Free Falling for Mr. Wrong by Inara Scott

kind of talisman. He flicked his paper and pretended not to notice her. It wasn’t as if he was waiting for her to arrive, after all. He just enjoyed drinking his coffee in the front room of the house. Marie had called him the night before to say that Hope was now out of the hospital and feeling much better, but it would be a couple of days before she felt strong enough to take care of the kids. She’d start on Monday, if that was okay with him.
    Of course, he’d said. No problem. Kelsey’s working out fine…
    She’d been in his house for eight hours a day for three days, and damned if it wasn’t getting harder with every passing hour. He told himself he kept checking up on the kids because he didn’t trust her, but he was hard-pressed to find anything she’d actually done that he could complain about. At some point, he’d have to admit that he was drawn to her by some horrible magnetic pull, and things weren’t getting any better with time.
    For her part, Kelsey seemed determined to avoid him as much as possible. She kept the kids at the park most of the day, avoided his eyes, and responded to him in monosyllables. She shivered any time he touched her, even if it was nothing more than a finger brush when he handed her the keys to his car. Given how aware he was of her every moment of the day, some inner masculine pride delighted at her obvious discomfort, choosing to believe it was because she wanted him as much as he wanted her, and not that she had come to hate him for being an overbearing ass.
    The sound of the doorbell startled him out of his reverie. Julia ran from the kitchen to open the door. Since that first day, Kelsey had appeared each morning wearing longish shorts and a T-shirt, nothing remotely sexual or enticing, yet somehow the fabric of her shirt always seemed to cling to the curve of her breasts, and when she wore her hair loose it was practically indecent, cascading over her shoulders in a manner that seemed to beg for his fingers to be running through it. After letting her cross the threshold, Julia jumped into Kelsey’s arms. Ross started to wave his hands to stop her, but Kelsey effortlessly lifted the girl up.
    Apparently all that yoga really did build some strength.
    Julia wrapped her legs around Kelsey’s waist. “Will you braid my hair this morning? And then I want to go work on my cartwheel. I know you said we couldn’t, but I’ve been practicing every night after you leave and Matt’s been watching videos on YouTube about doing handstands. Can’t we just practice a little? I promise I’ll be careful.”
    Kelsey gave Julia a hug, looking oddly natural with the child in her arms. Ross had noticed that in the three days she’d been with them, she’d become much more comfortable with the kids. On the first day, he’d noticed her awkwardly return Julia’s hug good-bye and hesitantly wave at Matt and Luke from across the room. Now, she ruffled Julia’s hair as if she were one of the family, hitched the girl higher on her waist, and shot Ross a look that clearly said, “This is your problem, bucko.”
    He cleared his throat. “First of all, Matt should know better than to be playing on YouTube without asking me. And second, Jules, I told you that it’s better if you wait and do that sort of thing later. With me.”
    Julia set her face into a full-on pout. “But Daddy! You don’t know anything about gymnastics! Kelsey got a gold medal once in gymnastics. She’s way better at it than you are. You didn’t even know that you’re supposed to tuck your head when you do a somersault.”
    Ross gritted his teeth. Of course he didn’t know how to do a somersault. He’d been a football player, not a gymnast. But the kids had been nagging him incessantly to let them practice the moves Kelsey had shown them on her first day, and last night, he’d given in to their demands. Trying to act confident, he’d launched himself into a somersault and then been roundly scolded by his daughter