“Yes!” Savannah wiggled in happiness.
Ben took up residence in a leather chair in the corner. He declined the girls’ offer to paint his toenails and retrieved his laptop. Quin would be happy if he answered a few emails. As he worked, his eyes strayed to Avery and the girls on the bed. Avery had laid a towel over the bottom of the bed, and the girls lined their toes up so she could paint alternating colors across all thirty nails. They wiggled and laughed and talked about their teachers and what school uniforms should really look like. Apparently, plaid was out.
Avery was one of the girls, in her element, where he was a fish out of water.
That was something to consider much slower and with much more attention. He needed to know if he was ready to make room in his life for someone new. Not someone—Avery. She’d grabbed his interest and surprised him over and over again in the best ways. Bringing these girls over had been an answer to his prayer. Now he and Savannah wouldn’t dread the new school week.
Before he went and lost his head—and his heart—for this woman, he had to think this through—he couldn’t just jump. Because Savannah would fall in love with Avery too, and then her heart would be on the line. She was much too young to be handed the kind of pain that came when someone you loved walked away—especially from her father. He refused.
What they needed was more time together. He dove back into his laptop, intent on creating the perfect opportunity for them to connect. There was one place he could take Avery and Landon, but he’d have to get Savannah’s permission first. This was their special place, and they didn’t share it outside of their family circle. The fact that he wanted to take Avery there showed that she meant more to him than he dared admit.
Chapter Fifteen
Avery
Avery stepped carefully off the luxury cruise bus. Her legs were sore in places that should never be sore. She ran several miles almost every day, and yet a hike made her walk like an eighty-year-old woman. She’d be fine after a nice long soak in the tub with one of the leftover packets of Epsom salts from the ladies’ night. The girls were so cute. She’d never let herself think about what it would be like to have a daughter, but now she knew she was missing out. Oh sure, the hormones would kick in any minute and there would be drama spilt like blood on a battlefield, but she’d take it. She’d take all of it in a heartbeat.
Which scared the heck out of her.
She could so easily see herself stepping in as Savannah’s mother figure. She had to continually remind herself that Savannah had a mom. It wasn’t her place. But the girl made it so easy, turning to her in those moments when she needed a boost of confidence or pointing to her smile to show Avery she was practicing her friend-making technique. It was all too easy.
And then there was Ben. Glorious, gorgeous, kiss-stealing Ben.
He was like icing on the cake. Thick, chocolaty frosting. The kind you want to scoop off with your finger and lick away. If someone had told her she’d drool over the guy who showed up 21 minutes late to their first date, she’d laugh in their face. And yet, she could hardly keep her eyes to herself as Ben and Savannah walked down the bus steps.
He caught her looking, and she blushed, turning away. Porters unloaded the luggage from the compartments under the buses. Drivers snagged the pieces that belonged to their employers and loaded them into the trucks of waiting cars. The whole process worked like a ballet with each performer doing their part. Some of the drivers even wore uniforms.
The children had gathered samples from nature for their science class. Instead of memorizing pictures of the plants, they’d brought them home, pressed between wax paper. The journals were leather-bound works of art. Avery planned to display Landon’s on the coffee table in the front room, where she could see it every day and remember this extraordinary adventure. It would also be a talisman of Awesome Mom, reminding her to cage Mother Bear every once in a while.
Followed closely by all those memories would be the memories of Ben. His hands were large and they’d tickled her arm with their touch, electrifying her entire body in the process.
The students and chaperones mingled, saying goodbyes. Since it was a four-day weekend, they had Monday to recuperate before they had to go back to school. Her job was the best. She didn’t have to rush off to work Monday morning. She arched her back to stretch out the muscles.
Ben sidled up to her, the heat from his skin searing into her body and making her feel melty and delicious. She almost welcomed the time away from him. Surely, distance would allow her to meticulously dissect the weekend and figure out exactly how he managed to make her stomach do flip-flops with his crooked smile.
“What do you guys have planned for tomorrow?”
Avery did her best to appear unaffected by his proximity. She flipped her hair off her forehead. “The laundry is calling my name.”
Landon rolled his eyes.
Ben ran his hand through his hair and shifted his weight. “We were, uh, wondering if you wanted to go on an outing with us tomorrow.”
Savannah smiled up at Avery with that look, the one that had so much hope twisted up with a need for acceptance. Goodness, if the yummy man wasn’t enough to tempt her, that look would pull her right in.
Avery rubbed her lips together, hesitating. She’d already blown her food budget on feeding half the fifth-grade boys junk food over the weekend. Not to mention there was the wholegetting away from him so she could return to normalbenefit she’d looked forward to.
“Our treat,” Ben added.
Avery’s neck warmed. That’s all she needed, was to be Ben’s charity case.
“Mom,” Landon practically barked at her when she didn’t answer right away. “Can we go?”
Avery gave him her best mom stare. The one that said if he used that tone with her again, he’d be scrubbing out the recycle bins with a toothbrush. Even as she leveled him with the stink eye, she was trying to come up with the last time she’d taken him out on the town. It’d been over winter break. “Let’s do it.”
Ben’s posture relaxed, and she realized he’d been nervous to ask them, which made her all the more curious about where they were going. Savannah and Landon fist-bumped. The parking lot was almost empty, and Ben’s driver stood by the back door of a limo, waiting patiently. Avery’s used Toyota was parked in her designated spot. Water spots dotted the paint, indicating that it had rained while they were away.
Ben stepped backward. “We’ll text you the info.”
