Page 88 of Man Scape

He gave a small smile. “Yeah, well, I’ve wanted my dad to find a woman for a long time.”

“But…” I prodded.

“But I didn’t expect it to be you.”

My cheeks flared with heat, and I spun on my heel and headed for the fridge. I got that a lot. From more than just him because… me? I was justlittleMelly Harwood. No one expected anything from me except, well, nothing. “I’m getting a drink. Want one?”

“Sure.”

He followed and I pulled open the door. “Root beer, apple juice, iced tea, and um… water. Or milk, sorry. I never remember to offer it because I don’t drink it, only put it in my cereal.”

“Root beer’s good,” he replied.

I pulled a bottle from the shelf and passed it to him.

“Mal?” I called.

“No thanks,” she said. She hadn’t moved from her spot on the floor.

“Did you talk with him before he left?” I asked. The idea of them fighting and being mad at each other made me sad. I’d gotten between them. “Your dad?”

He took a pull of the root beer. “Nah. Aren’t you mad at him, too?”

I frowned. “For what?”

“For leaving.”

I shook my head. “I knew he was leaving, that it was short lived, so it’s not like he surprised me with it.”

“Youwanted a fling?” he asked, as if the idea was too crazy to comprehend.

Grabbing a root beer of my own, I shut the fridge.

“Despite what you might think, little Melly Harwood’s not that much of a good girl,” Mallory told Danny.

He grimaced. “You just seemed–”

I nodded. “I know. I know what I seem to be.”

“She fools everyone.”

I looked down at Mallory and glared.

“Then why didn’t you want a fling with me?” Danny asked. “I mean, mydad?”

I gave him a small smile. “You know for a fact that there is nothing here.” I waggled my finger back and forth between us, ignoring the part about Daniel.

“I thought you were a–” He cleared his throat because he thought I had been a virgin and clearly hadn’t wanted to be with one.

“And you wanted someone who wasn’t?”

It was his turn to blush. His gaze shifted to Mallory for a second, then glanced away. Looking at him, I could see the similarities between him and his father. Not in size, but in looks and mannerisms.

But Danny didn’t growl. Or storm into my house. He had a soft voice and knocked.

It seemed I wanted a guy who did neither.

“If you were really interested in me, it wouldn’t have mattered,” I told him gently. “And if I was really interested in you, I’d have let you change that status.”