No Matter What (The Billionaires of Sawgrass #4) - Delaney Cameron Page 0,67
you.” Owen released the rung, and Reece lowered him to the ground. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
Owen shook his head, a huge grin on his face. “Let’s do it again!”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
As Robin watched this process repeat itself, she reached a startling conclusion. Reece didn’t just have a way with children. He’d done a number on her as well. The man she’d once hoped to never meet had slowly but surely taken possession of her heart. Admitting it was something of a relief even if it only explained the conflict going on inside her. It could never be anything but an idea in her head. There might not be a rule about dating stepbrothers, but there probably should be.
By the time she got the text from Kait telling her it was time to eat, Owen could get to the third rung without assistance, and Robin had convinced herself that she could hide this unfortunate discovery from not only Reece, but more importantly, from her eagle-eyed roommate.
On the way back to the pavilion, Owen ran ahead, which gave her a chance to thank Reece for working with him.
“You’re a miracle worker. Kait and I have been trying to get Owen on the monkey bars for weeks. How did you do it?”
“I noticed that he kept avoiding them. So while he was on the other side, I gave him a little demonstration. After a few minutes, he walked over and asked if I’d show him how to do it.”
“Owen wasn’t the only one to get something out of it. You’re getting in practice for when you’re an uncle.”
“Funny you should say that,” he said, smiling. “I was talking to Addison only this morning. Based on some dubious evidence, she’s convinced she’s having a boy. One method involved the way her wedding ring moved when put on a string and held over her belly.”
“It does sound dubious, but who’s to say there isn’t some grain of truth in it. My only experience being around a pregnant woman was Piper. She said all along she was having a boy, and she turned out to be right. I put it down to mother’s intuition.”
“That must be the same intuition that lets a woman know when her kids are up to something. I never got away with anything growing up. It didn’t stop me from trying, though.”
“I was the opposite. I did my best to avoid getting in trouble or bringing unwanted attention to myself. I preferred to blend in. For the most part, I was successful. The one exception was the day I got into a fight at school.”
“Even the most timid person has a breaking point. What was the fight over?”
“A boy. Totally not worth it.”
The disgust in her tone got him laughing. “We usually aren’t. How old were you?”
“Thirteen. One of the girls in my class liked the same boy as me. I found out she’d told him things about me that weren’t true. What started as name-calling turned into a hair-pulling, bodies-down-on-the-cafeteria-floor brawl. Along with being the laughingstock of the school, we also got a week’s suspension. If that wasn’t enough humiliation, the boy at the root of the problem asked another girl to the homecoming dance. I guess he wasn’t impressed with our efforts.”
“Teenage boys aren’t very smart. Their hormones make most of the decisions.”
“That reminds me. Did you ever give flying lessons to the nephew of Maxine’s friend?”
Reece scratched his head. “From hormones to flying lessons. The way your mind works is fascinating.”
“Not really. The nephew was a teenager, wasn’t he?”
“Seventeen to be exact, and the answer to your other question is yes. Billy only has his solo flight left.”
“It’s scary to think of someone so young flying a plane.”
“I was sixteen when I started.”
“I wouldn’t call your situation normal.”
“Thanks a lot,” he murmured, giving her a gentle nudge with his shoulder.
Tendrils of warmth fanned down her arm to her fingers. This wasn’t the first time she’d reacted oddly to Reece’s touch. It happened last weekend when they stood on the wing of Scooter’s plane. “You didn’t let me finish. Your father is a pilot. You’ve spent your whole life around planes. It’s only natural you would learn to fly at an early age.”
“I never wanted to do anything else.”
Robin’s glance shifted to Owen. “I wonder if it will be the same for him. At the moment, Owen wants to be an astronaut.”
Reece lowered his head to avoid a tree branch. “There are worse things. He