I step back and gesture for him to come in. “Yes, she’s still here. Come on in.”
“Oh, I don’t?—”
But Evelyn has caught sight of James and is squealing and reaching out her arms, her hands opening and closing.
My eyes widen as I look from the little girl to my husband. He’s already off the couch and coming forward with a wide smile. “Hi, Evie girl.”
He takes her from her father without even asking, and Grayson and I are both left standing with our mouths open, staring after them.
Caroline joins us, laughing. “Uh, yeah. They have a thing going.”
“You left your phone next door,” Grayson says as he hands it to her.
“Oh. Thank you.” Caroline sets it on the table inside the door where we toss our keys and daily mail.
“She’s like that with him all the time?” Grayson asks, still watching James and Evelyn as James sways in the middle of the room with the little girl, showing her one of Noah’s toys.
“She is,” Caroline confirms. She looks up at me. “But I thought she just liked men more than women. She didn’t smile and coo and bat her big blue eyes at you, though.”
“No, she did not,” I agree.
“Huh,” Caroline says.
We all look at Evelyn and James again.
Then Caroline looks up at Grayson. “That’s so interesting. She apparently doesn’t just like men and she doesn’t seem to have a type. You and James are so different.”
Grayson finally pulls his gaze away from Evelyn to focus on Caroline.
“Are we?” he asks.
There’s a change in his voice, and I swear a change in the electric current in the air.
What the hell?
“You are,” she says. “He’s such a sunshine. So laid-back and…nice.”
Grayson arches a brow. “And I’m…” He trails off, clearly inviting her to fill in the blank.
I’m guessing the look he’s giving her is one he’s perfected in the boardroom with other hard-ass CEOs. I’ve seen my share of I’m-the-alpha-and-you-will-kowtow-to-me posturing around conference tables and in courtrooms.
But Caroline just grins up at him. “Not those things,” she says.
She doesn’t even seem to mind that he is very in her personal space.
“I’m not nice?” he asks.
“Not the first word that comes to mind,” she says. “Or the first…” She pretends to think something over. “…twelve words that come to mind.”
Grayson studies her. Intently. Like she’s a puzzle he needs to solve.
Or an acquisition he wants to make.
Yeah, that last one feels more accurate.
“Good,” he finally says.
Caroline rolls her eyes. “Yes, big bad CEO man—no one thinks you’re nice. That’s such a good thing. Very scary.” She reaches up and pats him on the chest.
