Page 64 of The Loves We Lost

I peek in Avery’s bedroom door, and like a champ, my little girl is already asleep.

“You still there, Vi?” Miles asks gruffly.

I tug her bedroom door closed. “Yes, I’m still here.”

When I get to my room, I lock the door before I climb into bed. The little lamp on the nightstand is on. It takes a moment before I’m ready to look at him again. Getting myself under control takes a minute longer.

“What was all that about?” Miles asks.

“If you were here, I’d throat punch you for asking.”

“Gonna have to spell it out for me, buttercup.”

“You don’t get to be a part-time dad. You either are one, or you aren’t. If Avery calls you at one in the morning, you tell her to get back to bed. Unless she’s injured or dying, and then you find out where she is and call 911.”

“And the helmet shit?” Miles puts the phone down and disappears off screen for a moment. When he reappears, he’s shirtless, which doesn’t help my libido that’s flashing like a billboard on Times Square.

“Kids are stubborn. They don’t want to eat broccoli, think any kind of hygiene from toothbrushing to showering is an abomination, and they don’t understand that much of the world is capable of breaking them. Including bikes, asphalt, and wheelies. Avery doesn’t need anyone else in her life. She has me. But if she did, it wouldn’t be an enabling best friend disguised as her dad.”

The words come out in one long stream of consciousness.

Miles rubs two fingers over his lips, something he always used to do when he was deep in thought. I’m tempted to fill the silence, but I don’t.

I wait.

“I need a redo,” Miles says finally.

“A redo?”

He places the phone down against something on the bed, so I’m looking up at him from the ties of his joggers, then reaches for a water bottle and chugs half of it. “A redo,” he says finally. “Was having a good night, had a fun time and a few drinks with friends, and was happy my little girl wanted to speak to me. I didn’t think it through any further than that until you came into view all fire and tight nipples beneath that thin cami. Not sure I like the fact Niro got a look at them.”

Do I melt into the pillow at his words? Of course I do.

Do I hate myself for it? Maybe a little.

But when a good-looking man gets jealous about you, it’s hard not to trip a little.

“So, the redo?” I ask.

Miles grins, his dimples flashing. “Oh, yeah. The redo. Vi, I’m sorry I didn’t think to tell Avery to get back to bed. I was justenjoying our little girl choosing to talk with me for the first time. That was all I could think. Not that it was one in the morning, or if she’d asked. Just that she’d thought about me and decided to do something about it. Next time, I’ll check the time. And I’ll also ask her if she got your permission.”

Urgh. “Please don’t become the good man I always thought you could be, Miles. It only makes things harder.”

He chuckles. “Would it help if you knew you mademeharder?”

His hand slips over his gray joggers, rubbing his cock.

“Miles,” I say.

“Help me out, buttercup.”

“We aren’t doing this.”

He runs his tongue over his lower lip. “We are. Don’t remember you being this fucking stubborn though.”

Warmth trickles through me. “Don’t remember you being this horny.”

His eyes meet mine. “Yeah, you do. Remember that time we stayed in my uncle’s cabin and it rained the whole time except that one night in the meadow?”