“I do,” he said. “Look, I know you’re not ready to date, but when you get ready to get back out there, Ethan and I will watch Zoi for you. Hell, you don’t need to ask, you just drop her off and be on your way.”
The elevator door opened, and Lucas got on it. “That won’t be for a very long time.” He was happy that before Tyler could say anything the elevator door closed.
Lucas sagged against the walls of the elevator waiting for it to get to the ground floor. Speaking with Tyler made him realize that he was going to need to have a conversation with the adults in his family, it shouldn’t be up to his brother to set them straight. Maybe he and Zoi needed to go on a vacation, get away for a bit. The last time he went anywhere was on his honeymoon.
He loved his family and didn’t want to blow up on them, especially, his mom. It would be one thing if the women his mother was setting him up with were remotely interesting to him or that he’d feel any kind of attraction for them. Lucas remembered when he and Rebecca met, he’d tried his damnedest to fight what he was feeling for her by going out with other women. But no matter what he did he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Lucas didn’t think he was ever going to find someone who would fill his thoughts the way Rebecca did.
* * *
This was a bad idea.
Lucas wished someone would have warned him before he came up with the idea. Tyler and Ethan had dropped Raynebow off, and Lucas had the crazy idea to take the girls out for pizza instead of cooking or order takeout. Two months into his Friday night babysitting gig, Lucas didn’t feel like staying home which had prompted the idea to take the girls out to dinner. Zoi wasn’t giving Raynebow a moment's peace as she tried to enjoy her meal. He could also tell that Raynebow was trying to be patient with her baby cousin. It was almost endearing. Zoi insisted on being close to her cousin, who loved taking care of her in turn.
He shook his head looking at his daughter who had pizza sauce not just all over herself but on her cousin as well. Lucas seriously had no idea how it happened when he’d cut the pizza into bite-size pieces for his daughter. He’d read a few months earlier that it was fine for her to have it, but they forgot to mention how messy things could get. Considering he had instructed the server to put as little cheese and sauce on her pizza as possible.
“What am I going to do with you?” he asked his daughter who gave him the cutest smile ever as he reached over and picked her up from the high chair and started cleaning her up. “You’re such a messy monster.” He looked at his niece. “I’m sorry, Rayne,” he apologized to her.
“It’s okay, Uncle Lucas, Zoi is still a baby and was just trying to share her food with me. Dad says I used to do the same thing when I was her age.”
“Is that what you think,” Lucas said with a chuckle.
“Well, it looks like you have your work cut out for you.” The deep baritone voice caused Lucas to look up.
A bright smile graced Lucas' lips. “Tucker.” He threw the napkin down and stood with Zoi in his arms and extending a hand for his friend to shake. “What the hell are you doing in my neck of the woods?”
Tucker smiled and shook his hand. “I’m here to set up a tactical training for my team with the New York branch. How have you been?”
Their hands separated. “I’ve been better,” Lucas told him with a one-arm shoulder shrug. “How about yourself?”
“Same,” Tucker answered, just as the hostess stopped next to him.
“Sir, your table is this way,” she said to him.
“You can join us if you want, unless you’re here with someone else.”
“No, I’m here by myself,” Tucker said to him then looked at Zoi and then Raynebow. “I can tell someone is having fun.”
Lucas chuckled. “Yeah, you're right. Zoi decided to . . . well, I’m not quite sure what she was doing.”
He sat back down and positioned his daughter so that she was sitting comfortably on his lap. He moved over a bit, giving Tucker enough room in the U-shaped booth. The man was built like a fucking linebacker. Tucker looked at the hostess who was still standing there and told her that he was going to sit with them and ordered a beer and a large cheese pie.
“Hello, beautiful Raynebow,” Tucker greeted Lucas’ niece, making her smile.
“Hello, Mister Stevens.”
“I’ve told you before, Rayne, call me Tucker or Tuck, none of that mister stuff.”
“Okay,” she giggled and then looked at Lucas. “Uncle Luc, can I get some ice cream?”
“Sure, and bring a small bowl for Zoi as well,” he instructed.
“Are you sure?” Raynebow asked looking at a very messy Zoi who was more interested in the sauce and cheese slipping through her fingers than what everyone else was doing.
“On second thought, forget it. She made enough mess for the night,” Lucas told her. She nodded and ran off leaving him and Tucker semi-alone.
“So, tell me what’s going on with you?” Tucker asked him. “It’s been a while since we saw each other.”
The last time they’d seen each other was a few months ago at one of Nicholas’ soccer games. Tucker had become an extended family member, along with some of Jaxson and Brenden’s friends. The man was hard to pin down, he was constantly working and had no social life.
