come back, I’ll be all done.”He stands there for a minute more, looking at me and then at Ari, who starts to whine. “Fine,” he says, taking Ari out. “Then we can talk.”“Sounds good,” I say. He nods and walks out of the room. I start to clean the room after I put the pasta on. By the time he comes back some twenty minutes later, the water is ready for the pasta, and I have just placed everything in the dishwasher. “Holy shit,” he says, looking around. “When I left, this was like an explosion.”With a laugh, I look at Ari, who is freshly washed and her hair is combed over to the side. She smiles when she sees me as he walks over and gets her bottle ready. “She has to be the best looking baby,” I say when I walk next to her, and she throws herself at me. I take her in my arms, and she lays her head on my shoulder. “She smells so good.”“It’s lavender,” he says, getting the bottle prepared. “It’s supposed to help her sleep, so I put it in the bath with her, and then I rub it all over her.” I kiss her cheek, and when he finishes the bottle, he holds it up to show her. Ari looks up, and she goes back to her father.“Good night, baby girl,” I say, rubbing her back. “How long does it take her to fall asleep?”“I usually read her a book while she has her bottle,” he says, and my heart just bursts open. “Maybe twenty minutes.”“Okay.” I smile at him. “I’ll keep the water low and then put it on when you come out.”“I didn’t get to see how you prepare it,” he says, and I laugh.“I wrote it down for you.” I walk over to the paper that I had started.“Or you can just come over and cook it for me,” he says with a smirk, turning and walking out of the room.Was he flirting with me? I look at his retreating back. “Don’t go there,” I say to myself. “Don’t think too much into it.” I grab my phone and make a couple of notes about things to do once I get home, and when I hear him walking into the room, I look up at him. “Is she out?”“She is,” he says, putting the bottle in the sink. “It smells amazing.”“I know.” I smirk as I walk to the stove and put the pasta in the boiling water. It’s been boiling for the past four minutes. “How long is she out for?”“It’s Russian roulette.” He laughs, leaning back on the counter as he watches me stir the pasta. “It could be a ten-minute catnap, or it could be a seven-hour stretch.”“If she gets up, I can get her,” I say, “so you can eat.”“I have so much shit to do,” he says, and I look over my shoulder at him.“Can I help?” The words are out of my mouth before I realize it.“I mean, unless you know a babysitter.” He rubs his hands over his face.“I could help out for a bit if you want.” What are you doing? The left side of my brain asks the right side.“I couldn’t do that to you,” he says, taking a deep breath. “We need to discuss something,” he says. My heart skips a beat, and my hands suddenly start to shake, and I don’t know why. “Jesus,” he says. Putting his hand on the counter, he flexes his arm, and his T-shirt stretches so tight across his chest that I can see the definition of his pecs. “I don’t even know how to start this.”