Free Daddy 101 (American Romance) by Jo Leigh

moment that sent a little shiver up her spine. It wasn’t because he was famous. It was because he was Alex.

Chapter Six
    “S o, it’s not the first time you’ve written on someone’s tummy?”
    Alex shook his head. As he and Dani crossed the last street toward home he slowed down a bit. He didn’t want this walk to end. The hell with the walk, he didn’t want Dani’s laughter to end. “No, this was my second tummy.”
    “What other body parts have you written on?”
    “Well,” he said, licking the ice-cream cone that had replaced the melted one. “I wrote the secret lyrics to ‘Louie, Louie’ on my hand in high school.”
    “Secret lyrics?”
    “Yeah, you know. The ones after ‘We gotta go now.”’
    “I thought those were, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.’”
    He shrugged. “I guess they weren’t so secret.”
    She laughed again. God, that sound! It made his chest swell, not to mention another key appendage. She was in the light of the street lamp now so he could really see her smile. Damn, but she was appealing. It would be nice to see her face, with that smile, last thing before he went to sleep. Or the first thing when he woke up. If only...
    If only, what? If she were living in New York instead of New Mexico? If he was the kind of man who could live in a place like Carlson’s Gap?
    “Doesn’t it make you feel awkward, though? All the attention, I mean.”
    He shook his head. “It’s temporary. I’m the flavor of the month, that’s all. Very soon, I’ll be that guy that was in the magazine, and right after that I’ll be someone who might have been someone, once. What’s the harm in playing it out?”
    “The lack of privacy, for one.”
    “I have the kind of privacy that matters.”
    “Oh?”
    “They might know the face, but they don’t know the man.”
    “Pity for them.”
    He stopped. “That’s quite a compliment, coming from you. I’m going to have to buy you a lot more ice cream.”
    “Ice cream had nothing to do with it.”
    “Then what?”
    She started walking again and he fell in beside her. They were much closer than they had been on the way to the clinic. And nobody’s hands were in pockets. As a matter of fact, her hand was enticingly close to his. Close enough to hold, which is just what he did.
    She looked first at their joined hands, then up at him. He wondered if she was going to pull away, but she didn’t, even though she frowned. He’d have to watch his step.
    “Okay, so I jumped to some wrong conclusions before,” she said. “I’m sorry. You’re not just some pretty rich guy—” She stopped speaking, and when he looked at her, she was studying the ground.
    He frowned. “Go ahead. Finish the sentence. I can take it.”
    She sighed as she looked up at him. “Some pretty rich guy with an ego the size of Detroit.”
    “You shouldn’t be so sure about that. I’ve got an ego all right.”
    “An ego is permissible. An ego that feeds on making other people feel small, isn’t.”
    “I see. And as far as the pretty and rich part?”
    “Also permissible. Although it is disconcerting to realize just how much prettier you are than me.”
    “Are you kidding?”
    “Come on. It’s true. You know you’re gorgeous.”
    He tugged her to a stop, tossed his cone into a trash barrel in the driveway and turned her so he could look right at her. “Because we’re such good friends, and because I’ve known you such a long time, I’m going to be very bold and tell you something, Dr. Jacobson.”
    “I don’t think I want to hear it.”
    “Too bad. You’re going to hear it anyway.”
    She sighed again. “You don’t have to tell me I’m pretty. I wasn’t fishing.”
    “I’m not going to tell you that.”
    “Gee, thanks.”
    “You’re not pretty. Well, not just pretty. You’re beautiful. And sexy. And intelligent. And desirable. But that’s not the problem.”
    She didn’t respond immediately. He watched her gaze sweep over his face, study his eyes.