Pining For You (Jasper Falls 4)

While goofing around with Addison, trying to make a game out of cleaning up her toys, Skylar impersonated an ogre by hiking up her pants, messing up her hair, snorting like an animal, and wobbling all over the den.

She hadn’t realized he’d come home and was completely unaware she had an audience. Her play acting was so unguarded, he should have felt embarrassed for her. Instead, he found it endearing. He supposed he had a thing for sexy ogres.

He’d sat up most of the night doing math problems in his head. But numbers didn’t lie. If Skylar was twenty-one and he was thirty-six, he was fifteen years her senior, and therefore a very creepy old man who should not be thinking of her that way.

“Hello? Earth to Rhett.”

He blinked at Erin, clueless of whatever she’d just said. “Sorry, I got distracted.”

“I’ll say. What’s up with you today?”

“It’s the holidays.” True, but not why he’d been distracted. Now that he thought about it, he had nothing ready for Christmas. Skylar had distracted him in that department, too.

“I’m still working on a list for Addy. Any progress with the chinchilla thing?” Addison wanted some computerized chinchilla pet that needed artificial food and care to survive. It was the item of the season, and they were having a tough time finding one.

“Not good.” Erin flicked her pen against the notes she held. “I found a few on eBay, but they’re going for hundreds and there’s no guarantee they’re unused. She’ll want a brand new one, so it’s programmed specifically to understand her.”

That wasn’t the news he wanted. “Well, keep working on that.” He stood and went to the coat rack.

“What about the rest of this stuff?” She gestured to the stack of files waiting on his desk. “We really need to go over everything. I could order out.”

He didn’t want to keep the girls waiting. It wasn’t abnormal for him to stay late and share takeout with Erin, but things had been so normal this week, he wanted to see how long he could keep that up, especially for his daughter’s sake.

“I promised Addy I’d be home by seven.” He gathered up the files in his bin and transferred them to his briefcase. “I can look these over at home.”

“Do you want me to follow you there?”

“No, you go ahead and clock out. I’m sure you have plenty to do.”

She appeared a little stunned that he was wrapping up early, but he was hungry for another home-cooked meal.

When Rhett got home, the house smelled divine. A savory, honey glazed ham waited on the dining room table and Christmas carols played from the kitchen. Addison greeted him with her usual excitement. Today, her hair was pulled up in pigtails with curly red and green ribbons.

“Daddy! We made Christmas cookies!”

“You did?” He scanned the kitchen for Skylar and smiled when she appeared from the pantry.

“Hi.” A dusting of flour clung to her jaw and she wore a red ruffled apron.

Her dark auburn hair was pulled up into some sort of wild knot at the crown of her head but a few strands had escaped. Most distracting of all, was the strap of her bra showing where the collar of her shirt had shifted askew. It was hot pink.

“Hi.” The word escaped like gravel, and he felt raw with the desire to throw her back into the pantry and fuck her right against the pasta and rice.

She smiled, setting a heavy mixer on the counter. “We’re still cleaning up.”

He frowned, not recognizing the appliance. “What’s that?”

“Oh, I borrowed it from my mom. You don’t have a mixer.”

“I don’t?”

She shook her head and untied her apron. “Usually, I’d just do it by hand, but these were sugar cookies and they take a lot of mixing to get the dough right.”

“I see.” She put the heavy mixing machine into a box and he frowned when her purse appeared. “Are you leaving?”

“If it’s okay with you. My mom called, and she needs the mixer back. Something about a cookie swap and having to make fifteen dozen of Russian Tea cakes by morning. Plus, I still have some packing to do for tomorrow.”

That’s right, this weekend she would move in and live there full-time. Something eager pulled in his stomach. “You aren’t staying for dinner then?”

“I wish I could, but my mom will shoot me if I don’t get the mixer back to her.”

He followed her to the foyer where she slung on her coat and wrapped her scarf. She hugged Addison, and he grinned at the bond they’d formed in such a short time. He couldn’t recall his daughter taking to any of her previous sitters so quickly.

“Let me get that for you.” He lifted the box with the mixer, surprised by how heavy it was, and followed her out to her car.