“Aunt Mander!”
“Surprise!” Amanda said. She held out her arms for an exuberant hug, lifting Julie off the ground and into her arms, getting several kisses on the cheek for her effort.
“This is a great surprise, Daddy,” Julie said. “I love my Aunt Mander.” She bestowed more kisses on Amanda.
“And I love my Julie Bean,” Amanda said, giving her a squeeze. “Can I come to the zoo with you and your daddy today?”
“Yes! I was waiting so long for my surprise so we can leave.”
Amanda supposed an hour felt like an eternity to a young child.
“Did you have breakfast?” Jacob asked Amanda.
“Daddy made me pancakes and they look like butterflies.”
Amanda grinned at Jacob, who appeared rather flushed. “He did?” When Julie nodded, Amanda asked, “Did they taste like butterflies?”
Julie crinkled up her nose. “No, silly. They taste like pancakes. You can have some. He cooked about a hundred of them.”
“You said you were hungry,” Jacob said.
Amanda set Julie on her feet, and the girl skipped into the house toward the kitchen.
Jacob leaned close and whispered in her ear, “You look beautiful.”
She turned her head to offer her thanks and found their lips a hair’s breadth apart. She leaned into him, her hand on his waist, wishing his T-shirt would disappear so she could touch his bare skin. A deep longing curled in her belly.
“Daddy! Where’s the butter?”
Jacob jerked away and spun on his heel. “Don’t go near the stove,” he warned as he hurried toward the kitchen, his bouncing fairy wings slightly askew.
Grinning to herself, Amanda trailed after him, feeling lewd for admiring a fairy’s ass. But who could blame her? She found the pair in the kitchen. Julie was kneeling on a stool at the breakfast bar and arranging butterfly-shaped pancakes—well, they were pretty much blob-shaped, but she was certain Julie was too sweet to criticize her father’s creations—on a plate. Jacob stood beside her, a steadying hand at her back.
“How many do you want?” Julie asked.
“Just two,” Amanda said. These two specifically, even though she knew she could never have the Silverton pair to herself. Even if a relationship worked out with Jacob, Julie was Tina’s daughter and she always would be, no matter how much Amanda adored her.
“Could you keep an eye on her for a bit?” Jacob asked. “I want to grab a quick shower.”
“No problem.”
When Amanda scooted onto the stool next to Julie’s, Jacob leaned in with puckered lips to kiss Amanda’s temple. Wide-eyed, she jerked away. What was he thinking? Julie was drizzling syrup all over Amanda’s pancakes and not paying much attention, but she’d have heard the sound and probably wondered why her father was kissing her aunt.
Jacob’s jaw hardened as he glared at her. “Seriously?”
Amanda shook her head at him. What did he expect her to do? Shove her tongue down his throat and her hand down his pants?
“Aunt Mander, I made you a smiley face on your butterfly!” Julie said.
“Looks delicious,” Amanda said. “That’s enough syrup for me.” Her pancakes were liable to float away on the lake of liquid sugar flooding her plate.
“We need to talk,” Jacob grumbled into her ear before stroking Julie’s soft blond curls with one hand and then turning to leave them alone in the kitchen.
Apparently so. She’d thought they were in agreement about keeping this fling of theirs a secret, but he didn’t seem to think secrecy was important. Surely he couldn’t want Julie to know they were involved. Julie liked to talk about everything she witnessed. Everything. If she caught her father and her aunt being overly affectionate, Tina wouldn’t be the only person to hear the tale.
“Mommy is mad at you, Aunt Mander,” Julie said as she watched Amanda dig into her pancakes.
“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t come get you this morning. I stayed up past my bedtime and didn’t wake up early enough.”
“What’s a sprawl anyway?” Julie asked.
“Huh?” Amanda lifted an eyebrow at her niece.
“Mommy said she was late for her sprawl appointment.”
“Spa.”
“Spraw,” Julie mimicked, her dainty face screwed up with concentration.
“Spa.”
“That’s what I said.”
“A spa is a place grownups go to get pampered.”
Julie’s eyes widened and she gasped. “Mommy wears a diaper there?”
Amanda didn’t follow her train of thought. “A diaper?”
“My friend Rachel’s baby sister wears Pampers all the time. She’s not a big girl like me and Rachel yet. She still poops in her pants.” Julie whispered the last part as if it were an embarrassing secret.
Amanda chuckled at the thought of Tina getting Pampered at her sprawl appointment. “No, sweetie. Mommy goes to the spa to get a massage and a mud bath and, well, I don’t know what all goes on there. I’ve never been to one.” Her sister regularly went to the spa with her friends and left Amanda with babysitting duty. Not that she minded. She’d rather spend time having tea parties with stuffed bears than sit in a tub of mud and gossip about other women.
“Sounds like a silly place. I’d rather go to the zoo.”
“Me too. Are we going to the big zoo in San Antonio or the little one in Austin? Did your dad tell you which one?”
“The one that has lephalants.”
“It’s a long drive to the zoo that has elephants.”
“That’s okay,” she said. “Daddy’s car goes really fast. We’ll get there in no time.”
His two-seater Tesla was known for its quiet speed, but it didn’t have room for three people.
“We’ll have to take my car,” Amanda said. She already had a booster seat in the back since she often had Julie in tow, especially in the summer when she had so much time off.
“Is it time to leave now?” Julie asked, drawing Amanda’s attention to the gorgeous hunk of a man who’d entered the room while Amanda had been stuffing her face with pancakes.
“Is everyone done eating?” Jacob asked.
As soon as she’d noticed him, Amanda had paused with her fork halfway to her mouth as she ogled the man. He’d removed his fairy wings in favor of a black tank and black-and-white-plaid board shorts. She could see the hint of the lion tattoo on his chest above the low neckline of his shirt, and the gold cross necklace he always wore swayed slightly with his motion as he approached the breakfast bar. Wide shoulders, firm chest, ripped arms, narrow hips, and long legs—from his damp black hair to his tan, sandaled feet, the man was gorgeous.
Julie poked Amanda to gain her attention and stared at her hopefully. Amanda stuffed a final bite into her mouth and shoved her plate away. “I’m about to bust!”
“We’ll clean up later,” Jacob said as he tossed plates into the sink. “We’re off to a late start.”
“We could just go to the Austin Zoo,” Amanda suggested. “It’s much closer.”
“Is that the one with the lephalants?” Julie asked. The child was completely fixated on the creatures.
“No elephants. There are some bear cubs. And a bunch of monkeys. And a train ride.” Amanda often volunteered at the little rescue zoo, so she was a tad partial. It wasn’t the biggest zoo and the exhibits were small, but she was proud of the fact that they took in animals other zoos didn’t want.
Julie studied Amanda for a moment. It was obvious that she wanted to please her aunt, but she also wanted to see her favorite animal. She turned to Jacob and leveled him with her most adorable pleading expression. “Can we go to two zoos today, Daddy?”
“I don’t know if we’ll have time, princess.”
“Please!” She knotted her hands together and gave him the puppy dog eyes.
The poor man didn’t stand a chance.
“Um . . .” He turned to Amanda for assistance.
“How about we go to the
Austin Zoo first, since it’s really close, and if you still want to go to San Antonio afterwards to see the elephants, we’ll go there second?” Amanda hoped Julie would be too tuckered out to want to go on two zoo adventures in a single day.
“Okay! I will get to see all the animals today. Catch me, Daddy!” she said, spreading her arms and taking a leap from the bar stool. Amanda’s heart skipped a beat, but Jacob caught her and cradled her against his chest as they made their way outside.
Amanda started her car and cranked up the AC while Jacob helped Julie out of her fairy wings and then fastened her into the back seat.
“Can you give me a hand packing up the trunk?” he asked Amanda. “I’m not sure if I’ve remembered everything.”
“Sure.” She slid from the driver’s seat and shut the door before circling to the back of the car. She gasped in surprise when he pulled her up against him, both hands on her ass. He tilted his head to whisper in her ear.
“I’m assuming you’re keeping your distance because you don’t want Julie to see us together.”
“Yeah,” she said.
“So since she can’t see us now, you won’t brush me off when I do this.”
Amanda shivered in delight as he sucked thought-shattering kisses along her neck. Goose bumps rose to the surface of her skin, and she tilted her head to give him access to her tingling flesh. His hand slid up her hip and waist, his knuckles skimmed the side of her breast, and then his hand pressed into her back to draw her closer.
His lips traced a gentle trail along her jaw before capturing her mouth in a deep kiss. She moaned into his mouth and, unable to keep her hands to herself any longer, she grabbed his ass in both hands.
He drew away slightly, and her eyelids fluttered open.
“So you do still want me,” he said in that low, smooth voice of his. Parts of her craving his mouth on them began to throb distractingly.
“Of course I still want you.” She breathed in his clean scent, marveling at how it made her heart race and her belly clench.
“Daddy, are we going now?” Julie’s muffled voice drifted out from inside the car.
“Be patient, princess,” he called to her before lowering his head and capturing Amanda’s tender lips in another kiss.
By the time they finished packing the trunk, Jacob had somehow managed to ignite every inch of Amanda’s skin with little touches and stolen kisses. She was on fire—burning for him—and that inferno had absolutely nothing to do with the sizzling Texas heat.
“What taked you so long?” Julie asked when the adults finally entered the cool interior of the car.
“Couldn’t find the sunscreen,” Jacob lied as he fastened his seat belt on the passenger side of the car.
“We need to hurry up if we’re going to two zoos today,” Julie said, holding up two fingers and waving them at her distracted caregivers.
Resigned to a long day, Amanda shifted the car into drive. She was overly conscious of the man beside her as they headed to the hills just outside the suburbs. Though he wasn’t touching her, she could feel his gaze, and if his thoughts were even half as sensual her own, she had a reason to squirm in her seat beneath his avid attention.
Chapter Seven
Jacob slid his fingertip up the outside of Amanda’s smooth thigh. He grinned to himself when the car decelerated suddenly as her foot slipped off the gas pedal. She caught his hand just before his questing finger reached the hem of her shorts and turned her head to glare at him.
“Are we there yet?” he asked in a low tone—the one he knew aroused her—and leaned close to inhale her spicy perfume.
“Soon,” she said, pushing his hand off her leg.
This could be fun, he decided. She’d made him promise that he wouldn’t touch her when Julie was a witness, but there would be plenty of opportunity to tease her when his daughter’s attention was elsewhere.
“Can we sing a song, Daddy?” Julie asked.
His daughter’s sweet voice was like a bucket of cold water in his lap. He shifted away from Amanda, his bare shoulder pressing against the warm glass of the passenger-side door. “What should we sing?”
“You pick it.”
“I know a song your Aunt Amanda likes to sing when she thinks no one is watching.”
Amanda took her eyes off the road just long enough to glance at him, one eyebrow raised comically.
“How does it go again? I’m walking on sunshine,” he sang. He’d caught her singing when she’d been washing dishes, completely unaware of his presence. What she lacked in vocal talent, she made up for in enthusiasm. He wasn’t sure if that was the moment he’d fallen for her or if her carefree singing had only added to already blossoming feelings.
Amanda flushed, which made him want to kiss her pink-stained cheeks. But despite her embarrassment, she sang along in her ever-off-key, wholehearted style. “Whoa oh!”
They sang alternating lines—Julie in the back seat clapping along in perfect time—and when they reached the end of the chorus, Julie sang, “And don’ I feels good?”
Surprised, Jacob chuckled and turned in his seat to look at his wriggling daughter. He was surprised her booster seat held out under her vigorous dancing.
“You know this song?” he asked.
“Aunt Mander always sings it when we do dishes.”
“And does she always sing it off-key?” he teased, glancing at the gorgeous woman in the driver’s seat.
Amanda swatted at him, and he jerked up against the door to avoid her blow.
“I try to help her sing it right,” Julie said.
“She does,” Amanda said. “But it’s a lost cause, I’m afraid.”
“It’s okay, Aunt Mander,” Julie said. “We still love you.”
Amanda stole a glance at Jacob, her hands gripping the steering wheel as if she feared she was about to spin out of control. She still hadn’t acknowledged his words from earlier that morning. Would she accept them coming from Julie’s innocent lips? Was he moving too fast? Did he care? He wanted Amanda in his life. She was just going to have to come to terms with that, because he refused to back down. He might be convinced to slow down, however. Maybe.
Oblivious to the tension between the adults in the front seats, Julie asked, “Can we sing more “Sunshine,” please?”
They sang the chorus, each of them taking their own line, and repeated it over and over until they arrived at their destination. Jacob was pretty sure there was more to the song than three lines, but he was having too much fun to worry about getting the lyrics right or about the odd stares their vehicular performance received from passing motorists.
Jacob had never been to the Austin Zoo. He was stunned by how small the graveled parking lot was and surprised that it wasn’t teeming with humans looking to examine the caged wildlife.
“Are you sure this is a real zoo?” Jacob asked Amanda as she shifted the car into park.
“It’s not your ordinary zoo, but I’m sure it’s a zoo.”
Jacob shrugged and got out of the car, opening the back door to release Julie from her booster seat. “Should we bring the stroller?” he asked Amanda, who was opening the trunk.
“I’m a big girl!” Julie insisted. “I don’t want a stroller.”
Yeah, she said that now, but in ten minutes her feet would be hurting and she’d want to be carried for the next three or four hours.
“The paths aren’t good for strollers,” Amanda said. “And it only takes an hour or so to see everything.”
Which would give them plenty of time to make the hour and a half drive to San Antonio for a second zoo visit.
Jacob sighed in resignation and set Julie on her feet in the gravel. Within two steps, he had a rock in his sandal. He was already wishing he’d opted for tennis shoes as he fished the sharp stone out with his finger. “I think you two are going to have to carry me if I keep getting rocks in my shoe.”
Julie giggled. “You’re too big to carry, silly.”
“Come get your sun
screen on,” Amanda said, tugging a large bottle of SPF 80 out of Julie’s bag.
Amanda filled her palm with the coconut-scented stuff and handed the bottle to Jacob, who followed her cue. They each worked on one side until Julie was sufficiently coated with enough sunscreen to stop a solar flare.
“Here’s your hat,” Amanda said, handing Julie her white straw hat. His baby was incredibly fair skinned, and her pale-blond hair didn’t provide much protection to her scalp from the harsh Texas sunshine.
“You need sunscreen too,” Julie said. “I don’t want you getting wrinkles.”
Jacob chuckled. She’d probably heard that from her mother, but he found it humorous that a four-year-old would have such concerns.
“Allow me,” Jacob said, taking the bottle from Amanda and squeezing a healthy dose into his palm. He rubbed his hands together to distribute the lotion between them and then worked the sunscreen into Amanda’s sun-kissed shoulders, her graceful throat, the back of her neck, and—after peeking at Julie to make sure her attention was elsewhere—the tops of her lush breasts. Amanda released a breathy sigh as his fingertips rubbed her warm, pliant flesh. She leaned closer, and he lowered his head, craving her kiss and the feel of her body pressed against his.
“Daddy, did you bringed me a drink? I’m thirsty!”
Amanda jerked away and after discreetly rubbing her arm over the erect tips of her breasts, began to rummage through Julie’s bag again. Jacob admired the curve of Amanda’s ass as she bent over the trunk. That and the long graceful lines of her legs. The woman had amazing legs. They looked especially fantastic wrapped around his waist as he drove his cock into her hot, slick pussy.
Holy hell. Jacob rubbed a hand over his face, trying to clear the erotic images suddenly bombarding his thoughts.
“Apple juice?” Amanda asked, holding up a juice box for Julie to see.
“Yes, please. I want to do the straw.”
This behaving himself stuff was going to be far more of a challenge than he’d anticipated.
“Daddy, hurry up and put on your sunscreen,” Julie advised while she held the juice box against her belly and jabbed the little foil circle with a pointed straw. She was soon slurping juice and watching a family with six small children unload from a minivan.
Treat Me (One Night with Sole Regret #8) Page 9