We settled at my kitchen table and dug into the food. I poured us all some soda and grabbed Lanie her sippy cup. Amanda hummed with every bite of the food she took, and I had to take deep breaths just to keep my cock at bay.
“This chili is delicious,” she said. “I can’t cook anything like this.”
“It’s easy,” I said. “Throw some stuff into a pot and let it simmer.”
“Yeah, you say that until I tell you I once burned an egg trying to hard boil it.”
I raised my head and looked at her. “So no one ever taught you how to cook?”
I watched a curtain of sadness drape over her features before she drew in a short breath.
She ignored my question when she finally spoke. “This chili’s really good. If you haven’t written down the recipe, you should. Someone somewhere will want it from you someday.”
I watched her lips curl over the spoon, and I shifted in my seat. Fuck, this woman dripped with sexual energy. The curves of her body and the slope of her waist. The way her jet-black hair cascaded down her long porcelain neck. The marks I could paint on her skin would leave a game of connect-the-dots that spanned her entire fucking body if she gave me one night with her.
What the hell had gotten into me? My niece was sitting right here, and I was all I could do to keep my dick from breaking my zipper.
A phone rang in the room, and I welcomed the distraction. I left the table to answer it and saw her eyes trail after me. I could see her reflection in the window as I picked up the phone, her eyes darting around my features before sneaking down to my ass.
My pelvis heated at the fact that she was studying me like I was trying not to study her.
“Hello?”
“Brian, it’s me.”
“Hey, Luther,” I said to my lawyer.
“Listen, I’ve got an issue that’s arisen,” he said.
My jaw clenched. “What’s up?”
“Lanie’s father has lawyered up. He’s taking you to court for custody”
I looked over at the kitchen table and saw Amanda playing with Lanie. Lanie was gigglin
g, and Amanda was tickling her feet. My eyes settled onto the scene and took it all in before I stepped out of the room, padding down the hallway with the phone still by my ear.
“What the hell?” I asked.
“Yes. Custody or money, that’s what he’s seeking.”
“So he doesn’t want Lanie. He wants to drain me of money,” I said.
“Right now, he has a compelling argument. He’s the girl’s biological father. The courts like to keep parents and children together whenever they can.”
“Biology doesn’t mean shit here Luther. That deadbeat asshole never gave a shit about Lanie before now. He knows I have money, that’s what this is all about.”
“I know that and you know that, but he’s laying it on pretty thick right now. His idiot lawyer actually thinks he gives a damn.”
Clenching my phone, I turned back toward Amanda and Lanie. The giggles falling from her lips were no match for the brightness that had arisen in Amanda’s eyes. She was playing with the little girl and laughing right along with her, and I could see a flush rising in her cheeks. It painted her skin in a healthy hue that drew me right in. That begged for my fingertips to run lightly across the color. I hadn’t been this attracted to a woman in a long time, and I had shrugged off the idea of women altogether once Lanie had come to live with me.
“You could give him the money he’s asking for,” Luther said.
“How much is he asking?”
“Four million dollars.”
“Four million dollars. Is he nuts?”