Page 58

We’re standing in the upstairs hallway while Shiloh brushes his teeth.

The colored lights on the banister blink at the far end. The hallway is narrow enough that if I put my arm out, I could touch both walls. I’ve never noticed that before. I’ve never stood in it with anyone else.

Based on the noises coming from the bathroom, he might be drowning. And not, in fact, brushing his teeth.

I take a step toward the door.

Noelle catches my arm.

I stop.

So does she.

Her hand is wrapped around my forearm. It’s nothing. A casual touch. Barely anything.

Except it’s the first time she’s touched me. And I can feel the light touch all over my body. Like she plugged me into a socket.

We both look down at her hand.

Her fingers don’t come close to circling my arm.

Her hand is warm. Small. There’s a thin white scar across one knuckle. And my ring sits on her finger, an inch from my skin.

That shouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t affect me. But it does.

She jerks her hand back.

“Sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“No, right, obviously.” She smooths both hands down the front of her jeans.

My skin is still warm where she touched me. I’m thirty-nine years old. I’ve negotiated with city councils and walked away from eight-figure deals without blinking.

And a woman put her hand on my arm for two seconds, and I can still feel the shape of it.

“I only meant that he’s fine,” she says.

“How do you know?”

“He makes the gargling dinosaur noise every night.”

“The what?”

A roar comes from the bathroom, then water splashes.

Noelle lifts one eyebrow. “That.”

I sigh. “He didn’t do that before.”

“I’ve broadened his horizons.” She gives me a bright smile and I notice, for the first time, that she’s got a small gap between her two front teeth.

It’s absurdly charming and ridiculously cute. And I think I must have jet lag or something.

“Daddy!” I walk into the bathroom.

It’s warm and steamy and smells like bubble gum toothpaste. There’s water on the floor, a rubber duck in the sink, and a towel with a shark hood draped over the tub. A row of crayon drawings has been taped to the tile beside the mirror.