Page 13 of Trial By Fire
The air huffs out of me at the smile the doctor flashes me before he makes his way out of the room. I see Madi smirking at me from where she remains in the doorway, sliding googly eyes at the handsome doctor when he walks by.
Dani rushes toward me and wraps her little arms around my legs.
"I can't wait for you to live with us! This'll be fun!"
I smile at the little girl and quickly hug her back, reveling in the embrace more than I probably should. But hey, humans need so many hugs a day to be happy, right? Something about dopamine levels? Well, here's one of mine, and I'm not rejecting it.
"I need a new doc," Kace mutters.
"You're just mad because he was obviously into Lindsey," Madi says. "He's super cute, too. Are you going to call the number and pretend to have questions? If not, I will."
"He's too old for you!" I'm appalled by the thought.
Kace growls again— It really was him earlier.
"And you can't date," he says to Madi.
"What? Why not? I'm almost eighteen."
"You're sixteen, and you're still settling in."
"Like that makes a difference?" Madi asks.
Kace looks ready to self-combust, so I bring us back to the topic at hand. "Um, so, me moving in. Are you sure you're okay with it? I didn't exactly give you a chance to protest."
Kace continues to give his niece a quelling stare I find both humorous and endearing. His protective instincts are showing, and it's sweet. And…more than a little appealing, too.
I stomp that thought immediately. Preggo, hello, I remind myself. Men? They are unavailable for the foreseeable future. Kace included. Kace especially. Want to screw up your new job arrangement? Find your employer attractive.
Been there, done that, I muse. I've learned from my mistakes.
"If I want to go home, I apparently have to have a babysitter."
His gaze narrows on me, and I see— No, I do not see what I think I'm seeing. I mean, I feel like all I've done around the man is hurl and sleep with a few hours thrown in there where I looked somewhat decent, but they probably weren't enough, you know?
"You are prettier than Sully," he murmurs.
I laugh outright then because Jack Sullivan is quite the handsome man. Not that Kace doesn't measure up. Apparently Gabe expects a lot of his firefighters, and all of them are in peak physical condition, which only adds to their appeal. But Sully? He's the guy on the front of a firefighter's calendar because he's that yummy.
"Yay!" Dani cries, hugging my legs again.
I smile down at the adorable little girl and wink at her.
I'm doing this. I'm a live-in caretaker. For the time being anyway. Just long enough to help Kace and myself get on our feet.
This buys me a few weeks to sort out my life.
I can totally do this.
I look up and find Kace watching my interaction with his daughter. Our eyes lock, and I feel those darn goose bumps again. Sort of like a surge of electricity shooting through me from a single flash of lightning.
But the thing is? I've felt that before. With him. The baby-daddy-that-doesn't-wanna-be. The liar and cheater and louse.
I'd survived one man who made sparks seem like love. I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice—even if Kace McCallum made it dangerously easy to forget that.
Chapter
Six
