Unexpected Packages Read online

  “How many do you want?”

  “I always thought that I would have two or three. What about you? Do you want more kids?” I held my breath after I asked, waiting for him to tell me that he was done.

  He surprised me when he grinned. “I always pictured myself with four kids.”

  “You did?”

  “Yep, I did.”

  “Do you still want four?”

  “If I find the right woman, yeah.” He studied me for a moment, and then laughed. “Why do you think I drive such a large vehicle?”

  “I wondered about that. That’s a big car for a single man.”

  “Yeah, but actually, I need to carry a lot of gear with me for training. Besides I like big, sturdy vehicles. I’d drive a Hummer if I could, but it’s a gas guzzler.”

  The mention of the Hummer reminded me of his military career. “How long were you in?”

  “I did my twenty and was ready to get out as soon as I could retire.”

  “Do you miss it?”

  “Not really. Sometimes I do, but I did my job, and it was time to move on. I was getting too old to be rolling around in the dust.” He chuckled. “I’d rather enjoy the comforts of a warm bed and hot meals regularly now.”

  “Oh, is that all?” I snickered, and his eyes grew serious as he tilted my chin upwards.

  “No, that’s not all. I want a woman in my life. I want a family; I want a future.”

  I got lost in his gaze, my body turning more fully toward him. “You do?”

  “Yeah, I do.” He hesitated briefly. “And I think you might just be that woman, Lexi.”

  “Really? How can you be so sure?”

  “I’m not sure of anything, but I know that I can’t get you off my mind, and every time you are around, I want to get lost in you. I want to know everything about you. I want to know who you are, who you were, and be there to see who you will become.”

  My heart began to speed up a bit. “Are you serious? Or are you trying to get me into bed, Alex?”

  He gave me a lopsided smile. “Oh, I’d love to get you into my bed, or yours, but I want more than that, Lexi. You make me want more than that. What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “Do you want to get to know me more? Do you want to see where this can go with us?”

  The word left my lips on a sigh. “Yes.”

  He leaned forward and kissed me again. “Good, then let’s see where this goes, because I’ve always followed my instincts, and right now, they are telling me to grab ahold of you and never let go.”

  I began to blink rapidly as I felt moisture begin to fill my eyes. “I like your instincts.”

  He brushed his knuckles over my cheek and smiled. “Yeah, I do too.”

  He dropped his hand and stepped back, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket and looking at something. He laughed and glanced over my shoulder at his daughter. “We were caught.” He held his phone out to me, and there was a picture of the two of us staring at one another, his hand touching my face.

  To someone who didn’t know, you might think that the two people in the photo were deeply in love. Was it possible to fall in love with someone so quickly?

  “Whoops, busted.” I winced as I glanced at his daughter. She was grinning from ear to ear. “We should save this for later, I guess.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” He put his arm around my waist, and the two of us joined Nica. For the rest of the afternoon, the three of us laughed and enjoyed the exhibits. Instead of eating the overpriced food in the onsite cafe, we opted to wait until after we left and stopped at a steakhouse on the way home for a late lunch, early dinner.

  Over our meal, Alex kept his hand on my thigh under the table as we listened to Nica talk about cheerleading, school, and her boyfriend. We were just finishing dinner when Nica asked for my phone.

  “Why?”

  “Because I want your cellphone number so I can send you information about the next competition.”

  I slid my phone over to her and watched as she messed with it. I was always amazed by young people and their ability to deal with technology so quickly. Alex glanced at his phone and laughed after it vibrated on the table.

  “What?”

  “Oh, she just sent me a text from your phone. So now, I have your number.”

  “Hey, if you two are going to be dating, then you need to have each other’s phone numbers.”

  “Good idea,” I told Nica.

  “Right!”

  “Yeah, good idea,” he agreed.

  When we left the restaurant, the snow was starting to fall, and Nica sat in the back seat reading the weather forecast. “We are supposed to get eight inches by morning.”

  “Then we will have plenty to make a snowman tomorrow,” Alex replied.

  “Do you want to help us, Lexi?” Nica asked me.

  “Um, we’ll see. I have some work to get done. I was going to work on it today, but since I was with you, I’ll have to focus on it tomorrow.”

  “Okay, well, we will let you know when we go out. Maybe you can join us for an hour.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  When we arrived back at the apartment building, Nica asked Alex for his keys.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m going to go back to your apartment so you can walk Lexi to hers. That’s what you are supposed to do on a date, Dad. Where are your manners?”

  The two of us chuckled as he tossed her his keys, and she darted down the hall with a quick goodbye over her shoulder.

  We held hands as we went up the stairs, and I suddenly wished that his daughter wasn’t staying with him so that I could invite him in. After being with him all day, and the soft touches and sporadic kisses, I was dying for more.

  Neither of us spoke as we reached my door, and I unlocked it and pushed it open. He lifted a brow. “May I come in for a moment?”

  I nodded, and he followed me in. The door was barely closed before he was turning me in his arms and his lips were crashing over mine. I clung to him, wanting so badly to start removing his clothes and drag him back to my room. Sadly, I knew that wasn’t going to happen.

  He pulled back, resting his forehead on mine. “One of these days, I’m going to come all the way into your apartment.”

  “You think so?”

  “Yeah, I know so, and when I do, I’m going to kiss every inch of your gorgeous body.”

  A spiral of desire twirled around my spine and headed south. “I think I’d like that.”

  “Oh, baby, I know you will.” He grew contemplative for a moment. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing.”

  “Okay, then after I drop Nica off, maybe we can at least move from the foyer to the couch.”

  I laughed softly and stood on tiptoe. “I think that might be a good move.”

  Chapter Ten

  All

  I was floating on cloud nine after I left Lexi’s apartment. I had been serious earlier today about wanting to see where this would go. I knew that I was definitely on track to fall in love with her, and I had a feeling that she was starting to feel the same way.

  I let myself into my apartment and locked the door behind me. After hanging up my coat, I found Nica lying on the sofa, flipping through channels. She turned to me. “I figured you’d be longer.”

  “Why is that?”

  She grinned at me. “I thought you two might want to make out a little bit.”

  “Veronica—”

  She put her hand up. “Oh, save it, Dad. I’m a big girl now; I already told you I know all about it.”

  “Stop growing up. You are not allowed to get any older.”

  “Whatever, Dad.” She returned her attention to the television. “Do you want to watch another movie?”

  “Sure, but let me change.”

  “Oh, good idea. I’ll go put pj’s on too, and we can make some popcorn.”

  With a plan, I went into my bedroom and closed the do
or. I slipped my phone out of the pocket of my pants and brought up the picture that Nica had taken of Lexi and me. We made a handsome couple, and I found myself grinning as I saved the image and then sent it to Lexi.

  Thought you might want a copy of this, I wrote in the text. A moment later she replied, Yes, thank you.

  I said good night to her, and she did the same a moment later. I changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt and went back to the living room where my daughter was wearing fuzzy pink plaid pants and a gray shirt. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and she looked like the little girl that she was supposed to be. I hated that I had missed so much of her life and swore that if I ever did have the chance to have more kids, I would spend as much time with them as I could.

  Nica and I ended up watching two movies, and then she went to bed. I turned on the news to catch up on what was going on, and then after the weather, I turned off the lights and went to bed.

  I found myself staring at the picture of us again and wanted so badly to talk to her. She was probably asleep, but I sent her a quick message. Sleep well.

  A moment later, my phone buzzed. I might be able to if you didn’t wake me up. She sent me an emoji with a lopsided smile.

  Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

  It’s okay, I just climbed in bed.

  By yourself?

  Of course, I’m by myself. Did you think I brought my other boyfriend over after you left?

  I latched on to the boyfriend word immediately, I’m your boyfriend now?

  I don’t know, are you?

  Well, damn. Yeah, I wanted to be her boyfriend; in all honesty, I wanted to be more than that. What would Ralph say?

  There was a long pause before an answer came through, and I realized it wasn’t because I’d upset her, but because it took a while to type. Ralph is eleven years older than me. He’s a nice man, but not my type. He also doesn’t want any more kids, and I do want at least one someday.

  I thought you wanted two or three kids?

  I do, but if I can only have one, then I’ll be happy with one. Before I could reply, she sent another message. I can’t believe we are talking about kids.

  Hey, it’s an important topic for people our age.

  How old are you?

  38, U?

  My birthday is next week, I will be 33.

  What day?

  Wednesday.

  Let me take you out to dinner Wednesday night to celebrate.

  You don’t have to.

  I want to.

  Okay.

  And Ralph?

  It was another long pause before her reply arrived, but this one she seemed to have contemplated. Ralph who?

  I laughed. I like that answer. You get some sleep, Lexi. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Thanks again for a great day. Wish you were here with me.

  Night, Alexander Miller. Maybe someday. Sleep well.

  Someday? We’ll see about that. Night, Alexandra Miller. Say hi to the rabbit for me.

  She sent back a bunch of laughing emojis but didn’t type anything else, and I plugged my phone in to charge. I curled on my side and grinned. I really did like that woman, and I was excited to see where things would go from here.

  Nica was curled on the couch the next morning watching television when I got up. I peered out the window, wincing at the brightness reflecting off the snow. “Wow, we really did get a lot.”

  “Yeah, the weatherman said we got all eight inches. What time do you want to go out and build that snowman?”

  “Well, let’s eat breakfast, and then I need to check my emails. We can go out after that. Do you have homework?”

  “Yeah, I did some earlier when I got up, but I can work on more after breakfast.”

  With a plan set, the two of us made pancakes and bacon, and then went our separate ways to do our work. I was tempted to send Lexi a text, but I controlled the impulse. I didn’t want to scare her off or appear needy.

  We were getting dressed to head out when Nica came to my bedroom door. “I asked Lexi if she wanted to join us, but she said she is still working. She wanted to know if we wanted to come up for chili after we were done outside. She said she just put a big pot of chili on.”

  “That’s fine if you’d like to do that.”

  “I already told her we would.”

  I laughed. “Why did you even ask me?”

  “I didn’t. I told you she invited us; you are the one that thought it was a question.”

  “Nica, you are too much like a woman, stop it.”

  She called over her shoulder as she disappeared, “Whatever, Dad. You love me.”

  “I do!” I yelled after her.

  Nica and I were outside for hours, and I could barely feel my fingers. Both of our faces were red from the cold, but we’d accomplished our mission, and we had built two snowmen. A few other kids came outside, and after finishing the snowmen, we got into a snowball fight with a few of them.

  When my stomach grumbled, I slipped the sleeve of my coat back and saw it was almost two. “Hey, Nica, we should get inside and see if Lexi still wants us to come up for lunch.”

  A few minutes later, we were back inside and stripping the wet clothes off. I went to change my clothes as I hadn’t had as much protection as Nica had. She knocked on my door as I pulled my pants up. “Lexi said to come up whenever.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’m going up now. I’ll see you up there.”

  “Hey, wait for me.”

  “Nope, you’re old and slow. See ya.”

  “Nica!” I yelled and grabbed the doorknob to pull it open. Just as I did, I heard the one to the hallway close. I laughed to myself. I hope Lexi didn’t mind her coming up alone.

  I took a moment to recheck my email and had to reply to a few things before I finally made my way up to her apartment. I knocked and was surprised when Nica answered it.

  “Why are you answering her door?”

  She shrugged. “Because I knew it was you, and she told me to.”

  I stepped in and closed the door behind me. I could hear noise in the kitchen off to the right and peered around the corner. “Hello.”

  “Hi to you. Sounds like you and Nica had a good time.”

  I stepped around the corner, glancing around her kitchen. It was the same design as mine, but it was decorated a little more and had a lot more stuff on the counter. She lifted the lid to the pot on the slow cooker, and I leaned over her shoulder to get a big whiff. “Smells great.”

  She shifted so that we were face-to-face. “Glad you think so.”

  I stared at her for a moment and then leaned forward to touch my lips to hers. She smelled great, not just the food, and both made me hungry for different reasons. Maybe tonight I would get a chance to sample her menu.

  I took a seat at her table as Nica helped her serve the food. Not only did we have chili, but she’d made fresh cornbread too. Nica talked almost nonstop through lunch, and when we were done, she brought her cellphone over to the table and showed Lexi and me videos of her last competition and some other videos of them practicing what she called stunts.

  I took the phone out of her hand and rewound the video a bit. “That’s really you?”

  “Um, yeah.”

  “I had no idea you could do that.” She was bouncing and flipping, and I was astounded.

  “That’s a double back handspring into a tuck. I actually just mastered doing a tuck from a standing position.”

  “A what?”

  “A tuck. You tuck yourself into a ball and go backward in the air.”

  I shook my head, amazed as Lexi laughed. “That’s not easy to do. I never mastered a tuck. I could do a double back handspring, but that’s as far as I ever got.”

  “It has taken a lot of practice,” Nica commented.

  We helped Lexi clear the table, and Nica went into the living room to text one of her friends while I stood watching Lexi put the leftovers away. I let my gaze drift around her apartment, taking in the photographs on the w
all and the cozy furniture placed just right. It felt homey and comfortable, and I liked it. My gaze went back to her, and I sure as hell loved watching her.

  She had just put the chili in the fridge when I grabbed her arm and pulled her to stand in front of me. I spread my feet wider as I leaned back against her counter and pulled her in between my thighs.

  “Thank you for lunch.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  I cupped her cheek. “Can I still come back and see you this evening? Or have you had your fill of me already?”

  She tilted her head as if she were dwelling on her answer. “I think you can come over.”

  I pulled her lips to mine, kissing her slowly. “You realize that when I do come back, I’m going to want to do a lot of that.”

  “What, kiss me?”

  “Yes, anywhere I can reach.”

  She shivered slightly, and I saw the desire fill her gaze. “Maybe I’ll let you.”

  I leaned forward, touching my nose to hers. “Oh, you’ll let me, and you’ll love every minute of it.”

  “You think so, huh?” She snickered.

  “I know so, baby.” I kissed her one more time. “I should be back around eight.”

  “Alright, drive safely.” She told me before she backed out of my arms.

  “Come on, Nica, we need to get back downstairs. I have to answer a few more emails before I take you home.”

  “Alright.” She bounced off the couch and came to stand beside me in the kitchen, glancing down at something on the counter. “Hey, why is Dad’s mail in your apartment?”

  I turned to see what she was looking at and laughed. “Oh, that’s right. I didn’t tell you. Her name is really Alexandra Miller.”

  She glanced between the two of us. “Are you serious?”

  Lexi nodded.

  “Oh, that’s cool. So when you marry my dad, you won’t even have to change your name.”

  My jaw dropped. “Hey, now. No one said anything about marriage here, Nica.”

  She laughed loudly. “Well, I did get you to admit you liked her, and now you two are girlfriend and boyfriend, right?”

  Lexi and I glanced at one another. “Maybe,” I said.

  “Yeah, well, after that stage, it’s marriage. I can totally see you two getting married.”