Building the Perfect Daddy (15 page)

Her sisters had encouraged her to have a fling—and she hadn't been looking for anything more than that. But Ryder tempted her to want more. A lot more. And though it was undoubtedly foolish to be falling for another man only weeks after her divorce was finalized, she couldn't deny that she was.

He stirred the pasta, peeked into the living room to make sure the kids were otherwise occupied, then tugged Lauryn out of sight to put his arms around her. “I've been thinking about kissing you all day.”

“I've been thinking about that, too—and all of the other fun things that go along with kissing,” she admitted.

He slid his hands up her back and slowly down again. “Does that mean I might get an invitation to stay late tonight?”

“You can stay as late as you want,” she promised.

* * *

Since Tristyn and Jordyn had been part of the introductory segment, Lauryn invited them back for the unveiling. Over the past five weeks, Kylie had become accustomed to the presence of Ryder's crew and the cameras, and so both children would be with her when she entered their new kitchen for the first time.

She'd watched countless episodes of
Ryder to the Rescue
since the project started and never failed to be impressed by the transformations effected by his crew. There was absolutely no reason to be nervous, but she couldn't deny that she was.

Ryder went through his usual introductory spiel before he turned to face Lauryn. “Are you ready for this?”

She nodded.

“Are you excited or apprehensive?” he asked.

“A little of both,” she admitted.

“Then let's not keep you in suspense any longer,” he said, gesturing for Stan to open the door.

“Oh.” Her eyes went wide and almost immediately filled with tears. “Wow.”

She stepped into the center of the room and slowly turned in a circle so that she could take in the view from all angles. “It doesn't even look like the same room.”

Ryder smiled. “Wasn't that the idea?”

“It was,” she agreed. “I just never expected anything like this.”

“You picked the white shaker-style cabinets, the charcoal granite countertops, glass-and-polished-stone-mosaic backsplash and graphite ceramic floor tiles, even the stainless steel hardware,” he reminded her.

There were also brand-new stainless steel appliances, including a countertop range, chimney-style range hood, double wall ovens, French door refrigerator and dishwasher.

“You've got the island you wanted, with lots of extra storage and pendant lights over the breakfast bar. The sink has been moved to the short wall, so you've got a lot more usable counter space. And instead of a single window looking into the backyard, you now have a whole wall of windows, which will let in tons of natural light and allow you to keep an eye on the kids when they're out there.”

“Everything is...perfect.”

“But there's one more little surprise,” Ryder said, opening the double doors of a pantry-style cupboard with pullout drawers.

Lauryn stepped closer, already loving the drawers that would make all of the space so much more accessible. Then she saw that the drawer was already stocked with baking supplies—different kinds of flours and sugars and more. The next drawer held baking trays, measuring cups and utensils—and her cookie cutters, neatly organized in clear stackable containers so that she could see what was inside.

The whole kitchen was amazing, but this cupboard showed her more clearly than anything else that Ryder really knew her. And despite the public unveiling, she understood that this was his personal gift to her.

“When you were packing up your old kitchen, you mentioned that you wished you had time to do more of the baking you used to enjoy. Unfortunately, we couldn't put more hours into your days, but we wanted to ensure that everything was available for you whenever you might find the time.”

Conscious of the cameras that were rolling, she blinked back the tears. “This is so much more than I ever expected,” she said. “I don't think there's any way that I could ever thank you and your crew enough.”

She heard a voice—she thought maybe it was Brody's—pipe up from the background. “You could start by baking us some cookies.”

Lauryn laughed as she wiped an errant tear from her cheek. “I'll be baking this weekend,” she promised.

While Ryder said a final few words for the benefit of his television viewers, she gestured for Tristyn and Jordyn to come in to check out the space.

After they'd opened all of the cupboards and drawers, her sisters flanked her by the island. “Does this mean we're forgiven?” Jordyn asked.

“You think I'm going to forget that you forged my signature on the application just because I have a fabulous new kitchen?”

“How about the fact that you have a fabulous new man?” Tristyn suggested.

“That's more likely,” she acknowledged.

“So...things are good between you and the hunky handyman?” Jordyn prompted.

She was helpless to prevent the smile that curved her lips. “Things are very good.”

Tristyn had started to say something else when her cell phone chimed. She pulled it out of her pocket, then cursed softly beneath her breath. “Shoot, I've gotta run—no sharing any details until Saturday.”

“What's Saturday?”

“Spa day,” Jordyn answered, because Tristyn had already gone.

“I can't make this Saturday,” Lauryn told her.

“Why not?” her sister demanded.

“Because Mom and Dad are going to Emerald Isle for the Goodens anniversary party, which means I don't have a babysitter.”

“Isn't there someone else you usually call if Mom's busy?” Jordyn asked.

“Yeah,” she admitted. “You.”

“Well, that won't work,” Jordyn said glumly. Then she brightened. “What about Ryder?”

Lauryn shook her head. “I'm not going to ask Ryder.”

“Why not? Kylie and Zachary love him.”

“Because Saturday is one of his rare days off and I'm not going to ask him to give it up to babysit my kids.”

“Then I'll ask him,” Jordyn said.

“Ask who what?” Ryder asked, coming over to join their conversation.

“No, you won't,” Lauryn said pointedly.

Jordyn sighed but kept her lips zipped.

Ryder's glance shifted from one to the other questioningly until Lauryn finally explained. “Tristyn scheduled a spa day for Saturday, but my parents are going to be out of town.”

“If you need someone to look after Kylie and Zachary, I'd be happy to,” he said.

Jordyn shot her a triumphant look.

“I'll be gone most of the afternoon,” she told him.

“And we might want to go for dinner after the spa,” Jordyn added.

“That's not a problem. But if you end up at Marg & Rita's—” he winked at Lauryn “—I'd suggest taking it easy on the tequila.”

Chapter Fifteen

A
fter the big reveal episode had finished taping, Ryder helped Lauryn move her dishes and cookware back into the kitchen. Of course, the unpacking took twice as long as the packing because Kylie was running around the kitchen with her arms outstretched, pretending to be an airplane circling the island. Of course, Zachary thought his sister's antics were the funniest thing ever, and as he watched her through the mesh screen of his playpen, his whole body shook with his giggles.

“I love to listen to his laugh,” Lauryn said to Ryder. “And to know, after wondering and worrying for so long, that they're both settled and happy now.”

He slid an arm across her shoulders and drew her close to his side. “It doesn't look like you have anything to worry about now.”

“Today has been a very good day,” she agreed. “Thanks to you and your crew.”

“While your words are appreciated, the guys are going to expect cookies when they come back on Monday,” he told her.

“Then I guess I'll have to bake some cookies this weekend.”

And she did. She found her favorite sugar cookie recipe and she spent Friday afternoon measuring and mixing and rolling and cutting. Of course, Kylie wanted to help, too, so she gave her daughter a portion of the dough and let her do her own thing. By the time Ryder showed up with pizza for dinner, she had six-dozen cookies in the shapes of hammers, saws and tape measures cooling on racks—and flour on every horizontal surface.

After they ate, they cleaned up the kitchen together. It didn't seem to matter to Ryder that she and Kylie had made the mess—he never hesitated to pitch in and help. Which gave her an idea...

“I was thinking about something we might do tonight, after the kids are in bed,” she told him, as she was loading their dinner plates into her sparkling new dishwasher.

He finished wiping down the island, then folded the cloth over the faucet. “What's that?”

“It's something you suggested a while back but that I've resisted until now,” she said.

“You have my complete and undivided attention,” he assured her.

“It could get messy and sweaty,” she warned, her tone deliberately provocative.

“Tell me more,” he urged.

She laughed softly. “You don't have any idea what I'm suggesting, do you?”

“No,” he admitted. “But I'm keeping an open mind.”

“I'm talking about stripping—”

“Yes,” he said, the word a heartfelt plea. “Please.”

“—wallpaper.”

“Oh.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “That's a disappointing response considering how many times you've mentioned that you hate the plaid in the bedroom.”

“Have I said a single word about it recently?” he asked.

“No,” she admitted.

“Because when I'm with you, I don't see the wallpaper,” he told her. “I don't see anything but you.”

Her heart did a slow roll inside her chest. “You're good at that.”

He put his arms around her. “At what?”

“Saying just the right thing so that I completely forget what we were talking about and just want to jump your bones.”

He grinned. “Go ahead and jump—I'll catch you.”

* * *

Ryder was happy to spend the day with Kylie and Zachary on Saturday, but he missed Lauryn. Somehow, in less than a week, he'd become accustomed to spending most of his free time with her. Regardless of whether they were hanging out with the kids or cuddling on the sofa together to watch television or snuggling naked in her bed, he was happy just to be with her.

He'd never before experienced the simple comfort of being with a woman without any particular plan or agenda—he'd never thought he wanted it. Until Lauryn. And although he was missing her, she deserved this time with her sisters, and he was glad—for a lot of reasons—that she'd taken it today.

When the kids were finally settled into their beds later that night, he had a whole new appreciation for what she did every day. Being a single parent was definitely not a job for the fainthearted.

He was picking up Barbie clothes and Candy Land pieces when he heard her key in the lock.

“Hey, you,” he said, meeting Lauryn at the door.

“Hi,” she responded in a whisper that matched his. “Where are the kids?”

“Sleeping.”

She glanced at the watch on her wrist. “I didn't realize it had gotten so late.”

“It's not all that late—just past their bedtime.”

“Did they settle down without any trouble?” she asked.

“Without any trouble,” he confirmed. “Although I have to confess—I wavered on the one-bedtime-story rule.”

“How many did you read?”

“Three,” he admitted.

Lauryn shook her head, but she was smiling. “Pushover.”

He didn't deny it. “Did you have a good day?”

“I did,” she confirmed. “Maybe the most surprising part is that I didn't worry about Kylie and Zachary at all. I thought about them, of course, and about you. But the whole time I was gone, I didn't worry because I knew you were taking care of them.”

“I'm glad,” he said sincerely.

“So what did you do with your day?”

“We went to the park, played twenty-three games of Candy Land, watched some princess movie and made peanut butter cookies.”

“
You
made cookies with the kids?”

“With Kylie,” he said. “Zachary was napping.”

“What did you have for dinner?”

“Peanut butter cookies.”

She looked so appalled he couldn't help but chuckle. “I'm kidding. We had chicken fingers and French fries with carrot and celery sticks, then peanut butter cookies for dessert. There are some left in the kitchen, if you want to try them.”

“Maybe later,” she said, sliding her palms up his chest. “Right now, I want to take you upstairs to my bed.”

Her touch had an immediate and predictable effect on his body, but he tried to focus on their conversation while he still had some blood in his head. “And right now I really want to be taken upstairs,” he agreed. “But there's something I need to tell you first.”

She brushed her lips against his. “I'm listening.”

“You had an unexpected visitor today.”

“I'm not interested in anyone but you right now,” she promised, starting to unfasten the buttons on his shirt.

He really didn't want to distract her from what she was doing, but he knew she needed to hear this. “Not even your ex-husband?”

“What?” Lauryn dropped her hands and took a step back, her playful mood gone. “Why would you bring him up now?”

“Because he was here,” Ryder said.

She shook her head, refusing to believe it. “He's in California.”

“No, he's not,” he said. “He showed up at your front door today, around three o'clock, grumbling about his key not working and demanding to know where you were.”

“Are you sure it was Rob?” she asked, clearly hoping that he'd made a mistake.

“How many other men are there who would claim to be your husband?”

“
Ex
-husband,” she said, firmly emphasizing the “ex.”

But he could tell the news was finally starting to sink in, because she moved into the living room and lowered herself onto the arm of the sofa.

She looked up at him, the earlier sparkle in her eyes replaced by wariness. “He was really here?”

He nodded.

“But...why?”

“I don't know,” he told her. “He didn't share his reasons with me.”

She folded her arms over her chest, an instinctive and protective gesture. “Did Kylie see him?”

He shook his head. “No. She was in the kitchen, up to her elbows in peanut butter cookie dough, and I didn't let him past the front door.”

She breathed out a weary sigh. “Thank you for that. I don't know what it would do to Kylie to see her father now, just when she's finally gotten used to him being gone.”

He was more concerned about what it would do to Lauryn to see her ex-husband again. Yes, they were divorced, but he suspected that a piece of paper hadn't magically erased the feelings she'd had for the man she'd married—and the father of her children. And while he wasn't generally insecure, he couldn't deny that their shared history made him a little uneasy.

“If he's come back to see them, I don't know that you're going to be able to keep him away,” Ryder warned gently.

“He left without even saying goodbye to Kylie,” she reminded him. “He left before Zachary was even born.”

“He's still their father.”

She nodded, unable to deny that basic truth. “Was he a jerk to you?”

“Not really,” he said. “He referred to me as the babysitter, but I don't think he meant to be deliberately insulting.”

“I'm sorry,” she said.

“Why are
you
apologizing?”

“Because I don't know what else to say—what to think,” she admitted. “When he signed the separation agreement, I assumed that was it, that we were done forever and I wouldn't ever have to see him again. I certainly never expected that he would just show up at the door, and when I asked you to stay with the kids today, I didn't anticipate that you'd have to deal with him.”

“Maybe you should call your cousin, the lawyer,” Ryder suggested.

“I had a local attorney, Shelly Watts, handle the divorce for me,” she told him. “Not that there was much to handle, but she drafted the terms of our separation agreement, he signed it, and the judge granted the divorce.”

“Then you should call her.”

“Now?”

He glanced at the clock. “Probably not now. Assuming your attorney has a life outside of the law, she might not want to be interrupted at nine thirty on a Saturday night. But definitely in the morning—to let her know what's going on.”

“How can I tell her what's going on when I don't have a clue? For all I know, he came back for the leather jacket he left in the back of his closet.”

“Maybe,” he acknowledged. “But he introduced himself as your husband, not your ex-husband.”

“So?”

“So...” He hesitated, reluctant to even speak the thought aloud. But he knew that, as unpalatable as it was to him, she needed to consider the possibility—and so did he. “Maybe he came back because he wants
you
back.”

She pushed herself up from the sofa and headed toward the stairs. Ryder followed her up to the landing, watching from the doorway of Kylie's room as she tiptoed across the floor to check on her daughter, pulling up her covers and bending to touch her lips to the little girl's cheek. Then she crossed the hall to Zachary's room and followed the same routine with him.

“I called Rob after Zachary was born,” she told Ryder now, her voice barely more than a whisper. “No one knows about that—not even my sisters.”

“I don't think they'd be surprised to hear that you reached out to your husband to let him know that you'd given birth to his child.”

“Maybe not,” she acknowledged. “But it was more than that. I asked him to come home—no, I practically
begged
him to come home, to give us another chance to be a family.”

He looked at the beautiful, strong, stubborn woman in front of him and his heart sank as he realized there could only be one reason she would do something like that. “You were still in love with him.”

And if she was then, maybe she was now.

But Lauryn shook her head. “I didn't still love him. I didn't even
like
him very much at that point. But I looked at my baby and I felt that I owed it to him to try to give him a real family.”

“Do you think that's why he's back?” And if it was, would she be willing to give her ex-husband that second chance now?

She shook her head again. “Rob's never cared about anyone but Rob, and I don't care where he goes or what he does,” she insisted, though the tears that shone in her eyes suggested otherwise. “But this is so unfair to the children. Zachary is such a happy baby, and Kylie hasn't had a panic attack in weeks. And now...just seeing him could turn her whole world upside down again.”

“What about your world?” Ryder asked.

“My children are my world,” she reminded him.

“And me?” he wondered. “What am I?”

She was quiet for a minute, as if considering her response. “You're my ‘one day at a time,'” she finally said, referring back to the conversation they'd had the first night they were together.

And that was all he'd wanted to be then—or so he'd believed. But now... “What if I want to be more than that?”

She closed her eyes. “Please don't do this. Not now.”

He wanted to press her for an answer, but she was right. This wasn't the time. She needed to focus on her children and what her ex-husband's return would mean to them. They would have plenty of time to figure out their own relationship later—he hoped.

“Okay,” he relented. “Tell me what you want me to do.”

She looked up at him, those beautiful gray-green eyes filled with desperation. “I want you to take me to bed and let me pretend that we never had this conversation,” she said, lifting her sweater over her head and tossing it aside, revealing a silky purple demi-cup bra and lots of tantalizing skin. “Help me forget about everything but the way I feel when I'm with you.”

It wasn't much, but if it was the only thing he could do for her, he would give it his very best effort.

* * *

Lauryn didn't know what time Ryder left, she only knew that when she woke up in the early hours of the morning, he was gone. Her bed always seemed so much bigger and emptier without him, but this morning—with the specter of her ex-husband's return in the forefront of her mind—she felt even more alone.