Free Blaze's Second Chance (The Sinclair Men) by Sam Crescent Page B

house.
    “You’re funny,” he said when she did a little victory dance at winning a race.
    “Nice of you to notice.” She sat down and sipped from the soda can Blaze had brought in.
    “My dad doesn’t spend any time playing games. My nanny does, though.”
    Cassie glanced at the small boy. He looked so much like his father.  It was unbelievable.
    “I guess he’s really busy. What’s your nanny’s name?”
    “ Tracy . He’s always busy. Even when mummy was around.” She heard the upset in his voice , and going on instinct she brought him to her lap and hugged him.
    “Sometimes, adults have to do some really important jobs before they get time to play,” she whispered.
    “But I just want him to play with me,” he sobbed.
    Cassie hated being in this position.
    “He will. One day.” She held him for a few more minutes until they went back to playing a game. It was like the whole world forgot about them until Blaze walked in some hours later.
    “I thought you were in bed, little man. It has gone past eight o’clock.” He scooped up his son, and Cassie turned and packed away all the games.
    “Wait, I want Cassie to read me a story,” he said.
    She stared at Blaze.
    “I don’t mind,” Blaze said.
    She accompanied him up to bed and helped tuck him in. Blaze left, and she settled down to reading Blaze Junior a story. By the second page he was asleep, but she stayed to read the entire story before kissing him and leaving the room quietly.
    Blaze sat across from the room.
    “Do you want some tea?” he asked.
    Cassie nodded and followed him down to the kitchen. She sat at the counter while he walked around getting the cups. He still had a really great ass to look at.
    “You’re great with kids,” he told her as he pressed the button on the kettle to work.
    “Hardly. I wouldn’t know what to do with a kid. Blaze is nice though. He’s friendly.” She smiled at him.
    “I heard what he said. About me not playing.”
    Cassie stared down to her lap where her fingers interlocked. “That’s got nothing to do with me. He seems like a great kid. It sounds like he gets lonely sometimes.”
    She wasn’t trying to pry into his life at all. Blaze carried over the steaming cups of tea and sat opposite her.
    “Life with Francesca was complicated. To be honest, it was a total disaster from the start,” he said.
    “I don’t need to hear about it,” she said.
    “No. I want to tell you. In truth I should never have married her. I did it because my dad told me to. It’s what we men do. Stick by the women we give our children.” Blaze sounded a little bitter in the last part.
    Cassie sipped her tea and listened to his heartache and the pains that had joined him along the way. She learnt Francesca had given birth to Blaze Junior and then pretty much disappeared from his life. She was always off spending money or flaunting a new lover to the tabloids.
    “I didn’t care. I sometimes wonder if that’s half the problem, my lack of caring.”
    “Does she see him at all?” Cassie asked. Even with her career she’d want to see her son.
    “No. All she cares about is the next pay - check I’ve got to pay,” Blaze answered.
    She reached across and took his hand. “I’m sorry you and your son have to go through that. He’d a sweet kid.”
    “I don’t get to spend as much time with him as I like. I’m a shit father, but from looking at the scene tonight I didn’t have a great role model.”
    Cassie shook her head. “You shouldn’t think like that. Our parents don’t make us who we are. We do. Our strengths and weaknesses. Blaze Junior loves you, and you can see that.”
    The clock struck in the hall way. She stared at the man she loved and wished they were in their own house and putting their own son to bed.
    “Tell you what. I’m free tomorrow. Why don’t we go to the zoo or the movies or something?” she asked.
    “With Blaze Junior?”
    “Of course. Has he ever been to the zoo?”
    He shook his