SADIE

I might’ve been more nervous than the first time that I climbed these stairs. Though today I didn’t really have a reason to be. Everything was out in the open now. Sebastian and I had exchanged a few emails, and he’d invited me back to the house. Yet for some reason, I had a really bad case of the jitters.

I took a few deep, cleansing breaths and knocked. A minute later, Birdie opened the door. Her entire face lit up, and she practically knocked me over wrapping her arms around my waist in a hug.

“Sadie! You’re back!”

Though we hadn’t discussed it, I had just assumed that Sebastian would tell his daughter I was coming today.

“Hey! Yes, I’m back. Didn’t you know I was coming?”

The voice that answered wasn’t Birdie’s. “I thought it would be a nice surprise for her, so I didn’t mention it.”

Well, I guess we were both surprised, then. Because I thought for sure Sebastian wouldn’t be home today. I bent to hug Birdie and looked up at him. He smiled, though I could see the hesitancy in his face.

“Hi. I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“Disappointed?”

Just the opposite. Although I wasn’t sure I could go through with impersonating a dog trainer in front of him now that he knew I wasn’t one.

I shook my head. “No, not at all.”

Marmaduke squeezed his way between Sebastian and Birdie and jumped up on me. He licked my face with his giant, wet tongue, which made Birdie giggle. The sound felt like a salve for a wound that I’d been nursing the past few weeks.

I scratched Marmaduke’s ears. “Hey, buddy. It’s good to see you, too. I think you grew two feet in a few weeks. You’re getting so big so fast.”

Sebastian tugged at the dog’s collar. “Down, Marmaduke. Platz!”

Shockingly, he listened.

“Uhh. Sorry about that.” His eyes dropped to my chest. “His new hobby is digging in the plants. I guess that’s what he was doing right before he came to the door.”

I looked down to find two giant dirt paw prints, one right over each of my boobs. I attempted to brush them from my white T-shirt. “It’s fine. It will come out in the wash.”

Sebastian’s eyes stared at the mess again. He shook his head and mumbled something under his breath before opening the door wide. “Come in.”

Once we were in the living room, he spoke to Birdie. “Sweetheart, why don’t you go get yourself dressed?”

“Okay!” She literally skipped to her room.

Sebastian caught my gaze. “She’s excited to see you.”

I smiled. “The feeling is mutual.”

His eyes roamed my face, and I got the feeling he was gauging my sincerity. Seeming like he found what he saw acceptable, he nodded. “Thank you for agreeing to come back.”

“I know I’ve said it in emails. But I really am sorry for everything that happened. One little lie just spiraled into another and before I knew it, I didn’t know how to get myself out of it. But I promise you. My intentions were never anything but good when it comes to your daughter.”

Sebastian arched a brow. “Just my daughter? Does that mean you have bad intentions with me?”

Uh, yeah. I have very bad intentions when it comes to you. I felt my cheeks start to heat. Luckily, Birdie ran back out and gave me an excuse to hide my face.

“Sadie, do you know how to braid?”

“I do. Would you like me to braid your hair?”

She jumped up and down. “Yes, please!”

“What kind would you like?”

Sebastian’s forehead wrinkled. “There’s more than one kind of braid?”

I laughed. “There are hundreds of kinds.” Turning back to Birdie, I asked, “What about a fishtail braid? Those are my favorite.”

She nodded fast. “I love fishtail braids!”

“Why don’t you go grab a brush?”

When she ran back out of the room, I noticed Sebastian was staring at me. I put my hand on my chest. “Oh my God. Did I overstep? I should have asked you if it was okay.”

He raised his hand. “No. No. It’s fine. I appreciate it. Her hair has always been something I struggle with.”

“Oh, okay. If you’d like, I could show you how to make the braid while I do it.”

“That would be great, actually.”

When Birdie came back out with a hairbrush, I took a seat on the couch, and she sat between my legs. Sebastian sat next to me.

God, he smelled so good. I wondered what cologne he wore. It had a woodsy but clean smell . . . perhaps with a little leather thrown in and some . . . what was that . . . eucalyptus? I bet he kept it in the bathroom. Maybe I could . . .

Jesus, Sadie, what the hell is wrong with you? I internally scolded myself. You’re here for Birdie. The last thing you need to do is get caught exploring the medicine cabinet. I forced myself to ignore the pheromones wafting through the air and focus on Birdie’s hair.

After brushing out the tangles, I gathered her hair into a pony and then divided the hair into two equal sections. Lifting one, I explained, “You just take a small section from here.” I demonstrated as I spoke. “And you flip it like this before adding it to the inner side like this.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll show you a few more times, and then you can give it a try.”

Sebastian looked on as I weaved sections of hair into a symmetrical pattern. I kept going until he could start to see how the braid resembled a fish’s tail.

“I get where it got its name now,” he said.

I smiled. “Birdie, do you mind if we take a few extra minutes to do this? I’m going to unbraid you and let your dad take a shot.”

She laughed. “He braids worse than he makes pancakes. But okay.”

I reversed the weaving I’d done and ran my fingers through her hair while talking to Sebastian. “Birdie told me you own a restaurant. How do you not make great pancakes?”

His face grew solemn. “My wife was a chef. I ran the business end of the restaurant.”

I frowned. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

He nodded.

“Alright, well, let me scoot over, and you give it a try now.” I made room for Sebastian to sit behind his daughter and then leaned close to watch and give him step-by-step directions. “Separate the pony into two, and take a small section and flip it before you add it to the inside, like I showed you.”

Sebastian took Birdie’s hair and separated it, but that was as far as he got. He held on to the pieces of her hair and chuckled. “I have no clue what the hell you just did.”

Smiling, I reached over and covered his hand with mine so that I could guide his movements and he could get the feel of the motion of weaving the braid. The gesture was innocent enough, but my hands hugging his felt absolutely electrifying. It rattled me so much that I forgot how the hell to make the damn braid myself. “Umm. You put this one over here . . . No wait . . . that’s not right . . . this goes over there.” Honestly, I needed to let go of him if I had any chance of Birdie walking out the door without looking like a rat had nested on top of her head.

Sebastian tried in earnest to continue without me, but he was just lost.

Eventually, he sighed. “Why don’t you just do it, or we might be here all day.”