Damaged Billionaire Daddy Bear - Leela Ash Page 0,18

stairs, she could hear the excited chatter of her kids and the other little girl. Jessica frowned. She would have to remember to ask the girl her name again. The low murmur of a masculine voice drifted up to her, the sound unclear, and she felt a thrill of sensation shoot from her stomach, straight toward her heart like a punch.

What on Earth? Why was she reacting to the sound of a man’s voice in her home? She hadn’t felt a single thing for any man since Patrick, but ever since she walked into Angel Springs, she had felt disturbing things around Theodore and now, this man, whoever he was, had managed to make her feel … something, with his masculine timbre.

With a curious frown, she stepped down the stairs the rest of the way and entered into the living room. The man’s dark head was bent as he knelt at his daughter’s feet, studiously tying the laces of her shoes.

The sight was so poignant and tender that Jessica’s heart turned over in her chest. The man lifted his head just then and rose to his feet, and her mouth went dry as he turned to face her — Theodore!

No. It couldn’t be, she thought swallowing. He had a kid?

A flash of surprise crossed his face too, but he stayed silent.

His eyes were another matter, however. They flicked down the length of her smooth, well-shaven legs, exposed by the short hem of her shorts, which stopped just at her upper thigh. He lazily lifted those same eyes all the way up her body, lingering, oh-so-briefly, on her breasts before continuing upward to her face.

She felt scalded by the flash of raw heat and burning need reflected in their green depths. His gaze was so intense that it almost felt as though he had reached out and touched her, and without warning, a rush of wetness pooled right between her legs as though begging for his touch.

Her lips parted in an unconscious expression of lust, and her tongue flicked out to moisten her suddenly dry lips. His gaze dropped to her lips and something dark and feral reared in the depths of his eyes. Jessica realized what she was doing and took a hurried step backwards, for self-preservation.

“Is she your kid?” Jessica asked, unable to believe he could have produced someone so wonderful and amazing like … What was the girl’s name?

At just that moment, Ari crowed, “Yayyyy. Mom is here. Mom, this is Carla’s dad.”

Carla? That was the same name he had said the other day. He had been talking about his daughter, she realized now, refusing to examine her relief too closely.

Jessica forced a smile for the children’s benefit, “Mr. Cooper is … sort of my boss while we’re here. We’ve met.”

A look of surprised amusement crossed his face, and Jessica could almost hear his thoughts. She had given him plenty of sass in the few days she had been here, so he could be forgiven for being surprised that she referred to him as her boss. Truth was, somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to give him any cheek in front of the kids. It was obvious that Carla worshipped the very ground he walked on, so whatever else her own reservations about the man might be, she definitely couldn’t make his kid see him in an unflattering light. It would be unconscionable.

“Great. Now, let’s go. I want to go swimming!” Carla announced, as she bounded out the door, with Kal and Ari on her heels.

“Don’t run,” Theodore called after her.

“,Okay, Teddy Bear!” she called back quickly, even as she continued racing the other kids to the car as if he hadn’t said a word.

Theodore looked at her quickly, and his breath caught as though he were hoping she hadn’t heard the nickname.

“Teddy… Bear?” Jessica asked, trying not to burst into laughter.

He gave her a dark look, “Don’t you dare.”

She held up both hands in mock surrender at once. He speared her with those piercing eyes for some more minutes before he grunted, apparently satisfied at her suitably somber expression, and followed the kids out.

As she locked up, Jessica reflected that she could get Teddy; after all, his name was Theodore, but bear…? She shook her head. Carla Cooper had her father’s number, if nothing else, she decided.

The little girl could be depended upon to keep him in line. She was really loving that girl more and more with every passing second, Jessica thought, chuckling as she recalled the