Getting Hotter (28 page)

“That sounds…”
Nice
, she almost said, until she remembered that it wasn’t possible. “Wait, I can’t tomorrow. Kim’s coming over to babysit while I have dinner with the father of Elsa’s student.”

“Since when do you have dinner with a student’s parents?”

“I don’t usually, but he insisted.”

Seth narrowed his eyes. “This dude…he’s the one who suggested dinner?”

“Yeah.” She shot him a questioning look. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“Nope.” His lips tightened. “But you
are
aware that this is a date, right?”

Surprise jolted through her. “No, it’s not. We’re simply meeting to discuss his daughter’s progress.”

Seth looked unconvinced. “Didn’t you say she’s Elsa’s student?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then shouldn’t he be meeting with Elsa?”

“Yes, but—”

Seth smirked. “But what? Let me guess, he refuses to discuss this with anyone but you. You, the smoking-hot, highly desirable former showgirl who runs the school.”

She couldn’t help but gape at him. “Are you suggesting he wants in my pants?”

“It isn’t a suggestion, babe. It’s a stone-cold fact.”

“Oh come on, Seth. That’s just silly. I’m not going on a date with this man.”

“Does
he
know that?”

There was no mistaking the hard note in his voice, or the cloud of jealousy that turned his eyes from gray to turbulent silver. Was that it? Was he jealous? The notion was pretty damn gratifying—it was so rare to see Seth get rattled about anything. But it was also annoying as hell, because tomorrow’s dinner with Eric Porter was
not
a date.

“Yes, he knows it,” she replied firmly. “We’re seeing each other in a professional capacity.”

Seth’s jaw was tense and inflexible. “It’s a date, Miranda.”

“Jeez! Stop saying that.” Yet even in her annoyance, she found herself laughing.

“Fine, I’ll stop—if you say yes to that other thing we were talking about.”

Her laughter faded. “Say yes to dating
you
, you mean.”

“Yup.”

“Seth…I don’t know.” When she glimpsed the disappointment in his eyes, she released a sigh. “This isn’t the kind of decision I can make without giving it some serious thought. I have to consider how dating you will affect my children, how it will affect the life I’m trying to build for them. I know you say you’ll make an effort, but what if you do and you discover that you actually just hate children? I don’t want Sophie and Jason getting attached to you, only for you to disappear from their lives.”

“I understand. I really do.” He hesitated. “What if we start with something small? A way for me to dip my toes in the water, for lack of a better way to phrase it.”

“Meaning what?”

“Instead of Kim babysitting tomorrow, why don’t I do it?”

Miranda’s brows lifted in surprise. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. How long do you think the date will last? An hour, two?”

“Probably, and it’s not a date.”

“So let me watch the kids. And I promise, I won’t hold back this time. I won’t keep my distance or try to pretend they’re not there.”

“And if you do all that and decide you really don’t want to be around them?”

“I don’t think that will happen.”

“But if it does?”

“If it does, then we end this.” Unhappiness underlined each word. “I can’t do a fling anymore, Miranda. For some inexplicable reason, I actually want more than sex from you. Trust me, that’s never fucking happened before.”

She offered a faint smile. “I imagine.”

“But you can’t have a relationship with a man who doesn’t love your kids as much as he loves you.” A resigned light entered his eyes. “I know myself. If by the time you get home I’m not convinced I can be what you want me to be for those kids, then we say good-bye. And you don’t have to worry about the twins getting hurt. I’ll just be babysitting them for a couple of hours, and they’re not overly attached to me at the moment, anyway. Besides, if we do end this, Sophie will probably organize a parade. She hates me.”

Miranda’s lips twitched. “She doesn’t hate you.”

“Liar. You know she does.” He searched her face. “Well?”

Indecision skipped through her, but the genuine hope softening Seth’s rugged features made the decision for her. “All right. You can watch the twins tomorrow.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, then reached for his hand and pulled him off the couch. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she rested her cheek on his chest and murmured, “Thank you for my birthday presents, Seth. The cupcake
and
the orgasm.”

His fingers threaded through her hair, stroking gently. “You’re welcome. And thank
you
. For listening, first and foremost. And for not laughing me right out of the room when I asked you to date me.” He brought his lips close to her ear and said, “And most of all, thank you for agreeing to let me babysit your children while you’re out on your date.”

She huffed out an irritated breath. “It’s
not
a date!”

Chapter Sixteen

The next morning, Miranda had a dickens of a time getting both her kids in the same room together. Jason was running around the apartment throwing a baseball in the air, and when she finally got his butt settled on the living room couch, Sophie had darted off to find her doll, only to get distracted by one of the sparrows out in the backyard, the one that was supposedly out to get her. So while Miranda was calming down her daughter and assuring her that sparrows were harmless, Jason took off again, this time ducking under the kitchen table to play with his little green army men.

Needless to say, by the time she finally had both kids in front of her, she was exhausted, flustered and kind of sweaty.

“Okay, guys, this is serious. I really need you to listen,” she said, sinking into the small armchair next to the couch. “Sophie, put Emily down. Jason, I know you have one of those soldiers in your mouth. Spit it out. Now.”

Emily and a little green soldier landed on the coffee table with a thud.

“All right. Are you listening?”

They nodded.

“Mommy’s going out for dinner tonight, so—”

“I wanna go to dinner too,” Jason interrupted.

“Me too!” Sophie piped up.

“I’m sorry, guys, but you can’t. It’s a business meeting, so it’s going to be super boring. Trust me, you’ll have a lot more fun at home.” Remaining casual, she added, “With Seth.”

Sophie gasped in pure horror. “Sef’s coming?”

Jason beamed with pure enchantment. “Sef’s coming?”

“Yep. He’s coming over to hang out with you while I have my business meeting.”

“I don’t want Sef! I want Dylan,” Sophie retorted.

“Dylan is busy tonight,” Miranda lied. “But Seth was free, and guess what, he’s so excited about coming over. He said he really wants to watch a movie with you guys, and make popcorn, and maybe even play in the yard for a bit.”

Sophie looked so dubious Miranda almost laughed.

“Is Sef gonna get me from Ricky’s house?” Jason’s jaw dropped as another thought occurred to him. “Is Sef gonna come to my
game
?”

“I’m afraid he won’t be at the game, kiddo. Coach Diaz will drop you off at home afterwards.” She glanced at Sophie. “And you get to drive in Ginny’s cool convertible. She’ll bring you home while I wrap up my last class at the studio. You and Seth will hang out until your brother gets home.”

Now Sophie was the one gaping. “I hafta be
alone
with Sef?”

“She gets to be alone with Sef? No fair!”

Miranda sighed. “Enough, guys. Close your mouths before bugs start flying in there.” She gave each of them a strict look. “I expect you to be on your best behavior tonight. You’re going to treat Seth with the same respect you give to me and Kim, understand?”

They nodded, Sophie albeit reluctantly.

“And no running in the house.” She glanced at Jason. “No indoor baseball, Jase. And you—” she pointed at Sophie, “—don’t you dare throw things at the bird feeder again.”

Fine, so maybe she was stacking the deck in Seth’s favor a little, but the man was making an effort, so why shouldn’t her kids do the same?

“Are we good?” She looked from one child to the other.

“Yup,” they said in unison.

But there was no mistaking the tiny glimmer of mischief in her daughter’s eyes.

Uh-oh.

With a sigh, she got to her feet. “All right, let’s get you two dressed. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”

Seth’s palms were unusually damp as he waited in Miranda’s living room for the kids to come home. He’d let himself in with the spare key she’d given him last night at the club, and it felt weird being in Miranda’s apartment when she wasn’t there.

He couldn’t believe he’d agreed to watch her kids this evening.

Agreed?

Right. Try
offered
.

And Miranda was actually trusting him with her kids. The woman had a lot more faith in him than he had in himself.

The irony didn’t escape him—he was a Navy SEAL, for fuck’s sake. He could carry out a hazardous black-ops mission in his sleep, infiltrate a terrorist cell’s lair without batting an eye, throw himself in the line of fire without hesitation. He’d saved lives before, many, many lives. His government specifically
entrusted
him with the task of saving lives.

And yet he was terrified that he wouldn’t be able to protect a pair of six-year-olds.

He gulped when he heard the front door open. Footsteps thudded, a female voice wafting from the hall. A moment later, a petite blonde with pale gray eyes entered the living room, holding hands with a frowning Sophie.

“You must be Seth,” the woman said. Her eyes gleamed appreciatively. “I’m Ginny, one of the instructors at the school. Miranda says you’re babysitting tonight.”

“Yep.” He rose from the couch and walked over to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you, Ginny. Hey, Sophie.”

The little girl stared at him in surprise. He suddenly realized this was the first time he’d ever addressed her by name.

“Hi,” she said suspiciously.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it then.” Ginny smiled again. “Oh, and Miranda wanted me to remind you that she left money for pizza in the jar next to the fridge.”

Seth resisted a snort. They’d argued over the phone this morning about how he wasn’t going to let her pay for dinner, and as far as he was concerned, he’d won the argument already.

“I’ll walk you out,” he told Ginny.

They headed for the door, the blonde tossing out a light “have fun” before she left.

When Seth returned to the living room, Sophie was standing exactly where he’d left her. She had a little pink duffel bag slung over one shoulder, and she wore red cotton shorts, a black T-shirt with yellow stars on it and black ballet flats. Her dark hair was up in a ponytail, brown eyes flickering with mistrust.

“So.” He cleared his throat. “What do you want to do until your brother gets home?”

“I dunno.” Her lack of enthusiasm was hardly promising.

Smothering a sigh, he took her duffel bag and set it aside. “Come on, I’m sure there’s
something
you want to do. We can watch a movie or go out in the backyard or draw a picture—pick anything you want.”

“Anything?”

He could’ve sworn he saw a devilish gleam in her eyes.

“Anything,” he echoed.

“Fine. I wanna play with my dolls and make their hair pretty so they can dance at the recital.”

God help him.

From the little smirk she gave him, he knew Sophie expected him to recoil in horror. Maybe revert back to the Seth she’d called mean and tell her to get lost.

When he didn’t answer right away, she crossed her skinny arms over her chest and said, “I
knew
you wouldn’t wanna.” She scowled. “You wouldna be good at it anyway.”

Seth raised a defiant brow, then squatted down so they were at eye level. “Sophie, I’m a United States Navy SEAL. Know what that means?”

She shifted uneasily, then shook her head.

“It means I can do whatever I set my mind on, and if you think I can’t give your dolls some awesome hairstyles, then I’m ready to prove you wrong.”

She giggled, then clapped a hand over her mouth as if she couldn’t believe she’d dropped her guard around him.

“So you ready to do this, or what?” he challenged.

As Sophie dashed off to get her dolls, Seth gave a brisk nod, declaring himself the winner of round one. In fact, he planned on winning every damn round tonight, if only to prove to Miranda that he had what it took to be her boyfriend.

Boyfriend. Christ, he couldn’t believe he even wanted to be someone’s boyfriend.

Well, not just
anyone’s
boyfriend.
Miranda’s.

He was falling for the woman.

He was actually fucking falling for her, and wasn’t that another dose of irony right there. He’d always believed love was a choice, that you had to be open to it in order to feel it, but his feelings for Miranda had crept up on him. One day he was thinking about how much he wanted to fuck her, the next he was fantasizing about holding her hand and making her laugh and seeing her hazel eyes light up with joy.