Temptation [h.s.] ✔

Chapter 41.

        I don't want to leave.

        Ever.

        There are little girls dancing around in front of me in the most beautiful frilly dresses. They're accompanied by the cutest little boys in suits, who are holding flowers and teddy bears and lollipops for their "dates."

        They're giggling at each other. The girls are blushing. The little boys are bowing. They're all jumping around and smiling the most adorable smiles... And laughing at the funny man behind the camera.

        He's holding my attention as much as the cuties he's taking photos of. He's making funny faces and singing silly songs—I have no doubt that he knows that he looks like a total idiot.

        "Stefanie!" Harry calls the name of a little blond girl. "Why aren't you singing?" "Because you're silly and my mommy said not to talk to silly men." She pokes her tongue out and laughs.

        He gasps. "I'm not silly!" "Are too!" the kids all cry. Some of them echo after, keen to be included in the chorus. They all break into giggles, and almost instantly, Harry clicks on his camera. I'm not even sure what this shoot is for. Party dresses and bridesmaid dresses, I think... But all I'm thinking right now is how amazing this man is with these kids. He's so patient, so tender.

        It's a whole other side to him I haven't seen. A side I'm quickly coming to adore. It's like he's finally found an outlet for that childish, playful side of himself he keeps hidden so often.

        Like when we were in Santa Monica and he tapped my hand until he finally took it. I wish he'd let that side out more often. Because it's a side that invokes more than base attraction. It's a side that tugs on real emotion.

        It's a side that shows more than the addiction. It shows me the man beneath it all. The handsome, soft, gentle man beneath the rough addiction and the ugliness of our everyday reality. It's a little slice of something that shows me how it could be.

        The kind of man he truly is. The kind of father he could be one day. I wrap my arms around my stomach and watch him as he continues to tease the children and make them feel completely at ease with him. You'd think he was ten years old the way he's laughing with them. My lips curve upward as I study them all. I could sit here and watch him make these kids laugh all day. The sound of his own laugh, louder and deeper and richer than theirs, wouldn't get old either. Too quickly, the shoot comes to an end. The children are swept away to change out of their expensive frocks, and Harry packs his camera away with a solid promise to email the best photos over once he's edited them.

        He zips up his camera bag and walks over to me. After a quick look around to make sure the studio is kid-free, he touches his lips to mine. "See? I told you you'd love it." I smile and link my fingers through his. "I did. So freakin' adorable."

        "I try." He winks, laughing when I raise an eyebrow. "I'm kidding. I don't need to try." I smack his chest with the backs of my fingers.

        "You're such an idiot."

        "It's why I'm so endearing. I mean, who wouldn't want a complete and utter idiot who makes kids laugh by singing Humpty Dumpy out of tune?"

        He carefully puts his things in the trunk of the car. Warmth spreads through my stomach and I smile, leaning against his car, my eyes following him as he walks around it.

        "Oh, yes. A guy who can make kids laugh is the most undesirable thing ever. How dare you be so cute?" I roll my eyes and sit in the car.