A vulnerability shaded her voice, making her eyes drop for a split second. If I weren’t so focused on her, I’d have missed it.
I lifted my hand back up and touched two fingers beneath her chin, tilting her head back so she was looking at me again. “Selfish is something I’m not. Honest, yes. And I’m being honest when I tell you that if I pushed you against the wall behind you and kissed you until you couldn’t breathe, you’d like me a lot.”
She stared at me for a moment as a light flush rose in her cheeks. “But you won’t.”
“Not today.”
“Not today? Not ever, thank you very much.” She lifted her purse so it was between us. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get home to my daughter now.”
I kept the contact between us for a second longer before I took a step back and opened the door for her. “Same time tomorrow, Perrie. Remember—leave the emotion and bring something worth my time.”
Her response was to flip me the finger over her shoulder.
Rubbing my hand over my mouth suppressed the laugh I so desperately wanted to let go of. Anyone else, and I would have felt pissed off.
But there was something about her.
Something that made it hard to be annoyed at her.
No matter how bad I wanted to be.
Chapter Seven
Perrie
The sound of Lola’s high-pitched, majorly off-key singing seemed to bounce right off the walls.
If I heard that damn song from Sing one more time, I was going to bang my head against a brick wall.
I didn’t care if the little porcupine wanted to set it all fucking free. I wanted to set my daughter free after hearing it sung fifty times in the past three hours.
“Lola.” I sighed, closing the fridge. “Can you not sing something else?”
She stopped singing. “Like the call me maybe song?”
Oh god. This was going from bad to worse. “No. Definitely not that song.”
“Shake It Off?”
Taylor Swift was better, but… “Why don’t you read quietly for a little bit?”
She pouted, jutting her bottom lip right out. “I don’t want to be quiet.”
I was well aware of that fact, funnily enough. “Go read for a bit, okay? Or play quietly. Mommy has a headache and has to work tonight.”
Lola sighed heavily. “Okay, okay. Can I take my pens to my room?”
Normally, I would say no, but… “Sure. Just take the paper, too.”
She grinned and skipped off. By the time she’d grabbed her pens and had reached the bottom of the stairs, she was humming Shake It Off.
It was a partial win. I’d take it.
Lord knew I needed as much sanity as possible to be able to handle another night like the previous one. Not only because of what I was doing, but because of the man who’d been a thorn in my side ever since he’d approached me at the bar.
And the fact my skin had tingled where he’d touched me and mentioned kissing me.
Something that was completely off-limits. There was no way that man was allowed to kiss me. I didn’t care that he was handsome or that I’d gotten a little thrill at the thought of feeling his lips against mine.
He was an asshole.
Sure, he’d never been anything but perfectly nice to me—if you ignored the handcuffing thing—but still. That made him an asshole and I was going to stick by it.
Only because if I thought about him like that, I didn’t think so much about the fact I kinda wanted to kiss him.
Just a little bit.
My phone buzzed loudly on the side, prompting me to reach for it. My stomach sank at the sight of my babysitter’s name flashing at me on the screen. She only ever called me when she had to cancel, and three hours before she was due to be here…
No, no, no, please no.
“Hello?” I answered tentatively.
“Oh, Perrie!” Alison’s voice was thick and scratchy. “I’m so sorry. I’m sick. I can’t watch Lola tonight.”
Damn it. “Oh. Are you all right?”
Obviously not. She was sick.
“I think it’s some kind of stomach virus. I waited to see if it would pass, but…” She coughed, and I winced at the half-retch that came down the line.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry—I have time to get someone else to have Lola. You take yourself to bed and feel better soon, okay?”
“Okay, thank—” She cut off the line, and no matter how sick I felt, I was glad I didn’t have to hear her being sick.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Now what the hell was I gonna do? I’d flat out lied to Alison—I didn’t have anyone else I could call, and it was too late to try to get a brand new sitter.
I had Adrian’s number from when he called me this morning. Did this class as an emergency? If I backed out tonight, would that go against me?