Page 10 of Nothing to This

“JD,” she objected, filled with dread.

But he didn’t get it, or at least he played dumb.“What?You have an extra bedroom, and I can pay my way.It will just be for a few weeks ‘til I find a permanent base… I can help with the kids.”

As he smiled at their excited faces, she stood stunned.Was this really happening?In front of their kids and… She and JD had a one-night stand, not a relationship.They’d never lived together.As of yesterday, they didn’t even have to look at each other at all.Now he was suggesting exposure therapy or something?

Not a good idea.

“Daddy can have my unicorn pillow,” Sky said, moving her plate to push some of her bacon onto her father’s.

Judging by the angle of his fork, JD intended to push it back.With a quiet cough, she drew his attention to her shaking head.Sky said she liked bacon because Kye loved it so much.Their daughter admired her brother more than she let on.But the little one wasn’t actually that wild about it, she preferred the pancakes.

Her son was busy shoveling bacon into his mouth.“Daddy can share my room.”

“Daddy can have his own room,” she said.

Shit, did that sound like…?

“Great!”Had she just invited him to stay?“I’ll have the hotel send over my things later,” he said and picked up a piece of bacon.“You guys want to go to the movies today?”

“Yeah!”

“You want to spend the day with them?”she asked.“I’ll have to call the daycare and—”

“Oh no, I can’t take them myself.I can have an assistant…” Glaring, she spun to stalk to the kitchen.Breathe through the irritation, count to ten before reacting with outrage.Didn’t matter, he’d got the message.“What?”

“They don’t want to spend the day with a random assistant.They want to spend the day with their father.”

“I have to work,” he said.“Daddy has to bring home the bacon.”

“I love bacon,” Kye said.“Daddy like bacon?”

“He does,” JD said.

“Mommy brings home bacon too,” she said, packing their daycare snacks and drinks.

“Mommy doesn’t have to.Daddy offered ten times as much child support as she accepted.”

Oh, he was hitting all the wrong markers.“Mommy enjoys working,” she said.They were heading into passive aggressive territory.

“And Daddy has to work on buying himself an apartment before he drives Mommy mad… Maybe you could use that extra money to speed up the sale.”

“You want to come apartment hunting with me?”

“I do!”Sky exclaimed.“Can I have a bedroom?”

“Of course, Little Sproutette,” he said.“You can have your own living room too.Your own pool, anything you want.”

Sky pushed some pancake into her mouth, too much pancake.Didn’t slow their lovely down though.“Can I have a unicorn?”

She laughed and finished packing the snacks.“See, this is why we don’t spoil our babies,” she said.“Grama wouldn’t appreciate you segregating them.If you give them their own suites, you’ll never see them, and they need supervision.”

“We’ll get somewhere open plan,” he said.“Right, guys?And Grama will come stay when you’re over.”

God forbid he be alone with his babies.Despite the irritation, what she felt wasn’t anger, it was closer to pity.He’d never fully embrace how incredible their children were as individuals if he didn’t immerse himself in quality time with them.Although, she had to admit, last night was a good start.

Kye reached for more bacon.

She flipped around and held up a hand.“Ah, ah!Kye!”