Healing Love (Love to the Extreme) (12 page)

…

“Brittany is so mean,” Skylar said as they walked down the sidewalk toward the pizzeria. “She made fun of my shirt. I don’t know why. It had pigs on it. Pigs are awesome.”

“Kids can be mean, baby. Just ignore her.”

“That’s what Momma said.”

“Your momma’s right. Listen to her.”

As they reached the entrance to the pizzeria, Lance opened the door for his daughter and let her walk in first. They stood in the long line of people waiting to be seated. He glanced around the packed restaurant and his gaze slowed at a woman sitting alone in a booth. She held her phone in front of her face, fingers working on the front. Kelsey seemed completely at peace.

His chest tightened like it had earlier when he saw his daughter. What was it about this woman? It’d been a long time since he’d felt protective instincts toward anyone but Skylar.

A waiter dropped a mug, and the shattering glass instantly brought Kelsey’s head snapping around, as her entire body jumped. There was that fear she displayed every once in a while, and again his instinct to protect surged forward.

As her gaze moved from the waiter and glided across the room, he prepared for her to see him. He’d wanted to put distance between them. Wanted her to believe he was seeing someone else. That plan was about to unravel as quickly as his marriage had right in front of his eyes.

When her gaze found his, her eyes widened slightly before dropping to the little girl at his side. Confusion drew her brows together for a moment, but relaxed after a second as understanding dawned on her face. Yep, no more using dates as a tactic to keep the hell away from this enticing woman.

He gave a quick wave, which she returned with a smile.

“Who’s that, Daddy?”

A woman who awed him, confused him, intrigued him, and everything in between.

“Umm, she’s one of Daddy’s clients at the gym.”

“She’s pretty.”

In a tight white sweater with her hair down, she
was
pretty. Stunning. “Think so?”

His daughter nodded her head enthusiastically. “Can I meet her?”

Taken aback by the question, Lance stared at his daughter. “Why would you want to do that?”

“She has a pig on her phone.”

He glanced back at the table, and sure enough, the case Kelsey had in her hand was covered in pink pigs. Leave it to Skylar to notice it. Kelsey would now have a friend for life.

Still, he hesitated. He wasn’t sure why. Being a fighter, and in the wrecker business, he met a lot of people and was always bumping into someone he knew when he was out. This wasn’t any different. Except this time, there was a worry Skylar would take to Kelsey, the same way he’d taken to her.

“
Please
, Daddy.”

Lance sighed, knowing he would cave. “Sure. Come on.”

He walked toward Kelsey’s table.

“Hi,” she said, as she laid her phone on the table. She lowered her gaze to Skylar. “And hello to you, too.”

“You like pigs?” Skylar immediately asked.

Kelsey blinked. Then her gaze went to her phone. “I do. I have an entire collection back home.”

Skylar scooted into the booth and got comfortable, surprising Lance. “Hey, honey, we probably should find a place to sit.”

“I have.”

“I meant our own booth.”

“I want to talk to her.”

Kelsey glanced up at him, amusement brightening her eyes. “It’s cool.”

Lance sighed and scooted in beside his daughter. “Skylar, this is Kelsey. Kelsey this is Skylar, my daughter.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Skylar,” Kelsey said and offered her hand. Skylar took it and shook.

“So what kind of pigs do you have?” his daughter asked.

As the waiter came over to the table, Lance blocked out the conversation. No reason to ask Skylar what she wanted—she got the same thing every time she came here.

“Bacon and cheese pizza.”

He turned back just as Kelsey asked what her pig’s name was.

“Bacon.”

The unfiltered laugh that came out of Kelsey caught him off guard. She always kept herself a bit closed off, and he hadn’t seen her with all her walls down. And she was even more beautiful in her laughter than when she was completely composed.

“I
love
that,” Kelsey said.

“Skylar has a pretty unique sense of humor.”

“When I was a kid, I did, too. I once had a dog named Dioge.”

How was that anything like naming a pig bacon? The way she was looking at him expectedly made him realize that he was completely missing the punch line.

“That’s uh…a cool name.”

She laughed at his confusion, and he found himself wanting to make her do that more. He liked how relaxed she was in this moment, how there didn’t seem to be something lurking in her mind.

“D. O. G,” she said, saying each letter individually.

He chuckled. “Okay, now I get it.”

“I don’t,” Skylar said.

“D-O-G, spells dog.”

“Ah. That’s awesome.”

The waiter returned with their drinks and an activity sheet for Skylar. After opening the crayon box, Skylar went to work on a crossword puzzle. Kelsey was watching her with a small smile of mixed wonder and enjoyment. Her eyes flicked to his. “So, a daughter, huh?”

Not sure what to say, he simply shrugged.

“She’s beautiful,” Kelsey said.

“Thank you,” Skylar said without lifting her head.

The grin that spread across Kelsey’s face was as gorgeous as it was surreal.

“First, you have a wrecking service, now you have a daughter. You’re just full of surprises today.”

“There’s a lot about me you don’t know.”

She placed her chin on her palm. “Like what?”

He could play this game. Maybe he could dig around and find out more about the woman in front of him. “I’m not originally from Cheney, either. I’m from Emerald Springs.”

“What caused you to move?”

The fact she didn’t mention the tornado that tore apart that town led him to believe she hadn’t moved here from someplace close. “My ex-wife’s husband got a job out here. Emerald Springs is a three-hour drive. I couldn’t be that far from Skylar.”

Respect shined in Kelsey’s eyes. “That’s pretty awesome you did that.”

“Skylar is everything to me.”

“I can see that.”

“What about you? Where are you from?”

The soft expression immediately vanished as she sat back a little straighter. “The east coast.”

“There are a lot of states on the east coast. Did you live in them all?”

He meant it as a joke, but her expression pinched tighter. What could have happened that she didn’t want to disclose where she used to live?

“The New England area.”

As he was about to press her for more, the waiter arrived with the pizza. He placed it in the middle of the table with three plates. Lance put one each in front of him and Skylar then offered the third to Kelsey.

“No, thank you,” she said, waving her hand. She scooted to the edge of the booth. “In fact, I think I’m going to let you two enjoy the rest of your date.”

At her attempt at a hasty escape, Lance’s curiosity rose even more. She’d been fine until he started asking personal questions. Now it seemed like she couldn’t get away from him fast enough. Lance scrambled to think of a way to make her stay.

“Aw. Daddy, can’t Kelsey come with us to the arcade?”

Oh, Skylar. Thank you.

“Oh no, sweetie,” Kelsey said quickly. “I think you and your dad need a little time together.”

Skylar turned pleading blue eyes directly at him. “Please, Daddy. You don’t care, do you?”

“Nope. I don’t mind at all. In fact, I’d love for her to join us.” Lance sat back against the booth’s cushion and crossed his arms over his chest, silently challenging her.

Her lips pursed together in annoyance as she stared at him then at his daughter. Most likely she was deciding if she should just outright lie to the child and say she had plans.

“
Please
,” Lance said in his best impression of his daughter. “You wouldn’t want to disappoint a fellow pig lover, would you?”

The tight smile stretched taut. He’d have to make sure to get the relaxed one back at some point tonight.

“I’d love to join you,” she directed to Skylar, then sent him an irritated glance. He had to stifle a chuckle. It seemed he enjoyed riling Kelsey up as much as he did making her smile.

He’d drop the Q and A for now, but he was on a mission. Tonight, he’d learn more about who she was.

…

Ella was onto Lance’s game.

The fact he was playing one was her fault. She’d slipped. While they’d been at the pizzeria, she’d let her guard down.

He’d spent the last hour and a half keeping to idle chitchat, slipping in a personal questions here and there. Like when they’d been talking about training and he’d casually asked what gym she’d trained at back home, or when Skylar had mentioned going to the doctor, and Lance had asked her where she used to work.

She’d somehow gotten around the pointed questions by either blatantly ignoring them or pretending to see something she was interested in. Definitely a coward’s move that made her wish she’d declined the invitation to join them—almost.

She was having fun. After eating, they’d walked down the street to an arcade. Skylar had played everything from Skee-Ball to Fruit Ninja—as long as it gave tickets.

Right now, Lance was standing behind his daughter, who was sitting on a stool while she played
Deal or No Deal
. The little girl pressed a button, and when the computerized woman opened the suitcase, it revealed the number two hundred. In unison, they groaned. The sight warmed Ella’s heart.

Lance had a special bond with his daughter that Ella couldn’t help but be impressed by. She’d really only seen one side of Lance. The fighter side. This more sensitive, softer side was a huge turn-on—like she needed to be more attracted to the man than she already was.

“What should I do, Daddy?”

“Well, you have two cases left. You’re either holding the one with fifty tickets or the one with two hundred and fifty. If you make a deal, you’ll walk away with one hundred and seventy-five. The choice is yours. You can chance it or take the guarantee.”

“What would you do?”

Lance glanced at his daughter, an odd expression on his face. “I’d take the guarantee.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s never worth it to gamble.”

Skylar scrunched her nose as she stared at the large screen in front of her. Finally, she pressed the
Deal
button and the machine started spurting out a long line of tickets. The woman on the screen opened the case beside her. Fifty.

“Dang it. I should’ve gambled. I would’ve gotten a lot more tickets.”

“This time, yes, you would’ve, but you could’ve just as easily had the other case. You never know which case life’s going to give you, baby. It’s always better to go with the sure thing.”

Skylar jumped down, tore the tickets off then shoved them at her dad. As he folded them up, she took off toward another game.

“Nice teaching moment there, dad.”

Smiling, he shrugged. “You have to give them whenever you get the chance. Besides, I know how this works. Had she had the fifty-ticket case there would’ve been drama galore up to here. We don’t need that show.”

She didn’t believe that was all there was to it. There had been a lot of seriousness in his voice as he spoke to his daughter. Almost like his advice was coming from a life lesson.

He’d said he’d known the McNealys a long time. From the little she had learned, Mitch and Gabe had been running a gambling ring for years. Could Lance have a gambling problem?

As they sidled up to Skylar, who was now bopping the hell out of moles, Lance asked, “How many more tokens do you have?”

“One.”

“After you use that one, how about we go play a round of laser tag? Kelsey and I have just been watching you anyway.”

“Um. Speak for yourself.” Ella held up the large mound of five hundred tickets she’d scored by hitting a jackpot. She actually loved playing games. But she’d reminded herself that this was about Skylar, so after she’d won the jackpot, she’d given Skylar her remaining tokens.

“That sounds fun.” She dropped her last coin in to bop more moles. “Kelsey, have you ever played laser tag?”

“Yes, and I’m terrible at it.”

“I’m pretty good,” she said, slamming the foam hammer hard on a mole’s head. When she finished, she tore off her tickets then held out her hand expectantly. Sighing, Lance handed over the tickets he held in each hand then dug around in his pocket, withdrew another large wad, and gave them to her, too. Skylar flicked her fingers, motioning for more. He reached into his other pocket and produced another handful of tickets.

“Thank you.” Skylar flounced off to feed the tickets into a counting machine. After she was done and had a small white piece of paper in her hand as proof of her nine hundred and eighty-seven tickets, she said, “Now feed yours.”

Ella did the same then followed the child to the prize area. Everything from candy to board games was available in exchange for their tickets. Her gaze immediately landed on a basket full of the cutest pink stuffed pigs with blue paisley handkerchief scarves. No doubt Skylar would jump all over that.

“Shoot,” the little girl muttered, disappointment coloring the mumbled word.

“What is it?”

“I wanted to get that pig, but I don’t have enough tickets.”

“Yes, you do, honey. It’s only seven hundred. You have over nine hundred.”

“I know, but I don’t have enough for two. I wanted to get one for both of us.”

At the pure sweetness of the thought, Ella pressed her fingers to her mouth as emotions threatened to overwhelm her. Such a small thing, but it meant so much. “I tell you what. How about we combine our tickets? That way we’ll have enough for two.”

“Really?” The child’s face brightened. “I wanted us to have matching pigs.”

“Definitely.” She handed her piece of paper to Skylar. “You do the honors.”

As she exchanged the papers for the stuffed animals, Ella looked over at Lance, who’d been quiet throughout the exchange. A tight expression, filled with undeniable heat and longing, etched deep lines into his face. Flutters erupted low in her belly, and she had to look away from the sheer intensity of his gaze.