Ashley perked up from her intense session of hair twirling and beamed at Brody. She really was quite pretty and it pissed me off. She’d look great on Brody’s arm, I thought, letting out a heavy sigh.

“Not good, not good at all,” Fred answered, running his hands through his salt and pepper hair and getting up from the couch. “Okay, you crazy kids, I’m off to bed. Gotta get up early and make sure the inn didn’t float away.”

Out the back door he went, making his way to his cozy apartment above the garage. I had been in it quite a few times. It smelled of cigars and was full of hot rod memorabilia. It was a comfortable place that fit Fred perfectly. I loved having him there.

“Wanna watch a movie, when she’s done?” I heard Ashley whisper not-so-quietly to Brody. I was instantly annoyed that I felt like a nuisance in my own home as I started rinsing the dishes and loading them into the dishwasher faster. The last thing I wanted to see was the two of them all snuggled up on the couch, watching TV together.

“We’ll see, I’m pretty tired after today.” Brody smiled politely at her.

I looked up and saw her make that awful pouty face again. Someone should really tell her how unattractive she looked when she did that.

“Awww, come on. I’m not sleepy yet.” She whined like a child.

“Sorry, Ashley. My girlfriend probably wouldn’t be too happy with me spending the evening shacked up on the couch with a stranger either.” He patted her on the shoulder and walked over, rifling through his duffel bag.

Girlfriend? He has a girlfriend? Bummer.

I wasn’t really shocked though. He seemed charming and charismatic with the most infectious smile I had ever seen, not to mention hot as hell. I was immediately drawn to him, it’s no surprise that others were as well.

“Mom, will you read us a bedtime story?” Lucy came into the kitchen, snapping me out of my thoughts. She was wearing her favorite Strawberry Shortcake pajamas and had an armful of books.

“I want Pinkalicious,” pleaded Piper, following right behind her.

“Sure, I just have to finish the kitchen real quick,” I answered, rinsing out the big chili pot.

“No! I want If You Give A Moose A Muffin,” whined Lucy.

Piper squeezed her little hands into fists and tensed her arms down at her sides, ready for an argument, but I stepped in.

“Ok, I’ll finish this later. How about we read both?” I tossed my sponge in the sink and turned to the girls, desperate to diffuse the potential argument in front of Ashley and Brody.

I heard Ashley giggle from the couch, and I had to fight the urge to snatch the book out of Piper’s hand and whip it at Ashley’s forehead like a Frisbee.

“Yay!” Lucy and Piper both cheered, as we turned down the hall toward their bedroom.

About an hour later, I woke up in Lucy’s bed with the girls snuggled up on either side of me, sound asleep. Their favorite book, Pinkalicious, was open and laying on my chest. We were all so warm and toasty, I was tempted to pull the blanket up and go to sleep right there with them. Remembering the mess I’d left in the kitchen, I forced myself out of her bed, tucking them in on my way out.

I walked to the end of the hall, turned toward the kitchen and stopped in my tracks. Not only was the dishwasher running, but the counters were clear, the table had been wiped down and all the leftovers had been put away. Alexa’s flowers were sitting perfectly in the center of the island. I looked around and the only person left downstairs was Brody, who was sitting on the living room couch watching SportsCenter.

“Wow! It looks great in here,” I called out. “Do I have you to thank for this?”

“Hey!” he said, getting up from the couch and coming over into the kitchen. “Yeah, I thought I would help out. It’s the least I could do, ya know, as a thank you for letting me stay here.” He leaned his hip against the edge of the island and folded his muscular arms across his chest, giving me a sincere smile.

God, those dimples might be the death of me. They were like two little secret weapons perfectly placed on his cheeks, ready to strike at any moment and bring you to your knees.

“Well, thank you for this,” I said, waving toward the kitchen. “I was sure I’d be elbow deep in chili grease until midnight.”

“No problem. It also gave me an excuse to blow off Ashley.” He laughed, his eyes wide.

“She was laying it on pretty thick, huh?”

“Ugh,” he groaned. “She was obnoxious. She’s as intelligent as this countertop, and her laugh was really starting to get on my nerves.”

“Did she back off once you told her about your girlfriend?” I tried to be coy when I asked, when really I wanted to know every disgusting detail about his relationship. How long had they been together? Were they serious? Was he going to marry her? Then I wanted her phone number so I could tastelessly call her and ask her what this sexy creature was like in bed.

“Yeah, she pouted … again and went up to bed.” A mischievous grin crossed his face. “But … I don’t have a girlfriend.”

My heart leapt into my throat.

“What? But … I thought I heard…”

“I just told her that so she’d leave me alone.” He chuckled like he was pretty proud of himself.

“Oh, well, your secret is safe with me.” I zipped my lip shut and smiled at him nervously. For some reason, I felt safer when I thought he had a girlfriend. Since Zach and I split, I had been so careful and precise about what type of man I was willing to allow myself to get close to. I wasn’t about to throw that all away on one charming stranger with a smile that could melt glass.

“I was looking at the pictures your mom has out. There are lots of you and the girls. Are you an only child?” He walked over to the fridge, grabbed the orange juice and set it on the island.

“Yep, just me.”

“I also noticed that there wasn’t a guy in any of the pictures with you and the girls, and your mom mentioned you were single. Where’s the girls’ dad?” He poured juice into two glasses and slid one toward me.

I raised the glass to my lips slowly in a desperate attempt to stall answering his questions. I never talked about Zach with my best friend, let alone someone I had known for a handful of hours.

“Uh … he’s gone.” My plan was to use the vaguest answers I possibly could.

“Hmm.” He looked down at his glass for a minute, contemplating his next question. “Was he ever around? Does he know the girls? Does he see them?”

My eyes widened as I took a deep breath, overwhelmed with the avalanche of personal questions he was dumping on me all at once.

He must have noticed the hesitation on my face and put his hands up in front of him. “Whoa, I’m so sorry. That was really pushy of me.”

I looked down and smiled shyly, picking at an imaginary spot on the counter.

When I didn’t respond, he continued, “Listen, I really am sorry. I don’t normally turn into Dr. Phil when talking to a pretty girl. I guess I was just trying to find something to talk about so that you wouldn’t turn around and go back down that hall to bed. Let’s talk about something else.” He looked around the room, scrambling for something new to talk about. “So, how about this weather?”