I knew I could trust him, he’d shown me that. I’d also gotten to know what an amazing person, father, and friend he was. But, he was a single father, who’d lived so much already, found and lost the love of his life, and was still emotionally damaged from that loss.
Feeling anything for Bodie would only lead to heartache.
“Was it good?” he asked in a gravelly voice, his brown eyes twinkling with a bit of mischief.
Had he been turned on by my actions?
Something in his gaze said that he hadn’t hated what I’d done and that in itself caused satisfaction and a slight burst of lust to pump through my veins.
Before I could answer, the bird show host who’d been talking while he and I’d been lost in the moment, released some kind of bird that went swooping over our heads, causing the girls to squeal with delight.
Our moment was over and all our attention was on the girls. Which was fine. That is where it should have been all along and I couldn’t risk any more flirty moments.
Yet, somehow during the rest of the zoo trip, there had been a few more.
Aside from those instances, it was the girls that stole the show and had my heart tumbling over itself.
Peyton had managed to even pull Piper further out of her shell.
“Go like this,” Peyton had told her sister as she pressed her face closer to the glass and made a funny face at the orangutan on the other side. Then she placed her hand flat against the window and moved it around.
Piper’s giggles were music to my ears as she laughed at her sister's antics at one particular orangutan. The big fella looked like he was laughing along with Piper, his mouth stretched wide and teeth showing.
And then the most amazing thing happened.
He placed his big hand on the other side of the glass and followed Peyton’s. Bodie snapped pics on his phone and even got a video to catch a priceless moment.
“The monkeys are my favorite,” Piper said. “What animal is your favorite?” she asked me as we walked hand and hand over to the tigers.
I glanced over at Bodie who was holding Peyton’s hand in his and saw him look at my hand in his other daughters’. A smile crossed his face and then a small frown. He looked conflicted about what he saw and how it made him feel.
“Gemma, what one is your favorite?” Piper asked again, pulling my attention back to her.
With my free hand, I brought it to my mouth and with my pointer finger I tapped my lip and pretended to be thinking very hard. “I think it would have to be the monkeys too.”
Her megawatt smile warmed my whole body. But I also felt a pang in my chest when I thought about the girls and their mother not getting to do things like this and getting to make memories through their life. It should have been Isabelle at the zoo with her children.
Had Bodie been thinking the same thing just seconds before?
* * *
It had been a spectacular day.
The animals had been playful and the bird show had been cool and also a great learning experience. For someone who was going to be a teacher, I loved that. The petting zoo and train ride added even more to the amazing day. And we can’t forget about the elephant ear I shared with Bodie.
My mind rewound back to the crazy moment when I took the bite he offered with my lips instead of my hand. My face flushed with embarrassment and I casually glanced to my left at Bodie, who was driving us back home, to make sure he didn’t notice. He seemed to be hyper-aware of everything I felt.
What was that about?
Turning my head back to look at the window, I got lost in my head and before I knew it, we were home.
“That smile looks good on you,” Bodie said as he pulled into the same parking space as usual, right beside my car.
We didn’t have assigned spots but somehow we always ended up right next to one another. I often wondered if he’d talked to everyone in the building and warned them not to dare park beside me. Lord knew the man could be intimidating if he needed to be. But with his girls, he had a soft side that would make any girl swoon as they watched him with the twins.
That included me.
I hadn’t even realized I was smiling, but his comment about the upward tilt of my lips sent a shiver through me. Or maybe it wasn’t only what he said but how he said it. He confused me a bit. One minute he almost seemed flirty and the next it felt like he wasn’t sure about me being around at all.
