“That’s the plan. Hopefully Harper is going to be a big part of that turnaround. This isn’t exactly a location I would acquire for Stay Inn, so there are some new challenges I haven’t faced yet. We need to make people want to come here. That’s what I’m hoping Harper’s cooking will do.”
“Right,” Lin said. “Once you got a taste of Harper’s delicious buns, you just had to hire her.”
Harper choked on something and put a hand to her throat, then tried to cover it up with a smile. She glared daggers at Lin when she thought I wasn’t looking.
“For someone so young, Harper is amazingly talented,” I said.
“Yeah,” Lin said. “She is very young, isn’t she? Is that an asset, in your eyes?”
“Well,” Harper said suddenly. “We’ve got game night soon, don’t we? I should go get those ponies and get changed. Come on, guys.” She gave Lin’s arm a little tug when her friend made no sign of getting up. I could imagine why she didn’t want to leave that one alone with me. Lin was trouble, but amusing.
“Can I finish your ice cream?” Molly asked.
“If it’s okay with your daddy. Your dad, I mean.”
“It’s okay,” Molly said. “You can call him daddy, too. He likes that. Billy tried to call him father once and daddy did not like that. He said it made him feel like a geezer. I don’t know what a geezer is, but I think it must be something bad.”
Lin and Farrah were grinning from ear to ear. “Yeah, Harper. You hear that? He likes it if you call him daddy.”
“Greyson is fine,” I said tightly. “And you can give her the ice cream.”
Harper mouthed “sorry” to me, handed the ice cream to Molly, and then practically ran away.
“Mmm,” Molly said. She had an ice cream cone in each fist and looked like she was in heaven.
“Dad?” Billy said.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Miss Harper is really nice. Does mom know she’s coming over tonight?”
“No,” I said slowly. “But your mom doesn’t need to know Miss Harper is coming to play games with us. It’s just because you two like her so much. I thought it would be fun for you.”
“Hmm,” Billy said.
“If you marry Miss Harper, would we start calling her mommy?” Molly giggled. “That’d be silly to have two mommies. Wouldn’t it?”
“Okay,” I said suddenly. I got up and tossed what was left of my food in the trash. “We need to get home and get cleaned up.”
21
HARPER
Game night with the Ashford’s was adorable. Billy really did cheat and Molly had me laughing so much my face hurt by the time we were finished. Greyson was oddly quiet and also terrible at all the games we played. I wasn’t sure if he was letting me and the kids win or if he was genuinely bad.
As the night drew on, I felt my nerves ignite. I knew what was supposed to happen after the kids went to bed, and I was both terrified and exhilarated. It was pathetic, but flirtatiously eating my ice cream while Greyson watched had me so freaking turned on I’d had to change underwear when I got home. I didn’t want to look too desperate, so I’d agonized over what to wear.
I eventually went with sexy underwear and kept the dress I’d been wearing on. After all, Greyson had seemed to enjoy looking at me in it.
I felt awkward when we finally packed up the games and took the kids to bed at first. I followed Greyson while he read them a bedtime story, and both kids insisted I read them one, too. After I got past the initial strangeness of helping with bedtime, I realized how special it felt to be involved. Watching Molly’s sleepy eyes while I read was special, and it was sweet to feel her cuddling against me in her bed among all her stuffed animals. Billy asked a thousand questions about the science book he’d picked, and it was fun to see his interest. He even asked Greyson if it was okay for me to hug him good night.
By the time Greyson and I headed back downstairs with the kids in bed, I felt so far beyond strange. I knew this was casual. I also knew Greyson had only invited me for game night because it was a convenient excuse for me to come over on innocent terms. He wasn’t trying to make me part of his family. He was just trying to find an inconspicuous way to get me in his house after dark and fuck me.
That thought spurred conflicting emotions. On the one hand, it felt sexy and exciting to be seen that way by him. Greyson was the perfect male specimen. Tall, handsome, confident, and he seemed to be a great dad to top it all off. But on the other hand, I could feel how easy it would be to crave more of this. For a couple hours, it felt like I was part of his family. I’d always dreamed of having kids, and tonight just showed me it could be everything I’d imagined. That part of me was foolishly wondering if my Once Upon a Time started right here.