skidded to a stop in front of him and wriggled in place, suddenly shy. “Hi.”
“Happy Thanksgiving, Sylvie. Love your hat.”
“It’s red.” She pointed at the cluster of knit daisies over her left ear. “With flowers.”
“And very pretty.”
“Mommy ties it double for me so it won’t come undone.”
“Ah.” Darius shot Ava a glance full of humor—and something else that made her knees go weak.
“Would you please help me untie it?” Sylvie stretched her neck and pointed at the double-knotted bow.
“Let’s see here...” He dropped to a crouch in front of her and went right to work.
At the same time, the doorbell chimed and Clara turned to let in the next guest, her half sister Jody. Ava willed her pulse to slow the heck down and made herself stride over to where Dare knelt before her little girl.
Those big hands with their long, clever fingers made short work of the knot. He pulled one end of the bow, and it fell open. “There you go.”
Sylvie scooped off the hat, causing her caramel-colored hair to spark and crackle with static. She giggled, “I’m ’lectric!”
“You sure are.” Dare’s low chuckle set Ava’s nerves humming.
Sylvie stuck out her little hand and patted his rock-like shoulder. “Thank you very much.”
“You’re welcome.” He rose as Annabelle Bravo, all plump cheeks, thick dark hair and big brown eyes, raced down from upstairs. With a quick wave at Ava, she reached the main floor and headed straight for her best friend. “Sylvie! Finally. Come on. Aunt Clara let me make a fort with blankets upstairs in a spare room. Kiera helped.” Kiera was Clara and Dalton’s toddler.
Sylvie shed her coat and handed it and the hat to Ava. “Can I, Mom?”
“Sure.” Annabelle already had Sylvie’s hand and was pulling her toward the stairs at a run. “Okay, you two,” Ava called after them. “No running in the house.”
Annabelle slowed. “Sorry, Ava.” The two girls giggled together and proceeded up the stairs at a slower pace, leaving Ava alone at that end of the hall with the one man she didn’t want to be anywhere near at the moment.
But then Clara and Jody, who had disappeared into the makeshift coatroom, emerged and came toward them.
Ava thought of poor Nick Yancy, Jody’s friend. “Jody! How are you?”
“Okay.” Jody didn’t look okay. Shadows rimmed her eyes, and her smile was forced.
Clara gave her half sister’s arm a fond pat and went on into the great room, while Ava wrapped Jody in a hug and whispered, “My mom told me about Nick. I’m so very sorry.”
Jody held on for an extra few seconds and admitted softly, “It’s awful. He was such a sweet guy. I still don’t really believe it...”
Ava murmured a few more soft condolences. She added, “I heard the funeral’s Sunday afternoon.” Her mom had called her yesterday with the information. “My parents know Nick’s stepdad, but they’re out of town for the holiday. I’m going to try to put in an appearance Sunday, represent the family...”
“That’s good of you, Ava. Nick and I had only been friends for a few months...” Jody’s voice trailed off as though she didn’t know quite what to say next.
Who did in a situation like this?
Ava took her by the shoulders and held her gaze. “If I can do anything. Anything.”
“Thanks. You’re a sweetheart.” Jody put on a smile.
Ava released her.
Jody moved on to Darius, who greeted her with open arms and a fond, “Hey, little sister...”
Ava saw her opportunity to escape him and grabbed it. She turned for the relative safety of the master suite—after all, she needed to stash the outerwear, didn’t she?
In the bedroom, she added the two coats and Sylvie’s red hat to the growing pile on the king-size bed. And then, stalling a little to give Darius time to wander back to the great room, she popped into the bathroom to smooth her hair and make sure she didn’t have lipstick on her teeth.
Her hair looked fine and her teeth were lipstick-free. But her eyes had a glazed sort of look and her face was flushed all the way down to the scoop neckline of her favorite cashmere sweater. Really, she needed to settle the heck down.
“Chill,” she whispered softly to her wild-eyed reflection. “Deep breaths.” She took her own advice, breathing slowly in and out through her nose, reminding herself that a good man had died on Monday and so what if she’d said something ridiculous to Darius. “Get over it. Move on.”
There was a soft tap on the door. “Ava? You all right?” Darius. Oh. My. God. Her face flamed anew. “Ava?”
She gulped to clear her clutching throat and called, “I’m great. Terrific.”
“You sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“You sound strange.”
“Darius, I’m fine.”
“I’ll just wait here until you come out.”
She stifled a groan and glared at her reflection in the mirror and knew she had to stop being an idiot and open the damn door.
“Ava?”
She yanked it wide. “What?” she growled at him.
And he smiled that same slow, knowing smile he’d given her seventeen years ago right after he told her that someday she would say yes to him. “You look kind of flushed. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am fine. You can go.”
He didn’t budge. “About the other day, I—”
“Oh, please.” She waved her hand so wildly, she almost hit her nose with it. “You know that was nothing.”
“No.” He said it way too softly. “I don’t know that, Ava. In fact, I’m thinking it was definitely something.”
“And I’m telling you it wasn’t and you should forget it.”
He leaned closer, bringing that scent of leather and wood shavings and something else, too, something wonderfully manly that she couldn’t quite name. “Forget it?” he spoke softly, almost a whisper, his breath warm across her cheek and his eyes like the sky when night comes on. “You offered to be naked. There’s no way I’m forgetting that.”
Her heart felt like it would explode from her chest and splatter all over the room. Her pulse pounded loud and hard in her ears. How could she
