Page 16 of Rise & Fall
“Oh, does he take the bus?” That would explain why he was running late.
“No, silly. My daddy drives a truck.” I mentally roll my eyes at her. Kids are the darndest, aren’t they?
“Oh, look! There he is!” A giant, steel-blue colored truck pulls into the parking lot. My stomach gives an exciting flip as he reverses the car with one hand into the space next to me; his arm flexes as he twists the steering wheel.
My core aches with something foreign and hot.
Aria is so excited to see her dad that she whips off her seatbelt and throws my door open without any caution.
My heart rate kicks up at the sight of her attempting to hop out of my Jeep, so I hurriedly open my door and rush around to meet her before she gets hurt.
“Aria, you have to be careful. You don’t want to get hurt,” I tell her as I help her down. It feels weird to warn another child of safety or rules, but she will not get hurt on my watch.
Nolan is already working his way around the front of his truck to meet us.
“Sorry, DJ,” she says to me before running into her dad’s arms.
I turn back to the car and reach over to help Em out.
“You ready, Freddie?” She smiles her sweet little smile at me.
This is Em’s first playdate, and while she’s been so excited to come, I can tell that she’s nervous now.Don’t worry little one, me too.
I gather our things before closing the door to my car. And in the same moment, my eyes connect with Nolan’s as he hugs his little girl; her back to me as she’s cradled in his arms.
His big, tanned, strong arms.
He’s completely messy. Dirt and dust layer his jeans and shirt. His hands look rough and veins in his arms bulge lightly as he squeezes Aria. His eyes are dark, hooded, and tired. His hair is a ruffled mess of dark waves, and the stubble on his jaw only adds to the fact that I’m about to be a puddle, yet again, in front of this man if he doesn’t stop looking at me like that over his daughter’s shoulder. But, holy shit, is he smoking hot.
“You ready to go in?” He breaks eye contact as he sets Aria down, and I pray he didn’t see me wipe the drool from my chin.
“Yeah, ready, Em?” I shout even though she’s already running up to the entrance door with her friend. She nods at me, and I follow behind Nolan into his apartment building.
We’re silent as we wait in the elevator. He pushes the button for the tenth floor, but the climb up seems to be taking its slow ass time.
The girls giggle about school shenanigans. I eye Nolan from the side, and I can tell he catches me, because he’s looking at me too. The tension in this fucking elevator is heavy. I wipe my sweaty palms against the side of my jeans, feeling heat crawl up my neck as his eyes continue their perusal of my body.
I tried to come up with every reason in the book to get out of this, and I wished I had thought ofsomethingbecause my body feels strange, and I really need air. The space seems to be getting smaller and smaller as I inhale his scent. It’s all sawdust and woodsy and very intoxicating. But this is for Emsley. I have to keep reminding myself that we’re here because she wanted to hang out with a friend.
Thankfully, the elevator doors slide open and pull me from my thoughts as the girls pile out making room for me to breathe.
“You alright?” Nolan turns to me, possibly noticing the large breath I exhaled unintentionally.
“Yeah, I just sometimes get claustrophobic,” I say, but it’s definitely a lie because I’ve never been prone to hating tight spaces, generally speaking.
“Down here!” Aria yells as she yanks Em down the hallway. Nolan placing his palm on the small of my back to help me out of the elevator causes me to shiver a bit, but it’s comforting and calming.
Once we reach his door, Aria stands in attention and shouts her demands.
“Open sesame!” Nolan bows his head at her and inserts the key, turning it to unlock the door.
“After you, my princess,” he responds to his daughter, and everything that is holy in me seems to turn corrupt because something as innocent as this man calling his daughterprincesssends heat waves swimming all over my body.
Why the fuck is that so damn sexy?
As Em and I walk into Nolan’s apartment, I can’t help but look around. It’s all sleek and clean and less bachelorized like one would assume. There’s an air about his space, like it’s inviting and welcoming.
“Your swimsuit is on your bed, kiddo,” he shouts at Aria as she zooms inside. “You and Emsley can use the restroom down the hall to the right.” He kicks off his shoes and places them neatly inside the front closet, picking up the backpack Aria threw and placing it on a hook. Gosh, for someone who sports the whole dirty and rough blue-collar look, he sure does like things clean.