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Travis carries Harper right up to bed when we get back to his place.

“Come tuck me in!” Harper squeals to me, so I trudge up to her room with the two of them.

“What’s the routine?” I ask as he tosses her down onto her bed.

He heads over to the dresser and pulls out a pair of pajamas, and he tosses them right at her. She giggles when the shirt lands on her head.

“Now I go take a quick shower and get into my jammies, and then we sing ‘Twinkle’ together before I go to bed,” Harper explains.

“When do you read your bedtime story?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at her father.

“Um…never?” Harper says.

I shake my head and blow out an exaggerated sigh. “Well good thing I’m here. I got you.”

Travis and I head downstairs while she gets in the shower, and he shows me the selection of kids’ books he has. It’s sparse, and I make a mental note to order some ability-level books for Harper so she can practice.

I pick a chapter book off the shelf and decide I’ll read a chapter to her, and when I straighten, Travis is standing right beside me.

Close. Too close.

So close I can smell him, and that old familiar ache between my legs that seems to coincide with every time I’m around him pulses.

I clear my throat. “I’ll, uh, head out after we get her down.”

He ducks his head a little, and then his eyes move to mine. “I’d like you to stay. Maybe have a drink with me and maybe we can talk about some of the things we keep leaving unsaid.”

“She asked me to spend the night.” I say it as a joke mostly because I don’t know how to respond to what he just said.

“I’d like that, too.”

My chest does a funny little wiggly thing that feels like a hundred thousand butterflies all taking flight at once. “Oh, uh…I wasn’t planning on it.”

He shrugs. “Just for the record, I put her down, wait until she’s asleep, and leave her room, and somehow when I go up to bed myself, she’s no longer in her bed but in mine. So I do have a bed you can sleep in if you choose to stay.”

I chuckle a little. That sounds like Harper—a little stubborn and going after what she wants. “We’ll see.”

“Ready!” she yells down the stairs, and we head back up to tuck her in.

She sits on her bed, and Travis takes a seat on the floor on top of a fluffy pink rug. I look around, not sure where to sit, and then I hold up the book.

“Book first?” I ask.

Harper nods, and I walk over and sit next to her on the bed so she can follow along with the words while I read.

When I’m done with a chapter, I set the book on the nightstand.

“Do you think the dragon will figure out how to solve the curse?” Travis asks, and I chuckle, impressed that he was listening—and that he wants to know what happens next.

“I guess we’ll find out if we keep reading,” I say.

The song is next, and I sing along in my totally off-key tone to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” I stop for a beat to listen to the two of them. I’ve heard them both singing Imagine Dragons songs, but this is different. Travis has a lovely voice, which surprises me, and so does Harper.

I wasn’t expecting to learn so much about the two of them tonight.

We say goodnight, and Travis kisses her cheek before we both go back downstairs.

“Can I get you a drink?” he asks once we’re downstairs.

“What do you have?”

“Beer, wine, tequila…you name it.”

“Tito’s?”

He shakes his head. “I have some of those Absolut canned cocktails.”

“That’ll work.”

He heads to the garage and comes back with a beer for himself and a can for me, and his fingers brush mine a little as he hands it over. We both crack them open at the same time, and then he takes a seat on his couch. I join him, taking a seat with a cushion separating us.

“So,” he says awkwardly.

“Yeah.” I take a sip of my drink. “Can I ask you a question?”

He nods, and I make the mistake of looking up at him for a beat. His attractiveness is blinding, and I force my gaze away. I glance around his family room.

“Don’t get me wrong here. I’m glad you called me, but after I was such a bitch to you earlier, I can’t help but ask why you called me,” I say. I offer a light little shrug. “I thought your little black book was filled with people who could help you out.”

He reaches over and takes my hand in his, and he threads his fingers through mine. We both look at our joined hands—at the place of our connection—rather than at each other.

“I didn’t know who else to turn to,” he admits. “I knew she’d want you there…but I wanted you there, too.”

I tighten my fingers in his grasp and allow myself to gaze sideways at him. “Why?”

He doesn’t meet my gaze. “I don’t know, Victoria. I guess because I have feelings for you. Strong ones, and I don’t always know what they are or what they mean, but you were the only person who came to my mind when I was panicking as my daughter was being rushed to the hospital.”

The way he says my name like that, all deep and low and raspy—it pulses another throb between my legs.

I don’t know how to feel about that. I don’t know how to categorize that. I thought we hated each other. I thought he was a one-and-done kind of guy.

But he’s never treated me that way—barring the night he hit on me back when I was still with Owen.

He brings our joined hands up to his lips, pulling my arm so I’m forced to scoot a little closer.

“Thank you for trusting me,” I say softly.

His eyes flick to mine, and I think he’s going to lean in to kiss me, but instead he asks, “Do you want to talk about why you were so upset earlier when I came by?”

I blow out a breath. “Not really.”

“Do it anyway?” he says it in a way that it sounds like a question.

I take a bolstering sip of my drink. “There was just a lot going on, you know? My mom called to tell me my dad fell off the ladder. He’s fine, broken wrist and bruised ribs, but my sister was there to save the day.” I roll my eyes. “It made me want that ball my ex is holding onto since my dad gave it to me, so I made the mistake of calling him and arguing with him, and he told me he’d give it back if I’d go with him to my sister’s wedding.”

“What did you say?” he asks.

I clear my throat. “Uh, I sort of told him I already had a date.”

He looks surprised. “Do you?”

I snag my bottom lip between my teeth. “No. But he assumed when I said I had a date that I was talking about you,” I admit. “And I sort of let him believe it.”

“Wait a minute,” he says, and his eyes are sparkling just a little so I have a feeling he’s about to tease me. “Did you just ask me to your sister’s wedding?”

“No!” My heart starts to race as I brace myself for the rejection.

“Oh, damn. Because I was totally going to say yes if you asked.”

“Well, my sister called to let me know the wedding will be in the Bahamas in early June, and she told me she’s planning to get me back together with my ex at her wedding.” I twist my lips. “And I may have led her to believe I have a date, too. Purely as a way to get her off my back, you know.”

“She thinks you should be with him?” he asks.

I shrug. “Her future husband is best friends with my ex.”

“So? He’s a twat.” He makes a face.

I twist my lips. “You know that. I know that. She doesn’t know that.”

“Then I’m coming with you.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” I say softly. Especially not now—after what he and Harper just went through. And I have no idea how accommodations are going to work, either.

Yet…I want this to work. I want him there with me, and not just because I already told everyone he’d be there.

“You didn’t ask, remember? I’m volunteering.”

I force myself not to let my pride get in the way. “Okay.”

“Yeah?” he asks, raising his brows, and I laugh.

“Yeah. I guess I have a date to my sister’s wedding.”

He laughs. “I’m going to treat you so good you’re never going to want to let me go.”

The strangest feeling flits through me that he’s not kidding about that.