“You will always be my number-one princess,” Noah says, kissing her nose.
I move across the room and sit down next to them. Nova looks at me. “We can both be Daddy’s princess,” she says.
In all of my years, I’ve never felt so loved and so easily accepted. Pressure builds behind my eyes and a smile stretches wide across my lips. “I would love that.”
“Can I have pancakes now?” Nova asks, and just like that, the moment that Noah and I were stressing about is over.
“Well, I think I burned them.”
“That’s okay.” Nova hops off her dad’s lap and grabs my hand, tugging me toward the stove. “We can make more.”
And that’s what we do. Nova and I spend the next twenty minutes making new pancakes, and when we’re all done, she helps me clean up our mess while Noah gets ready for work. As we’re putting the dishes away, Noah comes into the kitchen.
“Nova, I need you to go change your clothes and pack a little bag of things to keep you busy. You’re coming to work with me today,” he says, grabbing his boots from behind the door.
“What?” she whines, slumping down in the chair. “Why? I hate going to work with you. It’s boring. I thought I was going to Grandma’s.”
Noah looks up at her. “Please don’t argue with me, sweetheart. Grandma isn’t feeling well. We’ve got to get going. Go get dressed, and pack a bag.”
Nova slinks from the chair and down the hall with a full-on pout.
I wipe my hands off on the kitchen rag and drape it over the sink. “Is your Mom okay?”
“Yeah.” Noah blows out a heavy breath, looking up at me after tying his boots. “She woke up with a bad toothache, and the dentist could get her in first thing this morning. I’ll bring Nova to work with me, and she’ll come by and get her when she’s done.”
“What about your dad?”
Noah shakes his head. “He’s already got plans. It’s really no biggie. She’s come to work with me before. She’ll be fine.”
“I’ll keep her,” I blurt.
Eyes wide, Noah studies me.
“What? I’m fully capable of watching a five-year-old girl for the day.” Sure, there are a few orders of business I’ve got to take care of, and a contract on a building I have to sign, but I can do those things after Noah picks her up.
Noah stands and stalks toward me in all of his muscular glory, and I can’t help but notice how his work shirt accentuates all of his tattoos as his biceps flex against the fabric. He gives arm porn a whole new meaning. I swallow as he wraps those delicious arms around me.
“I wasn’t insinuating that you weren’t capable; you just caught me off guard, that’s all. But if you really want to take Nova, I’m sure she’d love that.”
“Good.” I pat his chest and make him take a healthy step backward before I climb his body like a tree. “It’s settled. She’ll come with me. I’ll just plan on keeping her until you get off. Tell your mom to enjoy an afternoon to herself.”
“I’m ready to go,” Nova moans, dragging her bag into the kitchen.
Noah picks her bag up from the floor. “Change of plans, kiddo. How would you like to spend the day with Lennon?”
Nova’s eyes sparkle when she turns to me. “Really? I get to go with Lennon?”
“Really,” Noah says, earning a giant hug from his daughter. “I want you to be good for her today, okay?”
“I will. Thank you, Daddy.”
“Don’t thank me,” he says, smiling at me over Nova’s shoulder. “Thank Lennon. She’s the one who offered.”
“Thank you, Lennon,” she says, unwrapping herself from her father. She runs across the kitchen and throws herself against my legs.
Squatting down, I engulf her in a tight hug.
She buries her face in the side of my neck and says, “I promise I’ll be good.”