Yum.
I try to shove that thought away.
It’s playing with fire. It’s dumb and dangerous.
But I can’t tear my gaze away from him with his hair damp and his cheeks slightly flushed and his eyes…
Blazing.
“What the fuck, Shep?” he growls.
Yup.
Growls.
And I shiver as that heat slides through me again, coiling in my middle, stroking phantom fingers between my thighs.
The other man—Shep—lifts both hands. “Relax, man. I was being charming.”
I snort.
Rhodes’s eyes come back to mine, holding for a long moment.
Then he turns his glare back to Shep. “Go away.”
Shep’s smile is unrepentant, and it doesn’t take a genius to see he finds this whole scene amusing. “I was just going to ask her if she wanted to go out to dinner?—”
Rhodes steps forward. “Go. Away.”
“Is that a no then?” Shep asks me, his brown eyes glittering with amusement.Geez. The man must seriously have a death wish.
Beside me, Rhodes tenses, the air growing taut and heavy.
At least until I say, “No.”
Then his shoulders relax, the anger bleeds from the moment.
“Damn.” Shep smirks. “And I miss out.” A beat. “Again.” The last is said lightly, but there’s something distinctlynotamused in his tone that tells me there’s more to his story.
Before I can ask—which is probably for the best, considering the annoyance radiating from the man next to me—he saunters away.
Rhodes glance at me. “You okay?”
I shrug. “I’m fine.”
“Daddy?” Chloe says and one look at her is all it takes to see she’s hit the wall.
“It looks like you’re ready for bed, baby girl,” he says, scooping her up when she wanders over.
“I’m not”—a huge yawn—“tired.”
“No, of course not.” He smiles as he cuddles her close for a long moment then kisses the top of her head. “I’ll see you in a couple of days.”
She nods sleepily. “Yup.”
His gaze flicks to mine.
And it takes everything in me to not gasp.
