In the background shrilled the beeps and music of the video game arcade, the rattle and grind of the miniature midway rides, and the screams and shouts of preschoolers playing in the “jungle” gym and ball pit. The air reeked of buttery popcorn, pepperoni pizza, and the sticky sweetness of cotton candy. All in all, it was a place no sane adult would have even ventured into without kids.
He grinned when he saw them walk through the double glass doors. For a moment he couldn’t decide what was more humorous, the wrinkle of distaste on Taylor’s face or the fact that Emily’s mouth dropped open as she stared at the stuffed toy monkeys bouncing on mechanical vines from the ceiling.
He watched Taylor bend down to Emily and point in his direction. Emily handed her zebra to Taylor and was off like a shot, running toward him past the little half wall that surrounded the eating area squealing, “Reeeece!”
Reece stretched out his arms to catch the speeding little girl in a big hug. “Hi there, sunshine!”
Her little arms clenched in a death grip around his neck was the best feeling in the world. Reece closed his eyes and savored the sensation. What he had missed with Alyssa could never be regained, but he had a chance, here and now, to make a difference to his daughter Emily.
He opened his eyes and released his bear hug on Emily, letting her settle onto the bench seat beside him.
Taylor walked toward them, her graceful slowness at complete odds with the chaos surrounding them. Her slim figure was enhanced by the bright, tropical-patterned skirt, which came a few inches above her knees, and the royal blue, long-sleeved knit shirt that clung neatly to her curves.
Reece felt a pounding in his blood that he couldn’t control. Becca had never affected him this way. He had cared for her, felt affectionate toward her, but his world never tilted like this when she was near.
A flare of excitement and warning raced through him as Taylor sat down across the table, crossing her long legs, bare below the above-the-knee length of her skirt. A tug at his sleeve forced him to bring his mind back from where he knew it had no business being.
“Reece, can I have some pizza?”
“Sure.” He separated the wedges in the small pizza to make it easier for her, then pushed the entire plate closer to Emily. Her face was nearly level with the table.
“You could probably use a booster seat.”
Emily looked at him, puffed out her chest proudly, and grinned. “That’s ’cause I’m a big girl.”
A twinge of angst pinched him hard. He’d missed her growing out of her high chair. He wouldn’t miss out on anything else. “I can see that.” Reece leaned over and pulled a brown plastic booster seat from a stack near the table.
He placed it next to him on the bench and hefted Emily into the seat. She wiggled into it, getting comfortable. Reece slid the pizza and soda to sit in front of her.
Without waiting, Emily grabbed a slice of the warm, gooey pizza and stuffed as much of it as she could in her mouth in one bite. She looked like a chipmunk with full cheeks as she happily chewed.
He chuckled. He could feel the weight of Taylor’s stare on him. It was lingering and warm, almost like a caress. He glanced across the table at Taylor. She was looking intently at him. He gave her a generous smile. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“So am I, I think,” she said, giving him a tentative grin in return, then glancing at the riotous jungle decor. “Who do you suppose the decorator on this one is?”
“Cheetah. Definitely.” He slid a small pizza across to her.
She laughed. The sound rippled over him in gentle waves, making him relaxed yet responsive to every nuance of her. He needed to get hold of himself. It was clear he was treading in unfamiliar territory. With Becca there had been mutual admiration, friendship, and marriage, but not this kind of fuel-injected kick to his libido.
“One point to you, Reece.”
The icy splash that hit his spine jarred him. He sobered up a little, sensing there was more to what she was saying than she let on and feeling a fool for letting himself get so easily seduced by her charms. “I didn’t know we were keeping score.”
She arched a brow and sent him a pointed look, then nodded almost imperceptibly at Emily. “We’re always keeping score, aren’t we?”
He leaned back causally against the half wall behind him. “I suppose.” Now he knew what to expect. She wasn’t letting down her guard for an instant. Then neither would he. She had yet to touch the food on her plate. “Don’t like the pizza?”
“Do they have any salads?”
“If you like iceberg lettuce spiked with glutinous vinaigrette.”
Taylor shrugged. “I guess pizza it is.”
“Jessie didn’t get any,” piped in Emily, now that her mouth wasn’t full. “Can she eat some of yours?” She looked up at Reece and held the zebra up to him. Its striped head hung lopsided, the glass eyes glittering in the motion lights of the game arcade behind them.
Reece nodded and handed her the last piece of his pizza.
Emily held the zebra next to it as if making her sniff it. “Jessie says she doesn’t like this kind, but I can have it.” She took a massive bite for such a little mouth.
Reece covered his mouth with his hand to hide his grin. He really had no business encouraging Emily’s behavior, but it was funny.
Taylor raised a brow as she stared at Emily, then flicked her gaze in his direction. “Congratulations, I think you’ve discovered her favorite food.”
“What about you?”
“No, pizza and I are on nice terms but not intimate. Too much fat.”
He snickered. “I meant, what is your favorite food?”
A slight blush tinted her skin a delicious pink that made his mouth water. He could picture how the heat of her skin would feel under his lips, especially at the soft spot just below her ear. Her skin would probably taste just as sweet as it smelled. His pulse was hammering hard giving rise to other parts of him beside his heart that had been dormant for far too long.
Did she even remotely feel the same? Was he just letting his severely starved imagination get the best of him? He had to pull it under control. Any kind of intimacy at this point would only make a bigger mess of an already monumental mix-up. Besides, there was no evidence that the feelings were mutual.
Taylor chewed at her bottom lip. “Chocolate?”
The nibbling alone about put him through the floor.
“That’s a food?” he teased.
“One of the basic food groups, right up there with caffeine and ice cream.”
He grinned. Taylor gave as good as she got. He’d have to remember that. One point to the hot woman in blue.
There was an exaggerated heavy sigh from Emily. “Can we please go play now?” she begged.
“Of course, baby,” Taylor said, reaching her hand out to Emily.
“Reece has to come, too.”
Reece noticed that she still flinched when Emily said his name, but not as badly. How would she react when Emily began to call him daddy? He still needed to broach that subject with her, but knew that it was better to wait until she seemed a little more comfortable with the visitations. One step at a time.
Taylor simply nodded and glanced at him. “Come on, Tarzan, we’ve got to accompany Emily on her trek into the jungle.”
He tamped down the boyish urge to yell out a jungle call like the famed king of the apes just to see how she would react. He was walking on a tightrope with her as it was. He didn’t need to push his luck.
Emily scampered off to the miniature merry-go-round with an assortment of jungle animals and selected a fat ostrich to ride. From the pint-sized roller coaster to the jump-the-alligator pit, the trio covered the noisy terrain of Jungle Jane’s.
When Emily ducked into the air-filled bounce-o-rama, he decided that now was as good a time as any to reach through Taylor’s protective shell and see if he could get her to relax a little. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he turned Taylor to the air hockey tables next
to the bounce-o-rama. “Don’t suppose you know how to play do you? I could use a good challenge.”
Taylor instantly brightened. “You picked the wrong opponent, buster,” she taunted. “I rock at air hockey.”
He leaned close and could instantly feel the crackle of energy between them. Reece gave her one of his best smiles and said in a low, teasing voice, “Prove it.”
They walked over and took opposing sides of the table. Reece slipped in four quarters and the table roared to life, blowing an invisible stream of air across the top of the slick, white surface to float the black, plastic puck.
Reece held the slider in his hand close to his goal. “Ladies first,” he said as he slid the puck gently across the table to Taylor.
The corner of Taylor’s mouth lifted in a lopsided smirk and her eyes, sparkling with challenge, narrowed. “You’re underestimating me. First mistake.”
She grasped the puck, laid it down in front of her on the table, and gave it a vicious whack with her slider. The puck zinged across the table. Reece reached out to block it and instead heard the black blur clatter into his goal slot. Reece retrieved the puck.
“Not into playing nice, I see.”
“Nope. I play for keeps. Did I mention that?”
Taylor’s smug smile and confident air made his heart beat faster, but it was the enticing view of her cleavage every time she leaned over the table that sent him over the edge. And what exactly are we playing for, Taylor? Reece hit the puck with enough force to send it skipping over the surface of the table. Taylor easily blocked it, slid it off to one side, and whacked it back.
Whack! Ping. Whack! The racket grew louder and louder as they hit the puck back and forth. Reece’s arm was feeling the workout and the adrenaline rush of the game felt good. Taylor was radiant with energy, making her even more beautiful. Every crack of her slider sent a curtain of blond hair swinging around her neck. Reece realized he was breathing harder, which he knew he couldn’t attribute to the game alone.
Taylor was up by two points when the air on the table stopped flowing and the puck came to a sluggish stop in the middle of the table. She glanced over at Emily from the corner of her eye and saw she was rolling happily doing somersaults in the bounce-o-rama.
“Want to play some more?”
Taylor’s gaze intensified. “We probably better call it a game.”
“Like to win, don’t you?” He was baiting her, and he could tell she knew it.
“Absolutely.”
Taylor brushed back the swing of her hair and smoothed her shirt. The action was subtle, but Reece had an instant vision of moving around the table, grabbing her, and kissing her senseless.
“How’s Emily holding up?” Reece asked more casually than he felt.
They both looked over to see her scooting rump first out of the bounce-o-rama.
She darted over to them in her socks. “Can we go play on the jungle gym now?”
She pointed a chubby finger over to the mass of twisting, multicolored tubes interlaced with slides, cargo-net ladders, and swinging ropes.
Reece bent down until his face was level with Emily’s. “Do they let big people in there, too?”
“Yes, but you have to take off your shoes,” Emily explained matter-of-factly.
Reece nodded. “Thanks for telling me.”
The three of them walked over to one of the benches ringing the perimeter of the massive contraption. He sat down and began pulling at the laces on his shoes.
“You’re not serious about going in there?”
He glanced at Taylor. “Why not?”
“You’ll get stuck.”
“Then I guess you’ll have to come in and get me.” He gave her a provocative smile.
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously? Fine, I can’t have you both getting lost in there.” She slipped off her flats and pushed up the sleeves of her shirt.
“Mommy, are you going in, too?” Emily bounced with excitement.
“Yes.” Taylor sighed. “Where do we go in, Emily?”
“Right over there by the lion’s mouth.”
“It figures,” Taylor grumbled.
He let the ladies go first. Big mistake. All the way through the tubes he had to watch Taylor’s behind wiggle enticingly and her smooth, shapely legs slide back and forth, her skirt riding up her thighs as she crawled along on her knees just in front of him. They made one circuit through the tubes and ended up in the ball pit. By that time he was glad he was sitting up to his waist surrounded by small plastic spheres so his aroused interest wasn’t so obvious.
Emily dived beneath the primary-colored plastic balls beside him, completely burying herself in them. He and Taylor glanced at each other and burst out laughing.
“Not exactly what you envisioned for today, is it?” she asked.
“On the contrary, it’s better than I envisioned.”
Her eyes softened and took on a misty look. “You really do like this, don’t you?”
“What’s not to like about your kid having fun?”
“I guess I’m just kind of surprised, that’s all.” Her teeth worried her bottom lip, reminding him of what it might be like to kiss her. He had to stop this fantasizing or it would drive him insane. While she was warming up to him, there were no signs that she was interested in him, and he had a dozen good reasons why he shouldn’t want her to be.
Emily popped up out of the balls. “I’m going to slide,” she announced and scampered out of the pit. Taylor glanced back at him.
Her hair was slightly mussed, and she was lounging back on her hands. For a brief flicker, Reece thought about what it would be like to watch her wake up in bed. In the next moment he was angry with himself. He had no right to feel this way about a woman. Any woman. Especially not this woman.
“Ready to sit this one out, Tarzan?”
“Good idea,” he croaked. They both headed for the bench where they’d left their shoes.
Taylor was sitting close enough on the bench that Reece couldn’t escape the warmth she radiated or the fragrance of her—the one that reminded him of Becca. He closed his eyes. He had to focus on Emily. This was all about her. Not about him, not about Taylor, and certainly not the two of them together, warm, aching…God, he was doing it again.
He groaned.
Taylor glanced at him and smiled sympathetically. “Getting a little worn out?”
Now that was a trick question. Come on, counselor, answer the woman.
“Do you think she’s enjoying this?” he answered, sidestepping the question and knowing very well that Emily was having the time of her life. The little girl scrambled up the purple steps and disappeared again into the human Habitrail.
“It depends,” said Taylor as she leaned back on the bench beside him. “If I hear about it for the next week, it was a phenomenal success. If she only talks to Eddie about it tonight, it might have been a bit overwhelming.”
Reece’s libido took a nosedive as the pain struck. He wished he could tuck Emily in at night. Maybe even read to her from stories that he had been saving for Alyssa but never got the chance to open. He needed to stem the ache in his gut.
In one swift movement, he left his spot beside Taylor, then bent down at the base of the slide to wait for Emily’s exit.
She came down the slide with a whoosh and Reece caught her. Squealing, she grabbed his neck with her little arms and squeezed him in a grand hug.
Taylor cleared her throat, then came over and touched her tiny shoulder. “I’m really sorry, but we’ve got to get going. Honey, can you say thank you to Mr. Wallace for our lunch?”
Emily placed one small hand on each of his shoulders, then looked him in the eye, her demeanor serious. All at once her face lit up into a sunny smile that stole his breath away. “Thank you, Reece,” she chirped, then planted a small kiss on his cheek. “I have to take Jessie home for her nap now, but we’ll play again soon.”
Reece nodded. “You bet, sunshine.” His arms were unwilling to let his li
ttle girl go.
His little girl. The thought struck him hard.
There was still so much pain mixed up with the pleasure of little-girl laughter that he sometimes had trouble separating the two. He was opening himself up to feelings that he’d locked away for a long time. It was a risk, but it was worth it. Emily was worth all of it, and more.
He looked up into Taylor’s face. Her blue eyes were bright, as if she might cry, and the need to comfort her hit instantly. The swing of blond hair threw a delicate shadow over her creamy skin. Taylor might not think she needed anyone, but everyone could use a shoulder to lean on now and then. Even if he couldn’t offer her anything else, he could do that much.
“Thanks for coming,” he said, his voice low, almost husky with emotion.
She nodded. “I really enjoyed it. Maybe we can do it again soon.”
“How about something with better food?”
A small smile eased the pain shadowing her face.
“Maybe another family dinner?” he ventured, before she could say no.
Taylor eyed him with equal measures of wariness and interest, then nodded. “I’ll get back to you,” she said, a note of promise in her voice.
He stood as she gently guided Emily toward the door. Emily waved and Reece waved back.
Later that night, Reece sat while the news hummed in the background. He was engulfed in remembering the small enthusiastic hug of sweet little-girl arms around his neck and the nuzzle of a small mouth against his cheek. Then there was the soft fall of blond hair against the satin of Taylor’s neck and what it would feel like in his fingers, what she might feel like next to him. What it might be like to have all of them together as a family.
He absently flicked through the late news on several channels and snapped to attention when he saw Emily. She was coming down out of a tubular green slide into his arms and then jumped up to hug him around the neck.
The scene struck him like a punch from a heavyweight boxer, making his vision spark with stars. They had been filmed at Playland without their knowledge.
He jabbed the volume button.
“… as the hospital tries to sort out what went wrong, the families of the remaining child in the switched-birth fiasco are amicable despite custody issues raging in the courts. An investigation into the hospital staff involved in the case is ongoing. Nurse Sherri Hoyt is suspected of having switched the children while interrupted in the act of abducting one or both of the babies. Authorities are continuing to search for Hoyt, but records indicate she left the state immediately after the incident occurred. Action Six News will continue to bring you developments on this story. In other news…”
The Switched Baby Scandal (A Scandals of San Sebastian Novel) (Entangled Bliss) Page 8