Page 100 of Irresistible
She takes both my hands and climbs up my legs, flipping upside down and then hugs me again.
“Wow. It’s good to see you too.” I grin at her and she beams.
“I missed you,” she says. “Where ya been?” She takes a better look at me and crinkles up her little nose. “What’s all that hair doing on your face?”
I smooth a hand over my scruff as I laugh. “You don’t like the hair?”
“I don’t know,” she answers.
“Well, that’s fair. I don’t love it myself, but some days I get lazy and don’t want to shave.” She takes my hand and does another flip. “Hey, I’ve missed you too,” I tell her when she’s upright again. “I’ve been trying to give you time with your uncle Logan. Have you had a great visit with him?”
“Yes,” she says emphatically. “He’s so funny. You’ve gotta talk to him. Uncle Logan,” she yells, “come see my Wyatt.”
God, this little girl. She wrecks me.
Logan walks out with wet hair and grins when he sees me. “Hey, man. Good to see you. Dakota hasn’t shut up about you since I got here.”
“We don’t sayshut up, Uncle Logan,” Dakota sings.
“Dadgum, girl, I can’t afford to stay around here much longer. You’re cleaning my wallet out,” Logan says, laughing.
I glance at Marlow who’s smiling but quiet as she watches all of us interacting. The concern I had about her quadruples as I take her in. Something is definitely wrong.
“I wanted to see if you’d be interested in dinner tonight. Tiptop, on me. It’s a beautiful restaurant I’ve wanted to take you and Dakota to for a while,” I tell Marlow. “And I think you’d like it too, Logan. My friend Blake owns the place with his wife, and the view from on top of the mountain is spectacular. Food’s great too.”
Logan smiles agreeably, but he looks at Marlow, waiting for her to say something. When she doesn’t, he says, “What if I watched the peanut here while you guys get out? I could take her out for pizza and we could go skating or something fun.”
I look at Marlow and she frowns, shaking her head. “I don’t want to miss out on being with you while you’re in town. You’re only here another couple of days.”
“But I’m not going to stay gone as long next time,” he says.
Marlow scoffs, but she doesn’t look mad. “Yeah, you said that last time.”
“Let’s all go. It’ll give me a chance to get to know you better, Logan, and I’ve missed seeing you and Dakota,” I say to Marlow.
She pauses and then nods. “Okay. Can it be on the earlier side tonight? Would we be able to get in by four thirty or five?”
“That should work. I’ll call Blake and see if he can fit us in.”
“Any earlier and we’ll be going senior citizen style,” Logan teases. “How do you ever expect me to find a woman if we’re dining with the elderly?”
It’s the first laugh I’ve heard from Marlow in too many days, and it eases some of the tension in my shoulders.
“If I thought taking you any later would hook you a wife, I’d do it, but I don’t think you stand a chance until you stay in one place longer than a week.” She rolls her eyes, still laughing under her breath.
“I’m too young to get married,” he says, waving her off.
“You’re thirty!” Marlow argues.
“Thirty’s the new seventeen,” he says, but he can’t keep a straight face when he says that.
“Disgusting.” Marlow laughs. “I have a couple new single friends that I adore and I don’t want you within two feet of them.” She shakes her head and looks at me, her eyes still bright.
Do I imagine that they dim as she looks at me?
I want to take her in my arms and kiss the worry away, plead with her to talk to me, do whatever it takes to fix this…
But for now, I just smile at her and take a step toward the door. “I’ll go for now. I’ll text you the time after I talk to Blake and meet you back here about twenty minutes before. We can walk from here to catch the gondola.”