Free Finding Faith by Reana Malori Page B

that again.  
    Putting the memory aside, he looked over and saw that Madison had gotten up from the floor and was now sprawled on Faith’s chaise lounge. For such a small child, she sure had a strong sense of self-confidence. She was giggling at the movie playing on the television and Faith was watching her with a smile on her face.  
    He wondered what she thought of when she looked at them, the carefree and precocious daughter and the sometimes moody father who seemed locked in the past, holding on to the memory of a wife, of a life, that no longer existed.  
    If truth be told, he held more than just a passing affection for his lovely neighbor. Although he actively tried to temper how he showed this to Faith, or heaven forbid, his daughter. One whiff of something more between he and Faith and he was positive his daughter would shout it from the rooftop.  
    Long out of his teenage years, he knew it wouldn’t look good if he started behaving as if he were in high school with a crush on the prettiest girl in class. Then again, he was probably thinking about this much more than he needed to.  
    Cooper could admit, at least to himself, that these last few months had been really good. Not just for him, but for Madison. Sitting here with Faith always seemed comfortable. There was no pressure. No need to try and be something he wasn’t. With her, he could just be himself. That hadn’t happened for a long time and he missed this feeling. Although he would deny it until the cows came home, this felt right to him. Even if they had never been intimate, the feeling that this is where he belonged was clamoring away in his head.  
    As he looked over at her sitting just a few feet away from him, he took a minute to admire her. Wearing shorts since it was a warm day, most of her legs were visible to his gaze. Silently looking at her womanly form, he could admire the curve of her thigh and the smoothness of her shoulder as she typed on her laptop.  
    He did wonder why he hadn’t made a move on her before the other night. Tried to at least kiss those full lips of hers? Remembering the other night when they had returned from the kite festival in DC, and the moans of pleasure she made as he massaged her feet, he couldn’t help but think he had missed what was right in front of him this entire time. Maybe it was her closeness to Madison that had stopped him before.  
    If he did try to gauge her interest in him sexually, or if they slept together and things didn’t work out, how would that impact Madison? No, he couldn’t risk it right now. She was a fixture in his daughter’s life and his baser nature, no matter how much it called out to him, was not going to ruin it.  
    Faith gave both him and Madison something...someone...that they looked forward to seeing every day. Early on, just after they had moved in, Faith had taken to calling Madison by her special name, princess, which Madison had noticed right away. Since then, the two of them had built their own relationship together, exclusive of Cooper. The connection between those two was so strong, and after spending so much time at each other’s house, he could almost feel their bond getting stronger.  
    There had even been a pampering weekend, or ten, when Faith and Madison had gone to the local spa for what she called mani/pedi treatments, her words—not his. His ears had almost bled from listening to his daughter talk about the fun they had, how the staff treated her like a princess, and how amazing Ms. Faith was. Slowly, but surely, there were other slight changes that now looking back, he had taken for granted.  
    When at her house on any given night, he would see his favorite beer sitting in her fridge. Just waiting for him. She never drank the stuff, so he knew it wasn’t for her. Two extra plates always seemed to be ready and filled to the brim each night they came over, as if she knew they would be there. Faith had even picked up his moods. Ever so smoothly, they