Daddy Says, I Do!

by Stacy Connelly

“That’s what I said!”

  She rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Why do I have the feeling you’re not joking? Honestly, Sam, when the right woman comes along, how is she going to take you seriously?”

  Serious relationships led to serious heartache, and that was something he could do without. “My right kind of woman is all about having a good time.”

  They might just have met, but his first glance had revealed that Kara wasn’t the “girls just want to have fun” type. All that meant, though, was that whatever relationship they had wouldn’t last, already a guarantee thanks to Kara’s temporary status in his hometown. He had nothing to worry about.

  “Well, I wish you and your good-time girl good luck,” Debbie said as a waitress waved her over to a table she’d just cleared.

  Sam doubted Debbie’s wishes had much to do with it, but luck was definitely on his side, he decided, as he spotted a furry green leg sticking out from the corner booth. He grinned as he picked up the familiar stuffed dinosaur. It looked like Kara needed rescuing a second time.

  * * *

  Kara collapsed onto the small sofa in the tiny living area of the hotel’s two-room suite. Exhaustion pulled at her until she thought she might sink clear through the too-soft navy brocade cushions and never get up again. The two-day drive had taken a lot out of her, but the last half hour had completely worn her out.

  How could she have lost Timmy’s stuffed animal? It wasn’t like she didn’t know how much the dinosaur meant to him. Losing that dinosaur, one of the last connections to Marti...it felt like another part of her sister had just slipped away.

  As soon as Timmy had climbed into the unfamiliar bed and realized the toy wasn’t waiting there for him, they’d searched the minivan, checking between and beneath the seats. She’d tried asking him the last time he remembered having the dinosaur, but Timmy had started to cry, and Kara had been too upset herself to push him harder.

  She didn’t know what to think about Timmy’s last tearful request to sleep with the tiny car Sam had given him. She should have been grateful that the little boy had taken comfort in the toy. But she only felt like that much more of failure, so much so that she wondered if Marti hadn’t had the right idea.

  Maybe Timmy would be better off with Sam.

  A knock on the door pulled her from those heartbreaking thoughts, and Kara wiped her eyes as she pushed off the sofa. The dinosaur would turn up. It had to.

  “Who is it?” she called out softly as she reached the white paneled door.

  “Room service.”

  “I didn’t...” Her voice trailed off as she recognized the masculine voice and the already too familiar skip in her pulse. Sam...

  Opening the door without removing the safety chain, she met his gaze through the narrow gap in the door. “I didn’t order room service.”

  “You didn’t order dessert at Rolly’s either, which is a real shame because they have the best chocolate silk pie around,” he said, holding up a clear plastic container with a huge slice inside.

  “You brought—wait, how do you know what I ordered at the diner?”

  “I’d stopped in there. You didn’t see me, but—”

  “You noticed I didn’t order dessert,” she filled in, “and brought me pie?”

  Kara didn’t know what to think about Sam making such an effort to see her again. After all, she could hardly tell him she wasn’t interested when she’d already asked him out for a date! And she could hardly tell herself she wasn’t interested when her racing heartbeat and the heat rising to her cheeks would have labeled her a liar.

  “Yep. Figure this way, you’ll owe me...dinner and two desserts.” He paused as he pretended to tally up her debt.

  “What if I don’t like pie?”

  “Everyone likes pie.” Confidence rang in his voice and casual posture, leaning against the side of the recessed doorway, offering up the rich, decadent, tempting dessert. “And then there’s always my other special delivery.”

  Kara gasped as he brought his other hand into sight and quickly slammed the door shut. She slid back the security chain and opened the door all the way to reach out for the stuffed dinosaur Sam held. Sinking her fingers into the soft green fur, she pulled the toy to her chest. “Where did you find him?”

  “Timmy left him in the booth at the diner.”

  “But I called! They said he wasn’t there.”

  Sam flinched a little. “Yeah, that’s probably because I’d already taken him with me. I was planning to come straight over here, but then I got a call about a motorist who’d broken down on the highway. Sorry about that.”

  “You had a job to do. That’s more important.”

  “More important than reptile relocation?”

  “Yes,” she said with a laugh at his teasing. “You know how these stuffed dinosaurs make nuisances of themselves in urban areas.”

  “We’re lucky he didn’t destroy Tokyo. He’ll be much happier in his natural habitat.”

  “Timmy will be thrilled to have him back. Thank you, Sam.” Kara dropped her gaze, mortified to feel the sting of tears burning her eyes.

  He’d brought back a stuffed animal, not a lost child....

  “Hey, are you okay?”

  Blinking quickly, Kara glanced up to find Sam watching her, concern creasing his forehead. It was the first time she’d seen him without his charmer’s smile. A shield, she realized suddenly, for his true feelings. It was enough to make her wonder if he was the carefree womanizer she’d immediately pegged him as. If he might be so much more than he let people see.

  “I, um, I’m fine. It’s just been a long few days.” Curiosity had his green eyes narrowing, and Kara’s pulse took a slightly panicked leap. She wasn’t a good liar. She prided herself on being honest by nature. But she wasn’t ready to tell the whole truth.

  She hugged the dinosaur tighter to her chest. Nowhere near ready.

  “Hey, look, it’s getting late, so why don’t I head out?”

  She should let him go. He was offering, so all she had to do was thank him again and send him on his way....

  But instead, she heard herself say, “I always have liked chocolate silk pie.”

  Sam grinned as if he’d known that all along. “The pie is a given, but my staying doesn’t have to be.”

  “No, please stay,” she said as she stepped back to let him into the small living area of the room.

  It was better this way, Kara told herself even as Sam opened the container and removed two plastic forks—a sign he’d hoped to share her dessert all along. She wanted to get to know him and it might be easier in this casual setting rather than trying to learn everything she could on their date.

  But what questions could she ask that would determine whether or not Sam would make a good father? And how was she supposed to decide what answers would be right or wrong?

  Past mistakes proved she wasn’t the best authority when it came to judging a man’s character. What if she trusted Sam to be a good guy, to do the right thing where Timmy was concerned? And what if she was wrong?

  Unlike her previous relationship, this time it wasn’t her trust that would be betrayed, her heart that would be broken. This time, Timmy’s future was at stake.

  Hoping she could pull this interrogation off without gaining Sam’s suspicion instead of his confidence, she settled back on the sofa. The piece of furniture seemed so much smaller now with Sam taking up the second cushion. His booted feet rested on the floor, his muscular, denim-clad thighs spread wide as he leaned forward and dug his fork into the piece of pie.

  He leaned back, his shoulders angled toward her as he held out the fork. “You get first bite. Only fair since I bought it for you.”

  The crisp, buttery crust and rich chocolate filling melted on her tongue, but it was the heat in Sam’s eyes as
her lips closed over the plastic fork that made Kara feel like she was dissolving. Everything from her willpower and determination to keep Sam at a distance, to the future she pictured for herself and Timmy, was disappearing like sugar in water. Soon there’d be nothing left.

  Pulling back quickly, she busied herself reaching for a napkin and her own fork. “It’s, uh, very good. Thank you,” she said, clearing her throat to get the words past the lump of chocolate-coated desire lodged there. “You said before that Clearville’s your hometown, right?” Striving for a casual, let’s-get-to-know-each-other tone, she added, “Tell me what it was like growing up here.”

  Marti had once laughed at her nervousness on first dates. “Dating’s a piece of cake,” her sister insisted. “Guys love to talk about themselves. All you have to do is pretend you’re interested.”

  But as Sam talked about his childhood in the small community, Kara didn’t have to pretend. He was great storyteller, and she was reluctantly fascinated at his antics as the youngest son with two big brothers who were as likely to stick up for him as they were to knock him down.

  “Not that I didn’t deserve it,” he reassured her with a grin, the closeness he shared with Nick and Drew and his little sister, Sophia, evident in his tone of voice. And his parents...Kara didn’t think she’d ever met anyone who spoke with more love and respect for his parents.

  Not once did he mention his parents using the natural rivalry that could exist between siblings to make them try harder or push themselves further. Not as her parents had with her and Marti.

  “Sorry, I think I’ve bored you with stories about my family long enough. I’ve monopolized the conversation without giving you a turn.”

  A turn to talk about her family. About Marti....

  She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t look Sam in the eye and talk about her sister as if she was someone he didn’t know. As a stranger instead of the mother of his child and someone he might have cared about. Might have loved.

  “I’m sorry, Sam,” she said as she rose to her feet, “but I really am tired. Maybe—maybe we can talk about my family some other time?”

  “Sure. I stayed longer than I planned. I wanted to drop off the dinosaur and the dessert, not put you to sleep with talk about my family.”

  “You didn’t put me to sleep.” And as tired as she was, Kara doubted she’d find a peaceful night’s rest anytime soon. Not when she pictured Sam as a young boy, looking very much like Timmy did now, tagging along after his big brothers, teasing his little sister, growing up in a small town where anyone would want to raise their child....

  Maybe even a town where Marti had wanted Sam to raise Timmy.

  Reaching the door, Sam turned back to face her. “So tomorrow night then?”

  “Right. Dinner and two desserts.”

  “Oh, I get it,” he grinned. “You think you can pay me back and be done with me after one night, but it’s not going to be that easy.”

  Kara knew what was easy—getting pulled in by Sam’s smile. By the warmth in his eyes that called to her like a light left on in a front window, ready to embrace and welcome her home. His teasing expression encouraged her to kick back, relax, take a load off....

  For one crazy second, she thought about telling him the truth right then and there. Unloading the burden that had been dragging her down, resting her head on his broad shoulder and hearing him say everything would be okay. But the last time she’d put her trust in a man, her hope and her heart had been trampled. She couldn’t trust Sam, not yet.

  But neither could she resist his invitation to join in the fun. “Don’t tell me, you plan to play hard to get?”

  “You better believe it. Tomorrow night, I figure it’ll be drinks and appetizers. Then our next date, we’ll have drinks and appetizers. And for our third date—”

  “Let me guess—drinks and appetizers?”

  “Nah, by our third date, I figure we’ll be ready for the main course.”

  Kara swallowed. Were they still talking about food? The heat in Sam’s gaze seemed to be saying so much more, but her heart was pounding so loudly she couldn’t think over the sound. She couldn’t think at all as he stepped closer and threaded his fingers through her hair. “Sam—”

  Her lips were already parted on the whisper of his name, already parted for his kiss—a kiss that brushed across her cheek. “Better not spoil our appetites,” he murmured before wishing her goodnight and leaving before Kara had the chance to recover or respond.

  Chapter Four

  Sam had never been the jealous type, but arriving at Kara’s hotel room the next evening and realizing she was ready to stand him up for another guy didn’t sit well. Not even if the other guy was only about three and a half feet tall.

  She’d looked adorably flustered as she opened the door. Much as she had the previous night when he’d taken off without giving her the kiss she’d expected—and the one he’d craved. Gazing down at her as her eyes widened with an awakening hunger after all that talk about appetizers and main courses, it had taken more willpower than he thought he possessed to touch her cheek with his lips. And even then the scent and softness of her skin had sent a rush of desire speeding through his veins, a response totally out of proportion for such a chaste kiss.

  With any other woman, he wouldn’t have stopped there, not when he was ready to race toward the finish line. But the vulnerability Kara tried so hard to hide brought out a protective streak in him that gave him the strength to pull back. She was the type of woman who made a man want to take things slow. Made him want to take things slow.

  “I thought I’d be ready to go by now,” she said as he followed her into the suite. Her feet were bare, showing off toes painted a color that reminded him of ripe raspberries, and her yellow silk shirt was untucked in back. “But Timmy wanted a snack before bed.”

  Sam didn’t see her nephew, but the kid had left a trail of breadcrumbs. The bright orange remains of cheesy goldfish crackers dusted the coffee table, beside an empty bottle that had once held grape juice, judging by the small purplish flecks on Kara’s cream-colored pants. “The babysitter won’t be here for another fifteen minutes, so you have plenty of time to change.”

  “Change?” She followed his gaze and made a soft sound beneath her breath as she brushed uselessly at her pants. “I should check on Timmy.” She glanced back over her shoulder at the closed bathroom door. “He’s supposed to be brushing his teeth, but by now he’s probably flooded the bathroom. I’m sorry, Sam.”

  He heard the but coming from miles away and stopped the word the best way he could. Cupping her hands in his face, he caught her gasp against his lips, tasting the sweetness of her surprise and stopping there. It was one thing to steal a quick kiss; he wouldn’t take more. Not without some sign from Kara. His heart thundered with anticipation. Waiting...wanting...

  Kara’s pulse leaped beneath his fingertips, and the knowledge that she was just as affected made pulling away impossible, but he still waited. With another small sound, she parted her lips beneath his, and Sam deepened the kiss. His tongue stroked hers, and a delicious shiver shook her entire body. He reveled in the telling reaction, and he had to have more. He pulled her body closer to his, his fingers instinctively finding the small gap between her shirttail and her skirt and discovering skin smoother than silk beneath. Her fingers tangled in his hair, and he had the crazy thought that this wasn’t what a first kiss was supposed to be like.

  A first kiss was supposed to be a tease, a promise of more to come, like the brush of his lips against her cheek the night before, but this kiss—this kiss delivered an instant rush of desire that was enough to make him want to forget about everything but the woman in his arms. Everything including the little boy in the other room and the very sharp, very nosy babysitter already on her way.

  Sam wasn’t sure how, but he forced himself to pul
l away and meet Kara’s startled gaze. Her eyes were wide and a flush of color lit her cheeks. One look at her lips and anyone would know he’d kissed her. Sam swallowed and dragged his gaze away. One more look and he’d be kissing her again.

  “What, um, was that for?”

  “Unless I’m totally off my game,” he said, struggling to find his typical teasing tone, “this date is about to come to an end. Seemed like the right time for a goodnight kiss.”

  Kara flushed a brighter shade of red, but before she could respond, Timmy’s voice drifted out from the bathroom. A moment later he appeared in the hallway and stopped short as he caught sight of Sam.

  Despite the interruption, Sam couldn’t help the small grin that tugged at his lips. Judging by the pale blue foam circling the boy’s mouth, Timmy had used half a tube of toothpaste to brush his teeth, and Sam could only imagine the mess left behind. He wore a pair of red pajamas with a fierce-looking T-Rex emblazoned on the chest. Fresh from a bath, his damp hair formed a halo of blond ringlets.

  Poor guy. As a kid, he’d had hair just like that and man, had he hated those “girly” curls. Or at least he had until he learned to appreciate having a woman run her fingers through them....

  Cutting off that thought, Sam said, “Hey, Timmy. I brought you something.” He reached into his pants’ pocket and pulled out a miniature tow truck. Aware of Kara standing behind him, he knelt down in front of the little boy and handed him the toy. “That other car you picked out looks like the one I drive, but I have a tow truck, too.”

  “Like this one?”

  “Yep. And now you have a sports car and a tow truck.”

  “Just like you?”

  “Just like me.”

  Kara made a small sound, and Sam glanced over his shoulder to find her watching closely. An air of expectation hovered between them as their eyes met, as if she were holding her breath and waiting for him to—he didn’t know what. Sam pushed to his feet but before he had a chance to say anything, she brushed by him.

  “I better go change.”