Finally (Neighbor from Hell 12)

“But we need to take this slowly,” Charlie managed to get out as she forced herself to let him go.

“Yes, we do,” Devin said as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.

“Because I need to be worshipped,” she said solemnly, feeling his lips twitch against hers.

“Do you now?” he asked softly.

“I really do,” Charlie said, placing her hands against his chest and gave him a gentle push.

“I think I can handle that,” Devin said with an incredibly sexy grin as he allowed her to push him back.

“We’ll see,” she murmured, noting the glimmer of anticipation in his eye as he said, “Yes, we will.”

Chapter 26

“You look handsome, Daddy,” Abbi said as she held out the navy-blue tie to him.

“Thank you, baby girl,” Devin murmured, leaning down and kissed her forehead as she handed him a tie.

“Very handsome,” she stressed with a firm nod that had him narrowing his eyes on her.

“What do you want?” he asked as he pulled the tie on.

“What makes you think I want something, Daddy,” Abbi asked, blinking innocently up at him.

“So, you don’t want anything?” Devin asked, throwing her a questioning look as he fixed his tie.

“Well, I mean, I wouldn’t say no to some fluffiness,” she said, shrugging it off.

“That’s very generous of you,” Devin drawled as he grabbed his aftershave off the bathroom counter.

“I know,” Abbi said, nodding solemnly.

“Did Uncle Aidan get married again?” Dustin asked from where he sat on the bathroom counter, watching him curiously.

Chuckling, Devin said, “No, Uncle Aidan didn’t get married again. I’m taking Charlie to dinner and I wanted to look nice.”

“Oh,” Dustin murmured, worrying his bottom lip as he glanced at Devin only to sigh heavily while he carefully climbed off the counter with a mumbled, “I’ll be right back,” before he quickly made his way out of the bathroom.

“Me, too,” Abbi said

Chuckling, Devin double-checked his hair and couldn’t help but smile when a chime drew his attention to find a text from Charlie and-

“Shit!” he said, sighing heavily as he glanced at his watch.

“What’s wrong, Daddy?” Dustin asked as Devin debated calling the restaurant to move their reservation back.

“Charlie’s stuck in traffic,” he said, glancing at his son and…felt his lips twitch as he watched his son pull on his dress trousers.

“Is she okay?” Dustin asked, pausing mid-yank to worry his bottom lip between his teeth.

“She’s fine. I just need to see if I can push our dinner reservations back an hour,” Devin explained as he gestured towards the clothes that Dustin had placed on the counter. “What’s all this?”

“I’ve gotta get handsome for my lady,” Dustin said as he finished pulling his pants up and reached for the black shirt that he’d picked out for the party his family had thrown for Aidan and Melanie after they got married.

“Ah, I see,” Devin murmured absently as he tried to figure out a way to explain this to his son. “Do you remember Jane?”

“Yeah,” Dustin said as he struggled to button his shirt.

“Well, she’s going to come over and watch you guys for a bit while I take Charlie out for dinner,” Devin explained as he knelt down so that he could help his son.

“I don’t wanna stay with Jane. I wanna go have dinner with Charlie,” Dustin mumbled sadly as Devin reached for the small tie that matched his and placed it around Dustin’s neck.

“I know you do, buddy. But I’d really like to take Charlie out to dinner alone tonight. We can have a special dinner tomorrow night. How does that sound?” Devin said, giving his son a reassuring smile as he fixed his tie and worked on helping him tuck his shirt in.

After a slight hesitation, Dustin reluctantly nodded with a murmured, “Okay,” that had Devin sighing with relief. That is, until he looked up to find his baby girl wearing the Disney princess dress that he’d given her for Christmas along with the tiara and the pink plastic shoes that came with it.

“I’m ready,” Abbi said with a regal nod as Devin reached past his son and swept his baby girl off her feet with a growl.

“You’re ready, huh?” he asked, covering her face in kisses as he carried his giggling baby girl and headed for the door, deciding to go see if the sitter was here so that he could focus on making the rest of the night absolutely perfect.

*-*-*-*

“Maybe she forgot,” Dustin said as Devin ran his hands roughly down his face, telling himself that this wasn’t happening.

Not now.

Everything had been beyond fucking perfect. He’d had a sitter lined up, reservations for two at the best restaurant in town, managed to get his hands on a bouquet of white roses, had a bottle of white wine chilling in the fridge, and played with the kids all day, ensuring that they would be too exhausted to torment the babysitter tonight, and then…

Everything went to hell.

His sitter canceled a half hour after she was supposed to show up, which led to him trying to find a sitter at the last minute on a Friday night and begging the restaurant to push his reservation back an hour only to end up calling them back an hour later to ask them if there was any chance that he could turn that reservation for two into a reservation for four when he gave up trying to find a babysitter.

That had led to the restaurant hanging up on him and realizing that he was going to have to come up with something else to salvage this date. It had taken twenty minutes of searching his kitchen and a quick trip to the grocery store, but he had everything that he needed to make this night memorable except for Charlie.

Two hours ago, she’d been an hour late and now…

Now he refused to send her one more fucking text. He had more self-respect than that, he told himself as he glanced down at his phone only to toss it on the couch with a sigh of disgust when he found himself looking to see if she texted him, again.

“We still love you, Daddy,” Abbi said with a pitying smile that appeased him…somewhat.

“And I really love Charlie,” Dustin said with a wistful sigh that had his eyes narrowing on the little traitor.

“Traitor,” Devin grumbled as he once again found himself reaching for his phone, resigned to call Ben to make sure that nothing bad had happened to the woman who’d stood him up just as the woman in question came walking through her door, carrying a stack of pizza boxes.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, guys,” Charlie said, sighing heavily as she placed the stack of Blackjacks pizza boxes on the coffee table. “For some reason, someone thought it would be a good idea to start construction on 95 during rush hour on a Friday night, which wouldn’t have been too

bad but then an eighteen-wheeler tried to pass everyone on the shoulder and ended up blocking the only open lane. I tried to call, but my charging wire stopped working.”

“You got us Blackjack pizza?” Abbi asked in an awed whisper.

“I did,” Charlie said, smiling warmly as she leaned over and kissed Abbi’s cheek. “And I also missed you.”

“Did you miss me?” Dustin asked with an adorable smile.

“Of course, I did, sweetheart,” Charlie said, barely getting a chance to open her arms before Dustin ran into them, wrapping his small arms around her so that Charlie could give him a big kiss on the cheek that had his son giggling while Devin sat there…seething.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said, sending him an apologetic smile that did nothing, absolutely fucking nothing, to quell his anger as he sat there, forced to watch as she gave all the kisses that should rightfully be his to his children.

She should be kissing him and telling him how much she missed him, Devin thought, narrowing his eyes on the heartless woman as he reached over and stole a slice of pizza, too angry to enjoy the deliciousness that was Blackjack’s pizza. For the next two hours, he was forced to sit there, watching as she snuggled with his children, watching a Disney movie that they’d probably watched a hundred times by now until it was finally bedtime and he found himself abandoned with barely a word.

He would not forget this, Devin decided, kicking off his shoes and pulling his tie loose as he laid back on the couch with a heavy sigh, beyond fucking exhausted. It had been a long fucking day, he thought, only to open his eyes sometime later to find the inconsiderate woman that had abandoned him kneeling next to the couch.

“I’m sorry,” Charlie said, reaching over to run her fingertips down his jaw as he pointedly looked away from her as he bit out, “You’re just using me for my children.”

“I mean, can you really blame me? Have you seen how cute they are?” she asked, sounding amused as she leaned over and kissed his cheek, somewhat appeasing him.

Somewhat.

“We are no longer speaking,” Devin said, folding his arms over his chest as he continued glaring at the wall.