It was seven o’clock when Luke pulled up to his house. He didn’t have much time to make dinner, and he still had to put Ava in the bath and check her homework before he put her to bed. He was exhausted just thinking about it.
“Daddy, whose car is that,” Ava asked, breaking Luke’s train of thought and for the first time he noticed Cara’s car parked in the driveway.
“Cara’s,” he said taken back. He completely forgot about their joint custody situation over Benny, having been too wrapped up in his daily responsibilities. He turned off the car and Ava had her seatbelt undone before he could take the key out of the ignition. “Ava, wait!” He said and before he could protest anymore, she was out the door running up towards the front door. He reached into the back for her school bag and got out of the truck. When he reached the front door, it swung open before he could put his key into the lock.
“Cara! Did you bring Benny too?” Ava asked excitedly.
“Hey cutie,” She said, leaning down and kissing the top of her head. “I did, he’s in the kitchen playing with the new toy I bought him. I think he’s learning fetch.” She winked at her.
“Benny!! It’s me Ava, I’m home!” She said, pulling off her jacket and shoving it on the hook by the door before running straight past Cara, towards the kitchen.
Cara laughed at Ava’s excitement and moved aside so Luke could come in. He closed the door behind him and started to walk inside but stopped in his tracks.
“What’s that smell?” He said as he took off his jacket, fighting back the yawn that was threatening.
“I cooked dinner.” She said as she nibbled nervously on her lip. “I hope that’s okay.”
“You cooked dinner?” He asked flabbergasted as he hung up his jacket. A strange feeling crept inside of him, a foreign feeling. He couldn’t remember the last time he came home to a house that wasn’t dark and empty. He was pretty sure there was never a time that he came home to a woman greeting him at the door and his home filled with an aroma of something that was not cooked by him.
“It’s nothing fancy, just roasted chicken and vegetables.” She shrugged her shoulders.
He turned around and found her eyes as she chewed nervously on her bottom lip. He could faintly hear Ava’s giggles and Benny’s bark from the kitchen as he stared at Cara. He wanted her. He wanted her in his life in all the ways that mattered. The knowledge of that weighed heavy on his chest. Desperate to gain some self-control, he cleared his throat.
“You get your tattoo?” He asked, his voice still hoarse despite his attempts at controlling his emotions.
She nodded and then smiled easily towards him. “If you promise to eat all your veggies I’ll show it to you later.” She took his hand and led him towards the kitchen completely unbeknownst to the battle raging in Luke’s head. This joint custody of a puppy was proving to be very dangerous to Luke’s peace of mind.
He trailed behind her, trying to peel his eyes off of her ass and made a silent promise to eat every fucking vegetable on his plate. Hell, he’d even go for seconds.
Chapter Twelve
Luke pushed back his chair and grabbed his empty plate, along with Ava’s, piling them on top of one another. He glanced at Cara’s half-eaten plate.
“Still working on that?” He asked, causing her eyes to drift from Ava who was playing happily on the floor with Benny.
“No, but I’ve got it.” She said reaching for her dish, but he was too quick.
“You cooked dinner.” He said firmly and piled her plate on top of the other two, stepping towards the trash to discard the remnants of the food that was left on the plates.
“So?” She said, as she stood to take the roasting pan with the leftovers to the counter. “I can manage to clean up the kitchen, Luke.” She placed the pan onto the counter and turned to him as he stood beside her rinsing the dishes and loading the dishwasher.
“I can manage to load a dishwasher.” He countered as he busied himself doing just that. She watched him for a moment, taking notice of how quickly he loaded the dishwasher. Even Ava began to load it with their cups.
“That was good Cara, better than the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Dad said we were having.”
Cara’s eyes widened and she turned to stare at Luke, while he dried his hands on a dishtowel. His eyes were firmly planted on his daughter.
“It’s getting late, why don’t you go get your pajamas ready and I’ll be up in a minute to set the shower up for you.”
Ava looked between her dad and Cara. “Can Cara help me?”
“Cara was nice enough to cook dinner…”