Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“Mom, Mom,” Ada coos as she reaches for the bubbles.
“That was sweet of you, Maverick. Thank you.”
He nods. “Look in the bag.” He keeps blowing bubbles while Ada claps and tries to catch them. She’s crawling all over him, but somehow, he manages to move the bottle out of her reach, hold her steady, and blow bubbles.
“What is this?” I ask, pulling an outfit out of the bag.
“Okay, so hear me out.” He glances up at me and smiles before giving his attention back to Ada. “I was shopping. We needed a blanket, and then I walked past that.” He nods toward the outfit I’m holding. “You mentioned getting pictures of her here, and what are Sunflower Park pictures without a sunflower outfit? And it has a hat!” he says, with more excitement than a single man should have for someone else’s baby that’s absolutely no relation to him.
“That was very sweet of you.”
He shrugs. “The hat sold me,” he confesses. “My sisters-in-law are always making sure the kids’ outfits coordinate and fit the theme of that day or event, so I figured you’d want the same.”
“How are you still single?” I blurt.
This causes him to laugh. And of course, my daughter has hero worship, and she does the same bouncing on her legs, while Maverick holds her steady with one arm. “I’ll find her one day,” he tells me.
“Her?” I’m opening a can of worms here. I know him well enough to know the next words out of his mouth are going to have me melting into a puddle on this blanket, but I asked the question anyway.
“The love of my life. The one who constantly makes me smile. The woman who can put up with my silly crazy. My future wife.”
And there it is.
A warmth washes over me at his words. I smile at my little girl, who’s infatuated, and if I’m being honest, I have a nice little crush on the man as well. How could I not? I make a silent promise at this moment to my little girl that I’ll never settle for less than a man who loves like Maverick Kincaid. We’re recipients of his kind heart; I can’t imagine how life would be being wrapped in his love.
Talk about swooning.
I clear my throat. “Thank you.”
“Oh, keep looking.” He nods toward the bag. Doing as he asks, I pull out a small black case. “Camera.” He winks.
“You even brought your camera?”
He shrugs. “Yeah, I mean, I know cell phones are great these days, but I thought we could use it too.”
“Ada, Maverick is spoiling us.” Emotion wells in the back of my throat. I have to get myself together. The last thing I need to do is fall for this man. I know without a doubt if I were to let that happen, my heart would be shattered when he finds the woman he just described. More so than when Ada’s dad walked away.
“So, what first, Mommy? Are we doing a photo shoot or eating?”
“How long are the food trucks here?”
“For a few more hours. We have time. You tell me what works.”
“How about we do pictures first? She’s happy right now, so let’s try to capitalize on that.”
“On it.” He hands me the wand for the bubbles and then the container, and I close it up. “Here you go, little lady.” He hands Ada over to me and takes the outfit. “I didn’t have time to wash it. Is that bad?”
“No, Maverick, it’s fine. It was very thoughtful of you. Thank you.”
“Stop thanking me, woman.” He playfully growls. His smile tells me he’s not really upset with me. He quickly tears off all the tags before handing me the outfit. Ada is compliant and doesn’t protest when I change her outfit.
“All set?” he asks.
“We’re ready.”
He stands, grabbing the camera. “Our stuff should be fine here, but just in case, hand me the diaper bag. Everything else can be replaced.”
I nod, handing him the diaper bag.
“The baby, too, so you can get up.” He reaches for Ada, and once she’s in his arms, he tosses her in the air, catching her.
My heart leaps in my throat, and it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him to be careful, but with the gleeful giggle my daughter belts out and the laugh of Maverick’s that follows, I don’t have it in me. I know he’d never hurt her.
Maverick leads the way to the sunflower field. “They have different spots with benches and stuff all through the field for photo ops,” he explains as he steps onto the trail.
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“That’s good. I was thinking we were just going to have to set her down on the ground and ruin her pretty new outfit.”
“Nah, but she can get it dirty. You gotta do what you gotta do to get the shot, right?” He chuckles, bouncing Ada in his arms. “How about we start here?” He stops next to the first photo op we reach.