Mistletoe Mischief (2 page)

“Of course they’re done,” she ground out. “Their kids ran from cage to cage without taking the time to read anything. I’d rather the girls only get half of it done and learn something about the animals we see than finish the hunt without learning anything new at all.”

His brows rose, along with his hands. “I only meant to—”

“Next time you want to do it
your
way, try showing up on time.”

Chapter Two

Eric snapped his slack jaw closed when Marissa Wilder swept past him in a huff.
Wow.
Someone had a major attitude, and she’d decided to direct it at the bull’s-eye he must be wearing on his chest.

The sultry scent of vanilla lingered in her wake, continuing the relentless seduction his senses had ineffectively dealt with over the past hour. He’d had a feeling he was in trouble the moment he saw the woman his daughter had been laughing with when he arrived. In the looks department, the tall, leggy, blue-eyed blond was the exact opposite of his Italian-descent ex-wife, but they matched each other with their tempers, and their ability to get pissed off at him with a simple misinterpreted sentence.

Or in this case, probably two.

He’d been teasing her about the shoes, even though he was genuinely curious what possessed her to wear such sexy sandals to chaperone a field trip, and the comment about the scavenger hunt had been intended as a compliment. He liked that she didn’t race the kids through the project like many of the other parents seemed to have done. Not making the extra effort to teach is exactly what Nina would’ve done—in addition to wearing something guaranteed to attract as much male attention as possible.

Marissa’s slim-waisted, flowing, knee-length tan skirt and v-neck, sleeveless black blouse definitely garnered their share of attention from a number of men in attendance, yet since Eric arrived, she’d focused solely on their two girls—with the exception of a few words tossed toward him when he’d asked a direct question. Was she truly oblivious to the interested looks directed her way?

Eric stuffed Reese’s half-completed score sheet in his back pocket and followed the three girls to the giraffe exhibit. If Heather’s mom was aware of the male attention, she did a heck of a job of ignoring them all—including him. When he’d openly flirted with her on his arrival, there’d been a moment when she’d been receptive. She let him hold the handshake a few heartbeats longer than necessary, her cheeks flushed, and when she spoke, her voice had that slight breathless quality that told him he wasn’t the only one affected.

His pulse had raced with excitement until Reese called her
Mrs.
Wilder and reminded him he had no business hitting on a married woman. Thank goodness her bare left ring finger quickly put him back at ease. If only it’d done the same for her. She shut him down before he could get past the hellos and move on to getting to know her.
 

Although one of the most important things was clear, she loved her daughter. For real—not because a judge or social worker watched her Mother of the Year performance. Any time Marissa hugged her cute-as-a-button miniature look-a-like, she never once glanced around to see who caught the touching show. She was just as wonderful with Reese, too.

Reese giggled with Heather, and Eric’s chest tightened. Despite everything Nina had put them through the last year and a half, his little girl still smiled. He prayed with all his heart she stayed like that forever and didn’t pick up any of her mother’s less desirable traits.

If only he’d been able to win more time with her in the custody battle. Familiar frustration and resentment rose up at the thought of Nina’s lawyers and friends dragging everything out into the open in court. They hammered home the fact that he worked
a lot
, either on call as a volunteer First Responder, or building his carpentry business. The kicker was, the only way Nina had gotten the alimony she needed to afford her custody lawyer was
because
he’d worked his tail off to establish his business.

It’d taken some time to get over his bitterness, but he could now admit the divorce wasn’t completely Nina’s fault. He took responsibility for burying himself in his work when the marriage started to go south, and then he spent even more time in his workshop when he found out about her affair. And a good father would’ve been around more for Reese when she needed him.
 

That guilt would never completely ease. But at least his current efforts to make up for his mistakes were paying off. His older brother’s platoon had returned safely from their second tour in Iraq, and once Mark ended his Term of Service and moved back home come November, there’d be more volunteer First Responders to cut back on Eric’s on-call days. Better yet, his woodworking reputation had reached a place where he could charge higher prices for the elaborate pieces and work less hours, freeing him up to spend more days like today with Reese.
 

Everything was in place for him to re-petition for joint custody at the hearing scheduled in August. With Nina remarried, and now almost five months pregnant, he just wasn’t so sure which direction she’d swing. Hopefully he’d proven he could be depended on for more than just money. As tired and moody as she’d been lately, he prayed she’d be receptive to him dealing with Reese’s energy for half the time instead of just every other weekend.
 

“Daddy, come on! We have to get in line,” Reese called, curving her little arm in an arc for him to hurry up.

He smiled and increased his stride to catch up, anticipating a similar expression on her face at home later when she saw he’d finished the tree house in the backyard. He’d bought marshmallows too, so they could make s’mores at the campfire before climbing up to sleep amongst the leaves. It’d been far too long since they’d done something like that.
 

He took the steps two at a time to stand behind the girls on the raised platform that put zoo-goers at eye level with the fourteen-foot tall giraffes. An accidental brush of his arm against Marissa’s made him feel more alive as a man than he had in over a year. The awareness coursing through him convinced him not to give up the chase just yet, even if her sideways glance remained less than encouraging.

Reese bounced on her toes in front of him. “I need a quarter so I can get some crackers for Lucy.”

Eric dug into his pocket. Before his fingers could scrape up his loose change, Marissa held out her hand to Reese. “Here you go, honey. There’s two for both you and Heather.”

“Don’t forget Larry,” Eric called after his daughter. That earned him an eye roll from Marissa, but hey, someone had to look after the guy. He hesitated, and then stepped in front of her, because sometimes, the
guy
had to look after himself. After a quick scan to assure semi-privacy, he moved closer so she’d be the only one to hear his low-pitched voice. “Listen—about what I said—”

She leaned sideways to see past him. “Heather, Reese, stand back and wait your turn.”

Eric checked over his shoulder to see the two girls alongside the fence surrounding the platform, their rye crackers in hand. They looked fine, so he faced Marissa again. This time she lifted her blue gaze direct to his. His pulse revved like his circular saw just before it bit into a plank of fresh pine.

“Forget it,” she said. “I overreacted.”

“If I’d meant it the way you took it, you’d have been justified,” he allowed. “But I was trying to point out it was good you were going so slow.”

“Oh.” Her gaze flickered from his, and she glanced around his shoulder again. “Heather, get down off the railing. It’s almost your turn.”

Eric shifted to keep an eye on Reese and continued the conversation. “I like that you took the time to teach them at each—”

He broke off when Reese reached up to tickle Heather, who’d leaned over the top of the fence to see the giraffes better. Heather wobbled precariously before tipping the wrong direction with a terrified shriek. His heart about stopped beating at the same time he heard Marissa gasp in panic beside him.

“Heather!”

He didn’t remember pushing past the other people on the platform to cross the distance between them and the fence, all he knew was he caught the little girl at the last second before she plunged head first onto the concrete twelve feet below. He clutched her tight against his thundering chest. Sobs shook her slim little body while her hold on his neck choked hard.
 

“Shh. I got you sweetheart. You’re okay,” he soothed. Concerned voices began to bleed back into his consciousness.

“I want my mommy,” Heather cried into Eric’s T-shirt.

He turned to find Marissa at his side. She dragged her daughter from his arms to crush her close. Tears ran unchecked down both their faces.

“I was so scared, Mommy.”

“So was I, honey, so was I. But you’re safe now.” Marissa’s voice shook worse than the hand she stroked over her daughter’s hair.

Reese stood off to the side, looking pretty frightened herself. Eric scooped her up and hugged her close. Just the thought of his daughter facing such danger chilled him to the bone.

Marissa’s radiant blue gaze met his over Heather’s shoulder. “Thank you,” she said softly.

Reese burst into tears and burrowed against his neck. Eric frowned and tried to see her face. “Hey, what’s the matter? Everything’s okay.”

After a few more moments of crying, Reese calmed down enough to mumble, “It’s my fault.” Then she lifted her head to look at Heather, who peered shyly from under Marissa’s chin. “I’m sorry I tickled you, Heather.”

“Oh, honey, no one blames you,” Marissa exclaimed. She stepped closer and rubbed Reese’s back. “It was an accident.”

Reese wiped her eyes before drying her hand on Eric’s T-shirt. She sniffed and laid her head on his shoulder while peering at her friend. Heather’s tremulous smile melted Eric’s heart as much as his daughter’s obvious remorse.

“I’m not mad,” Heather said.

“So we can still be best friends?” Reese asked in a tiny, hopeful voice.

Heather nodded.

“I’ll never tickle you ever again,” Reese promised, solemnly.

“And no one climbs up on the railings again, either,” Marissa added, her tone firm. “Okay?”

Both girls nodded. Moments later, they wiggled for freedom. Eric exchanged a relieved smile with Marissa before they both set their daughters down. Heather headed straight for the fence, prompting Marissa and Eric to both make mad grabs for her shoulders. Marissa caught her, but not before Eric noticed a tight grimace of pain cross her face with her shift in stance.

“I lost my crackers.” Heather sniffed, peering down over the edge at the scattered crumbs on the concrete.

“You can have mine.” Reese held both crackers out to her friend.

Heather grinned but only took one. “We’ll share.”

They promptly got back in line and waited their turn to feed the giraffes. Expelling a breath to release the tension in his shoulders, Eric shook his head in disbelief. To be the child and not the parent; sure she’d just had a near-miss, but heaven forbid she miss her chance to feed Lucy.

While Marissa spoke to a couple of the parents and one of the platform attendants who wanted to make sure everything was all right, Eric bought more crackers and divided them evenly between the two girls before returning to her side. He felt they’d bonded somehow, and leaned against the railing while she snapped pictures of the girls feeding the giraffes. Excited smiles lit up their faces when the huge animals took the crackers from their small hands.

“Can you believe those two?” Eric asked after she’d snapped a few photographs.

“I know,” Marissa agreed. “Like nothing even happened, while I’m still recovering from my heart attack.”

Emotion clogged her voice. She held out a still-trembling hand to show him the lingering after-effects of the scare. Eric reached to take hold of of her fingers and squeezed gently with reassurance, knowing exactly how she felt. As he rubbed his thumb back and forth across her knuckles, fresh tears brightened her eyes and an overwhelming urge to gather her close for a comforting hug surprised him.

“I don’t even know how to thank you,” she said.

“It could just as easily have been Reese. All that matters is that Heather’s safe.”

The girls rushed back to their side of the platform. Eric reluctantly released Marissa’s hand as Heather asked, “Did you see me, Mom? Lucy licked me!”

Marissa blinked a few times before giving her daughter a bright smile. “I got a picture of it,” she said.

“Let me see!”

Both Reese and Heather crowded close to view the digital camera screen, giggling over Lucy’s tongue and themselves in the snapshots. Reese pulled Eric close to see a picture of her with her hand near the mouth of one of the giraffes. “That’s Larry, Dad. I didn’t forget him.”

Eric grinned and ruffled her dark curls, surprised she’d remembered. “Atta girl. So, what’s next?”

“Lunch!” they exclaimed in unison and took off for the stairs.

“Hey, slow down and wait for us,” Eric called before raising his brows toward Marissa. She didn’t seem in her usual hurry to tail the kids. “Ready?”

He started forward, but with Marissa’s first step, she gasped in obvious pain. She lifted pressure off her right foot so fast that any amount of balance she had on her left was lost. Eric ducked one flailing arm and caught her against his chest before she went down.