Page 5 of The Maverick’s Forever Home (Montana Mavericks: Behind Closed Doors #2)

It wasn’t yummy but it wasn’t the worst pizza he’d eaten, either.

Upside, the company sure was entertaining.

Delilah had already introduced him to the chaotic workings of the five-year-old brain, but a table full of five-year-olds was a whole new sort of chaos.

He was too busy passing out napkins, opening juice boxes and milk cartons, and listening to more knock-knock jokes than he’d ever wanted to hear.

The arrival of Mrs. Peacock signaled lunch was finally over.

After wiping off at least a dozen faces and twice as many hands, he helped pack up lunch boxes and get the kids into a line and led Delilah toward the cafeteria doors.

Lucky for him, Maggie and Cody were right behind them. Even luckier, Delilah headed straight for them—meaning he had no choice but to follow.

“Cody, Cody!” Delilah needed to work on her “inside voice.” “I ate pizza. It was yummy .”

Cody looked pretty proud of himself as he said, “Told you.”

“Yep. You did.” Delilah nodded gravely. “Cuz your brain is super smart.”

Cody grinned at that. “Yeah.”

He and Maggie exchanged a smile. She was just as amused by the interaction as he was.

“My daddy came to my birthday.” Delilah pointed at him. “He’s a cowboy, see? His hat. And boots.” She pointed at his hat, then his boots. “He has bwue eyes. I have bwue eyes. See?” She widened her eyes and pointed at them.

Cody looked up at him, and for the first time, his confidence wavered. “Sir.”

“My daddy’s ta-ll.” Delilah worked hard on getting her l’s out as she stared up at him. “Bigger than everybody. Wots.”

Cody leaned toward Delilah and whispered, “Cuz he’s older than nine.”

Braden laughed. “You’re right about that.”

“You and your mommy have springy hair.” Delilah pointed at Cody’s curls, then Maggie’s. “Cody’s mom, you wook wike my favorite princess. From the movie Brave. Are you her?”

Thanks to Delilah, Braden had watched the animated movie way too many times. Yes, Maggie had a lot of curly hair and was pretty enough to be a princess. But, lucky for him, Maggie was real. A fact he was real happy about.

“No, I’m not a princess.” She gave Delilah the sweetest smile.

“You’ve mean you’ve ever taken down a bear or had to defend a castle?” He grinned when Maggie laughed.

“I have not.” Maggie shrugged.

“It’s a girl movie.” Cody sighed. “A princess one.”

“Nope. It has bears an’ fightin’ an’ magic, too.” Delilah crossed her arms over her chest and scowled up at Cody. She was all sass when she said, “It’s the bestest movie. Ever . Right, Daddy?”

He nodded. “I like it.” It wasn’t the bestest movie ever, but he was always going to have his little girl’s back.

“You should watch it,” Delilah pushed. “You can come over and watch it. Cody’s mom, you can come, too. Okay?”

Braden could think of worst ways to spend a couple of hours. Watching a movie with Maggie? And Cody, too. He kinda liked the sound of that. So far, he liked Maggie. Something about her had definitely caught his attention. He liked the idea of spending more time with her—to really get to know her.

“Let’s go, class.” Mrs. Peacock’s announcement had Delilah hopping into line.

“Bye, Cody. Bye, Cody’s mom. See you water.” His little girl grinned and waved.

The disappointment tightening Braden’s stomach was a surprise.

“I hope you have a happy birthday, Delilah.” Maggie leaned down to whisper, “And I like your knee socks.”

“You do?” Delilah lit up like a Christmas tree.

Maggie nodded, then stood. “I do.” And then she smiled.

It must have been that smile that had Braden asking, “Would you… Would it be too forward of me to ask for your number?”

First, her eyes went round. Then she blinked—a lot.

Well, hell. What was he doing? He barely knew this woman, and now he was asking for her phone number? But she was smiling again as she rummaged through her purse and fished out a pen and a scrap of paper. The smile was a good sign, wasn’t it?

“Anyone ever tell you that you’re real easy to talk to?” He winced. He’d just said that. Out loud. He forced a chuckle and said, “I guess it’s my turn to start throwing clichés around.” Shut up, man.

When she held out the piece of paper, she seemed…hesitant.

Why? It took a minute, but then it clicked. Once it did, his disappointment doubled, slamming into him, hard and fast.

I’m an idiot. He’d always thought he’d have a wife and partner long before he became a parent.

Just because he was single didn’t mean she was.

And now he’d gone and made things awkward by asking for her phone number.

“Your husband probably wouldn’t approve of some single guy calling you.

” Of course, she had a husband that was head over heels in love with her—and a good father to Cody.

That’s the way it should be. “Sorry about that.”

“She doesn’t have a husband,” said Cody.

“Thank you, Cody.” Maggie took a deep breath and pressed the paper into Braden’s hand. “We single parents need to stick together.”

Well, hell.

Single parents. Maggie Cooper was single. He stared down at the paper in his hand—her name and phone number clearly written.

The weight of disappointment fell away and, in its place, was pure anticipation. There was no stopping the smile on his face or the uptick of his pulse. He couldn’t explain why he was reacting this way or make sense of the feelings rushing in on him.

Even better, the way she was looking at him.

“Daddy? We gotta go.” Delilah’s little voice was as effective as having a bucket of ice water dumped over his head.

And he needed it. Delilah and Cody were watching.

Acting like nothing out of the ordinary was happening was the best option.

But as he followed his little girl back to class, Braden couldn’t deny the truth.

For him, something was happening and it was anything but ordinary.