Unexpected Love (Timid Souls Book 3) (5 page)

“Uh-huh, it’s
almost
nine,” Bea said as we all settled into our spots on the couch. “Which means I’ve got time to ask how things are goin’ with your new sex toy.”

Gwen choked on her wine and spun around to face me. “
What?
What sex toy? Who? How’d you meet him?”

I glared daggers at Bea but she just smiled that deceptively sweet smile that she had perfected over the years. “I can answer that,” she announced. Gwen looked over her shoulder at her, waiting. “Gabe Wexler.”

Gwen whipped back around with wide eyes. “Oh my God! He finally asked you out?”

I cringed. “Not exactly.”

“They screwed on the bathroom counter,” Bea offered.

I bit my lip and debated on revealing this piece of information but decided I wasn’t ashamed of it so it couldn’t hurt. “Actually, this time it was the dining room table.”

Gwen’s eyes lit up mischievously. “Felicity Paxton! Look at you!”

“It’s always the quiet ones,” Bea murmured into her wine glass.

“He and I are not makin’ a big deal out of it right now, so I’d appreciate it if we didn’t either. Alright?”

Gwen nodded and Bea held her hands up in surrender. Gwen’s face then morphed into one of concern. “But don’t you like him? Like, actually have feelings for him?”

I shrugged and kept my attention on the pillow in my lap instead of on their faces. “Doesn’t matter. I’m fine with the situation the way it is.”

Bea snorted. “Sure you are,” she said under her breath and I shot her another look.

“I’m not talkin’ about this right now,” I told them firmly. “We’re here to watch the show.”

“Agreed,” Gwen chimed in. “The only man we’re going to talk about for the next hour is Sam, The Hottie Scottie, Heughan.”

“Yeah, because that’ll help suppress Felicity’s overactive sex drive.”

My sister really just didn’t know when to shut her mouth.

##

Gabe

Should I ask her out on a date?

It was the one and only question that had been on my mind these past several days. I had told Felicity I couldn’t promise her anything and I’d meant it, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to spend time with her. And not just time having sex, although I would never be opposed to that. I just wanted to be around the woman, talk to her. I had always enjoyed her company.

I just wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do. If I couldn’t guarantee that I would call her, or take her out on a second date, or have one hundred percent of my attention devoted to her. If I couldn’t do any of those things, I didn’t know if it was fair of me to ask her out and lead her on like that.

Maybe we should just stick to the having fun thing she suggested.

It wasn’t as if that were any kind of hardship. But I also couldn’t deny that I had been thinking a lot about having more with her, wanting more than just that physical intimacy.

I wanted companionship, a partnership. I wanted someone I could talk to, rely on. Someone I could trust and someone who made me smile and made the bad days better with a simple hug. Was it wrong of me to want that? I had been struggling to come up with a good answer for days.

At two o’clock my cell phone rang and I was so distracted that I barely glanced at the caller ID. “Gabe Wexler.”

“I need you to pick up Penny today,” Vanessa’s smoker voice said through the line. “My agent scheduled a meeting for me tonight that I can’t miss.”

I looked down at my wristwatch and grunted in frustration. “Well, I’ve got a meeting too, Vanessa. I’m meeting with my biggest client in half an hour and I can’t cancel it.”

She scoffed, like my job was in no way as important as hers, even though it had certainly kept her anorexic ass in the lap of luxury for years. “This could mean a job in New York Fashion Week if I make the right impression. It’s important.”

“More important than taking care of your daughter?” My patience for her flakiness was really wearing thin.

“Don’t give me that shit,” she gritted out. “You can’t complain about taking her when you’re fighting me in court on this very issue.”

I breathed deeply through my nose. “If I’d known about this ahead of time, I could have arranged for a babysitter. And you’re only strengthening my case when you pull shit like this.”

“Kiss my ass,” she said and hung up. I don’t think we had actually said “goodbye” to each other over the phone since we divorced.

Great.

Now I had to find someone to watch Penny. I couldn’t bring her to the office because this meeting with my client could run late and Penny didn’t have any of her toys or anything here to keep her occupied. Plus, it probably wouldn’t be very professional to have her here.

First, I tried the elderly woman who lived across the hall from me in my apartment building. She watched Penny every now and then when situations like this arose. The phone rang and rang and I finally hung up when the answering machine picked up. I looked at the calendar and remembered that she had told me she was going to be out of town visiting her sister all week.

Cross her off the list.

Next, I tried the seventeen-year-old daughter of one of my clients who had also watched Penny in the past. And wouldn’t you know it? She had gone to the lake this weekend with her friends, so she couldn’t watch her. I would have tried the after-school program at Penny’s school, but she had to be enrolled for that and she wasn’t.

I could usually rearrange my schedule whenever Vanessa decided to this, so I had never been in real need of a regular babysitter. I was essentially a financial consultant after all. I was in demand and companies wanted to hire me to run their analyses, so I could often set my own schedule.

But this meeting today wasn’t something I could just blow off. I couldn’t afford to piss off my biggest client.

There was only one other person I could think of whom I could trust with my daughter’s well-being. She picked up on the second ring.

“Hi, Gabe,” Felicity said, sounding surprised. I guess I couldn’t blame her. I hadn’t called her since that first time we had sex in the bathroom. “How’s it goin’?”

Hearing her sweet southern voice made me momentarily forget my entire reason for calling. “Um, good.” I mentally shook my head and recalled my current problem. “Actually, not so great. I sort of have a big favor to ask you.”

“Okay,” she said self-assuredly but with a hint of caution.

I sighed. “My ex was supposed to pick Penny up from school today and keep her for the weekend, but she just called and bailed on me again. I’ve tried every babysitter I know and nobody’s available.” I hesitated for a minute, not sure how this request could affect our relationship. “Would you by any chance be able to pick her up for me and just watch her for a little bit until I get out of a meeting? It would only be for a couple of hours at most.”

I may have hesitated in my question, but Felicity didn’t hesitate for even a second with her answer. “Of course. I don’t mind at all. There isn’t anything goin’ on today that I can’t move around.”

I blew out the breath I had been holding. “Oh, wow, thank you. This really helps me out a lot.”

She chuckled, the sound easing the tension in my shoulders. “It’s no problem at all.”

“She can have a snack around three-thirty, just nothing too heavy,” I explained. “And she probably has some coloring books in her backpack that she could play with until I get out of here, so she shouldn’t bother you.”

“She’s not goin’ to bother me, Gabe,” she chided softly. “Penny and I always have fun together. I think she sees me as more of a friend than an adult because I’m closer to her size.”

I laughed. Penny did really seem to like Felicity. Anytime I had gone to her office or the new house to discuss plans and I’d had Penny with me, Felicity had been able to make a game out of everything to keep my daughter entertained. Afterwards, Penny would always talk about wanting to see the “pretty blonde lady” again for an entire week before her mind became preoccupied with something else.

“What school is she at again?” she asked.

I told her the name and address and what time Penny would get out. I knew that I was going to have to call the school to give permission for Penny to be picked up by someone other than Vanessa or myself.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I asked. “I wouldn’t ask if I really didn’t need the help.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said and somehow I could just tell that she was smiling. “I honestly don’t mind. We’ll be fine.”

My admiration for the woman grew. “Thanks so much again, Felicity.”

“Anytime.”

##

Three hours later, I was rubbing my neck, trying to ease the knots out of it after one hell of a stressful day. Even though I had known Penny was in good hands, I still worried over whether or not I had overstepped any boundaries with Felicity. I mean, she was my interior designer, not a babysitter. It probably hadn’t been proper of me to ask her to watch my daughter.

Then again, I’d also had sex with the woman twice so maybe it wasn’t so odd.

I pulled up and parked in front of their brick townhouse, which Felicity had texted me the address to earlier. I knew that she and Bea lived there together and from what I was seeing from the outside, they didn’t seem to be hurting for business. I respected Felicity even more for her success as an entrepreneur. It showed drive and motivation and those were some of the best qualities in a person, in my opinion.

I rang the doorbell and waited for about ten seconds before I heard light footsteps heading my way. Felicity herself opened the door in a
whoosh
of sweet perfume, mixed with the smell of chocolate chip cookies. I could hear little girl giggles coming from one of the other rooms as I took in the woman before me.

The five-inch stiletto heels and flared, pin-up style dress weren’t her usual style, but I was definitely appreciating the look. She wore both the shoes and dress equally well.

“Am I interrupting something?” I asked with a smirk.

She blushed a scarlet red, which I found cute as hell. “We were playin’ dress up.” She looked down at her outfit. “I guess we got carried away.”

I raised an eyebrow as I once again surveyed her attire. “I’m not complaining.” Her head snapped up at me with a shocked expression that quickly transformed to interest and gratitude. “Should I even ask what my daughter is wearing?”

She laughed and waved me through the door. “Don’t worry. The tattoo isn’t permanent.”

“You’re not instilling me with a lot of confidence.” Just the thought of my little Penny ever being old enough to actually get a tattoo caused a sharp pain to pierce my chest.

“Daddy!” A little bundle of black hair and silver sequins came running at me from the other room.

I picked her up and held her out slightly, assessing what I was going to have to deal with and probably wash off later. Didn’t look too bad—some pink lipstick and a little blush. I was immediately thankful to Felicity for not going all out because I knew my daughter could be pretty persistent when she wanted something.

“Hey, Peanut. What did you do today?”

“We played dress up!” she said, holding out the ten-sizes-too-big sequined dress she had on over her school clothes. She pointed to Felicity. “And Felicity and Bea put makeup on me!”

“It’s pretty sad when a six-year-old can wear your clothes, Sis,” Bea said as she walked into the room. Felicity smacked her arm and I stifled my laugh in Penny’s hair.

I nodded over at the brunette. “Nice to see you again, Bea.”

She returned my smile, hers looking a bit speculative and it made me wonder if she knew about my relationship with her sister. “Likewise,” she replied.

“And we got our nails done too, Daddy!” Penny said excitedly. “Look!” She held her hand out to me and I noticed the color was baby blue, her favorite. If I had been a woman, I probably would have cried with the amount of emotions Penny’s reaction imbued me with. Still, I lost another part of my soul to my little girl right then.

I looked over at Felicity and she too held out her hand for my inspection. “She said we had to match,” she added, glancing at my daughter with a loving smile. I couldn’t help but notice the color matched her eyes almost perfectly.

I also couldn’t help but notice how happy Penny seemed to be. She hadn’t smiled this much at one time since…hell, I couldn’t even remember when. She had fun with me when we were home and we played games, but I knew that I was still a boy and she could only have so much fun with me. She needed more girls in her life.

An afternoon with the Paxton sisters seemed to do her a lot of good.

And that was when I let all of my reservations about my changing relationship with Felicity go. I was a grown man and if I wanted to ask a woman out, I could damn well do it.

“Well, we better get you home and get some dinner in you, Peanut,” I said as I turned for the door. “Thank you both again so much. You have no idea how much this helped me out.”

“Don’t thank me,” Bea said and pointed at Felicity. “That was all her. I didn’t even get invited to mani-pedis. All I did was provide the runway show.”

I thanked her again anyway as Penny said goodbye to Bea and I headed outside to my car, Felicity on my heels. After getting Penny strapped in and she waved her goodbyes to Felicity, I turned back to the woman who was starting to occupy every corner of my mind, except for the ones filled by Penny.

I opened my mouth to speak but Felicity put her hand up and stopped me. “You don’t have to keep thankin’ me, Gabe. I’m just glad she had fun.”

My face softened. “It’s more than just you watching her that I’m grateful for.” I looked back at my daughter who was examining her newly-painted nails with a huge grin on her face. “She needed time like that with a woman. She enjoyed it probably more than you know.” I turned back to Felicity. “It means a lot to both of us.”

She sucked in a slow, deep breath as if she were having trouble pushing the air in and out. “Then, I’m happy I could help.”

I shook my head slowly at her, narrowing my eyes as I felt my need for her build. “You have no idea.”

She bit her lip and started to turn around to head back inside. “You can call anytime you need me to watch her.”

Before she could take another step away from me I asked, “Would you like to go to dinner with me?”

Her sexy as hell heels stopped in their tracks.

And she smiled at me.

I gave her body one more long, heated look. “And maybe wear something similar to that.”

##