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“That was so cool!” Delilah says, waving Burrito in the sky like she’s flying.
“You liked it?” I ask her, laughing as I throw our trash away in the garbage can outside the theatre.
“Yes. Burrito did too. It was her family,” Delilah replies.
I snap my finger. “I thought those dragons looked familiar. Lots of similarities,” I agree, equally serious.
I grab Delilah’s hand as we leave the local movie theatre I found just down the street that plays children's movies in the mornings. Delilah and I walked down the block and watched one of theHow to Train Your Dragonmovies. She stood the entire time she was so excited.
“What do you want to do now?” I ask her, looking back and forth down the street. Tonight is our last night in town before we fly back home tomorrow morning.
“I’m hungry. Can we have pizza?”
I pull out my phone to look up a pizza place, just as a text comes through.
Wesley:You girls have lunch yet?
Ivy:No. Delilah just asked for pizza though. Must be daddy, daughter telepathy.
Wesley:There’s a pizza spot a few doors down from the tattoo studio. Are you nearby?
He sends me his location, and I see that it’s just a block away.
Ivy:We’ll be there in a few. Just around the corner.
We turn the corner, and I see Wesley waiting on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. He is stupidly gorgeous. Dark hair pushed back and curling at the nape, tattoos standing out against his all black outfit. I shouldn’t drool over the clothes he wears. He wears variations of the same thing every day. Plain white, black,or grey shirts, with classic black or grey pants, and his black work boots.
Still, the way the shirts mold to his muscles and drape over what I know is a toned stomach kills me everytime without fail. He looks rugged, and just pure man. He spots Delilah, and smiles broadly, showing off his dimples.
“Hey, bug!” he calls out, grabbing Delilah’s attention, which until now was still firmly set on Burrito.
She gasps. “Daddy!” she squeals—like she always does—and rips her hand from mine.
She runs full speed at him as he crouches down, arms out and ready to receive her. She crashes into him, and he grabs her under the arms and lifts to toss her in the air, making her scream and belly laugh. He moves her to the side, holding her with his forearm under her bottom. They both turn to look at me at the same time, both with huge smiles, both with dimples.
Oh shit. My heart.
I only saw Wesley briefly this morning before he left for work. He acted completely normal. Which was a polar opposite from how he behaved leaving my room last night.
Last night.
Just remembering the taste of his mouth, and the way his eyes darkened watching me move on him, makes my stomach clench. Shocked is an understatement for what I felt when he pulled me into him, but I can’t say I’m not happy he did.
When he left my room last night, he was so awkward. Like he didn’t know how to talk to me anymore, now that we knew what the other looked like while coming. Yet this morning, it was as if it never happened, like it didn’t matter. I don’t know which is worse. He obviously got it out of his system, and we can move on now.
I decided to take his lead, and pretend it never happened, regardless of how I’d like to do the total opposite. Regardless of how I’d like to ask him to do it again, and again, and maybe be more than friends. More than the nanny. Talk about it, like grown ups? No thanks. I’m good.
I’ve taken one too many blows to the ego in the romance department. I have felt inadequate and not good enough for a man more than I’d like to admit. I don’t think I can stick my neck out again. He won’t get involved with me romantically, and I need to remember that.
“Hey,” I greet him, feigning a casual tone.
“Hi. You girls have fun at the movies?” he asks us both.
“Yes Daddy, now we want pizza,” Delilah whines, showing the all too familiar signs of getting cranky when she’s hungry.
I think she’s tired too. This trip has worn on her. The busy days, the new environment, and the earlier than usual bedtimes has thrown her off.
