“Can you please not say that?” Violet pled. “Eli’s in the other room. We don’t need him repeating that word to anyone at daycare.”
Kyle chuckled at the thought and Hunter stood and smacked him upside the head. “Don’t be such a…”
“Hunter!” Violet cried, exasperated.
“Okay, okay, okay. Sheesh!” he grinned at Kyle before leaving the room to go and check on his son who was sitting on the living room floor with his trains and watching The Good Dinosaur.
Once he was out of earshot, Violet rested her elbows on the table and leveled him with a glare.
“What? Now what did I do?”
“Don’t mess around with this woman,” she said sternly.
Frowning, he asked, “Excuse me?”
“I may be new to this family, but I know you, Kyle. You are a flirt and you’re always looking for a good time. But this time, look elsewhere.”
“You’re way off-base here, Vi. I’m not flirting with Sydney. Hell, most days I’m not even talking with Sydney. Trust me, nothing’s going to happen. Been there, done that.”
“Make sure it doesn’t. It sounds like she’s got enough going on without you adding to it.”
“Hey, for all you know, she might want a little distraction,” he said with a lazy grin.
“Not from you, she doesn’t,” Vi deadpanned.
“That’s a little insulting.”
“So is your attitude.” She paused and seemed to be considering her words. “When I met your brother, I gave him a bit of a hard time.”
Chuckling again, he nodded. “I remember.”
“Yeah, well…being a single parent is hard. Harder than I realized. It wasn’t until I got to know him better that I realized just how…complicated his life was. The single part of the equation is secondary to the parent part. So even if Sydney were looking for a distraction, you’re seriously not the guy to help her with that.”
“Why not? What’s wrong with me?”
“Kyle, come on. Your previous history aside, it’s just not a good idea. You can’t handle not being the center of attention,” she reasoned. “Even when you’re casually dating, you want the girl’s full focus on you. Someone like Sydney doesn’t have that option, and I think you’d resent it too much, and things would get awkward. Especially if you’re working on her house.”
Straightening in his seat, he countered. “For starters, I am well aware of where Sydney’s focus needs to be. And there is no way I’d ever ask her to put me before Haley. That would be a crappy thing to do. As for working on the house, I’m not going to be working on it forever, so…eventually it would be a non-issue.”
“So you admit you’re attracted to her.”
“Of course I am! I’ve always been attracted to her! She’s a beautiful woman! And when she’s not telling me how awful I am, I enjoy talking with her.”
Violet’s eyes went wide and he realized what he just admitted.
“Well…shit.”
She grinned. “Yeah, glad you finally caught up. I knew you were interested in her after the first ten minutes you were here.”
“Oh really? How?”
“Because she was the only thing you talked about.” She stood and began clearing the dinner table. “And usually you spend the first few minutes talking about yourself.”
He cursed again as his brother walked back into the room.
“What did I miss?” Hunter asked, kissing Violet as she walked by.
“We were talking about how Kyle is attracted to Sydney.”
“Well, duh,” Hunter commented with a laugh. “I thought we all knew that.”
“Clearly not everyone,” Violet teased as she walked into the kitchen.
Kyle took a sip of his tea before looking at his brother. “Go ahead, make fun.”
Taking his seat, Hunter leaned back, crossing his arms. “Why would I make fun? I’m sure you realize there’s nothing you can do about this. You know you can’t hit on her or start anything with her—or…pick up where you left off way back when. You’re not a total idiot.”
“Are we sure?” Kyle asked with a mirthless laugh. “Because we all know I screw up a lot, too.”
“Yeah, but you’re basically harmless.”
He laughed softly. “That’s what I told Sydney earlier.”
“No doubt to try to excuse something dumb that you did.”
Why deny it?
“Yup.”
They sat in companionable silence for several minutes.
“You going out this weekend?” Hunter asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“How about tonight?”
Another shrug. “It’s been a long day and I’m here hanging out with you guys. Eli said we were going to watch Wreck-It Ralph while we eat ice cream for dessert.” He remembered how Sydney and Haley were having their own movie marathon