A waiter dropped a mug, and the shattering glass instantly brought Kelsey’s head snapping around, as her entire body jumped. There was that fear she displayed every once in a while, and again his instinct to protect surged forward.
As her gaze moved from the waiter and glided across the room, he prepared for her to see him. He’d wanted to put distance between them. Wanted her to believe he was seeing someone else. That plan was about to unravel as quickly as his marriage had right in front of his eyes.
When her gaze found his, her eyes widened slightly before dropping to the little girl at his side. Confusion drew her brows together for a moment, but relaxed after a second as understanding dawned on her face. Yep, no more using dates as a tactic to keep the hell away from this enticing woman.
He gave a quick wave, which she returned with a smile.
“Who’s that, Daddy?”
A woman who awed him, confused him, intrigued him, and everything in between.
“Umm, she’s one of Daddy’s clients at the gym.”
“She’s pretty.”
In a tight white sweater with her hair down, she was pretty. Stunning. “Think so?”
His daughter nodded her head enthusiastically. “Can I meet her?”
Taken aback by the question, Lance stared at his daughter. “Why would you want to do that?”
“She has a pig on her phone.”
He glanced back at the table, and sure enough, the case Kelsey had in her hand was covered in pink pigs. Leave it to Skylar to notice it. Kelsey would now have a friend for life.
Still, he hesitated. He wasn’t sure why. Being a fighter, and in the wrecker business, he met a lot of people and was always bumping into someone he knew when he was out. This wasn’t any different. Except this time, there was a worry Skylar would take to Kelsey, the same way he’d taken to her.
“Please, Daddy.”
Lance sighed, knowing he would cave. “Sure. Come on.”
He walked toward Kelsey’s table.
“Hi,” she said, as she laid her phone on the table. She lowered her gaze to Skylar. “And hello to you, too.”
“You like pigs?” Skylar immediately asked.
Kelsey blinked. Then her gaze went to her phone. “I do. I have an entire collection back home.”
Skylar scooted into the booth and got comfortable, surprising Lance. “Hey, honey, we probably should find a place to sit.”
“I have.”
“I meant our own booth.”
“I want to talk to her.”
Kelsey glanced up at him, amusement brightening her eyes. “It’s cool.”
Lance sighed and scooted in beside his daughter. “Skylar, this is Kelsey. Kelsey this is Skylar, my daughter.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Skylar,” Kelsey said and offered her hand. Skylar took it and shook.
“So what kind of pigs do you have?” his daughter asked.
As the waiter came over to the table, Lance blocked out the conversation. No reason to ask Skylar what she wanted—she got the same thing every time she came here.
“Bacon and cheese pizza.”
He turned back just as Kelsey asked what her pig’s name was.
“Bacon.”
The unfiltered laugh that came out of Kelsey caught him off guard. She always kept herself a bit closed off, and he hadn’t seen her with all her walls down. And she was even more beautiful in her laughter than when she was completely composed.
“I love that,” Kelsey said.
“Skylar has a pretty unique sense of humor.”
“When I was a kid, I did, too. I once had a dog named Dioge.”
How was that anything like naming a pig bacon? The way she was looking at him expectedly made him realize that he was completely missing the punch line.
“That’s uh…a cool name.”
She laughed at his confusion, and he found himself wanting to make her do that more. He liked how relaxed she was in this moment, how there didn’t seem to be something lurking in her mind.
“D. O. G,” she said, saying each letter individually.
He chuckled. “Okay, now I get it.”
“I don’t,” Skylar said.
“D-O-G, spells dog.”
“Ah. That’s awesome.”
The waiter returned with their drinks and an activity sheet for Skylar. After opening the crayon box, Skylar went to work on a crossword puzzle. Kelsey was watching her with a small smile of mixed wonder and enjoyment. Her eyes flicked to his. “So, a daughter, huh?”
Not sure what to say, he simply shrugged.
“She’s beautiful,” Kelsey said.
“Thank you,” Skylar said without lifting her head.
The grin that spread across Kelsey’s face was as gorgeous as it was surreal.
“First, you have a wrecking service, now you have a daughter. You’re just full of surprises today.”
“There’s a lot about me you don’t know.”
She placed her chin on her palm. “Like what?”
He could play this game. Maybe he could dig around and find out more about the woman in front of him. “I’m not originally from Cheney, either. I’m from Emerald Springs.”
“What caused you to move?”