Daddy's Christmas Date Read online

  She took so long to respond I thought maybe I had offended her. She didn’t seem the type to get easily offended, but you never knew what you could say to whom these days without offending someone.

  Dani-Kong: I seem to recall something about you being a man, but maybe you need to brush up on your Mr. Darcy, because he was ALL man! :D

  FlyGuyTy: You can teach me what my education has deprived me of…over steak.

  I wasn’t sure if that was too far, too soon. But I figured we were both here to at least try to find a partner and that meant, at some point, we would have to meet.

  Dani-Kong: The only thing I love more than a juicy steak? A fat slice of cheesecake.

  Yeah, she was a pretty cool chick. At least if she was being honest. I could say that I was intrigued, at least a little bit, by Dani.

  FlyGuyTy: I’ll have to remember that.

  Dani-Kong: Please don’t encourage me.

  I couldn’t help but laugh out loud again, this time it drew some odd looks from Bobby and Blake. “What’s so funny Daddy?”

  “Yeah, Daddy, what’s so funny,” Blake added with a snicker.

  “Nothing. Just laughing at something a friend said.” Blake arched a brow at me, but I shot him a glare that said I wasn’t saying a damn thing and he laughed again. The jackass.

  FlyGuyTy: I make no promises. But I have a little boy pretending he’s not ready for bed so I have to go. Talk again soon?

  Dani-Kong: You have intrigued me enough to continue to the next round of conversation. Level up, FlyGuy!

  Before I could say anymore she had logged off, leaving with a smile that felt light and free for the first time in a long time. “Ready for bed, buddy?”

  “Aww, Dad, no.” Bobby didn’t normally whine, but he hated that he had a bed time and couldn’t stay up with the big boys. “One more game, Uncle Blake needs a chance to get his honor back.”

  “Hey!”

  Bobby laughed, refusing to back down if there was even a chance he could get a later bed time. “I’ll let you win,” he offered up in the worst whisper known to man.

  “Yeah, thanks kid.” Blake gave me a look that said we were thinking the same thing. Can you believe this kid? He was too damn smart for my peace of mind, precocious and far too mature for a kid his age.

  “Go brush your teeth and wash your face. Do a good job and after inspection I’ll consider another game.”

  “Deal!” He slid his little body off the oversized sofa I bought because I needed furniture made for my six-foot-five frame, but it always gave me a little amusement to see Bobby work his way off the damn thing. His little feet ran up the stairs, pounding hard and fast, in his excitement at the prospect of a later bedtime.

  “Who’s the friend?”

  I should have known Blake wouldn’t let it go. He was like a bloodhound. It made him one hell of a hacker, but an annoying as hell little brother.

  “One of the women from A Matched Set. Don’t get excited, she’s the only decent one out of seven. So far.”

  To his credit, Blake stifled the urge to laugh in my face. “All you need is one, Ty. You may not remember how this thing works between men and women, but if you do it right, you only need the one woman.” Then he did laugh.

  “I’m reserving my judgment for later.” Just because she seemed cool and could produce a few laughs from me, didn’t make her girlfriend or mother material. Hell, I didn’t know if I even wanted a girlfriend or a wife, never mind one I met online.

  “Well, just keep an open mind. Don’t judge a woman because she’s going online to find love, for busy professionals like us, this makes it easy and less dangerous than picking up girls at the bar.”

  I frowned. “I haven’t picked up girls since high school.”

  “Women. Whatever,” he rolled his eyes and pushed off the sofa.

  “It’s too quiet up there, I’m going to check on him.” I pushed off the chair and set my tablet down, knowing that nothing I did would prevent Blake from snooping if he really wanted to.

  “I’ll get you a beer and you can tell me all about the woman who made you smile again.”

  I rolled my eyes as I climbed the staircase and found Bobby asleep in his bedroom, three of his favorite books spread out on his lap and his legs hanging over the side. He was the perfect picture of a little kid completely exhausted from a day of school and fun with his uncle. Since he made it into his pajama shirt, I put him to bed and brushed a kiss to his forehead.

  “Tomorrow you need a bath.” I should give him one tonight but getting the kid to sleep required an act of Congress so I let him be.

  “Daddy, no bath.”

  I smiled at his sleepy protest. “You stink kid.”

  He giggled, still half asleep as I tucked him in. “Daddy?”

  “Yeah, buddy?”

  “Do you ever wish for a wife?”

  Where in the hell did that come from? “Not really. I wish there was a woman around so you could have a mom.” I struggled with how honest to be with Bobby who, at seven, had more maturity than a kid twice his age, but I didn’t want to make him cynical or worse, a worrier.

  “What about for you? Harrison’s mom says that a man needs a woman and you need a special woman.”

  No doubt the woman was hoping to audition for the part, despite the parade of boyfriends she already had. “All I need is you, buddy.”

  His little cheeks blushed furiously as he settled onto his pillow. “Good night Daddy. Good night Tilly.”

  Tilly. That was his mom, my wife’s name and he used it every day because he wanted to be closer to her. Most nights our bedtime stories were based on the adventures of Tilly and Ty, stories from our long relationship before Bobby came along. “Good night kid.”

  “Love you Dad.”

  I grinned. “Love you too, Bobby.” By the time I shut off the lights he was fast asleep and I went back downstairs to my waiting beer and nosy brother.

  Too late, I realized I’d never set up a time to meet with Dani.

  Dani

  I love my job more than anything, I really do. But when Saturday rolls around, I just want to relax and unwind from a long week of messy, fun, crazy, accident-prone kids.

  Much to Aunt Amelia’s chagrin, this Saturday was spent at home with a bottle of good red wine and a roasted duck from China House. I had some new Netflix documentaries to watch, and I fully planned to enjoy my evening. Alone. Without interruptions.

  A chime sounded from my tablet and I picked it up with a grin. Ty. He was an intriguing man and I couldn’t deny my interest in what I knew of him already. The problem was I didn’t know nearly enough to decide if we should meet or not.

  FlyGuyTy: Is this a good time for you?

  Dani-Kong: You caught me with a piece of duck in my mouth but otherwise I’m decent. How’s it going?

  FlyGuyTy: Pretty good. Happy for the weekend. How are you?

  Dani-Kong: Happy it’s the weekend, definitely. Got any plans?

  FlyGuyTy: My brother promised to build Bobby a treehouse so…that.

  Dani-Kong: How cool! You must be a pretty good dad.

  FlyGuyTy: I do all right most of the time. But during bath time he’ll tell you I’m the worst dad in the planet.

  I laughed at that, remembering how much I hated baths myself as a child.

  Dani-Kong: Why are all kids like cats, and hate to be clean?

  FlyGuyTy: No clue, but little boys gather stink like you would not believe. And I’m just realizing how un-sexy it is to talk about dirty kids.

  Dani-Kong: Not sexy, no. But we definitely have that in common. You want sexy, we can do that. Tell me what you look like.

  I wondered if I sounded like those horror stories the nurses in my office constantly talk about, where guys only wanted to know a woman’s measurements.

  FlyGuyTy: You want a photo of me?

  Dani-Kong: No. I want you to tell me what you look like. Describe yourself.

  FlyGuyTy: Blonde hair, short. Blue eyes. Tall.r />
  I rolled my eyes at the screen and took a sip of my wine.

  Dani-Kong: Nope not good enough. Tell me more. Do you have a six or eight pack? Tattoos? Long legs? Muscles?

  FlyGuyTy: A six pack, really? I see where your priorities are. I’m fit because the Air Force required it, and I never gave it up. I have a few tattoos but I’m not telling you where. What about you, is that really you in the photo?

  That pulled another laugh from me and I felt like a lunatic, laughing loudly inside my empty house. But it felt good.

  Dani-Kong: Of course it’s me! If I were going to choose a pic that wasn’t mine I’d get one way hotter than that.

  That wasn’t me fishing for compliments, but I was well aware of my strengths and weaknesses. Aunt Amelia would say too aware.

  FlyGuyTy: You look pretty damn hot to me. But I could be wrong. You tell me more.

  Dani-Kong: What you can’t see in the photo is that the bottom three inches of my hair is dyed blue. My eyes are blue but look green when I’m upset. I’m short, super short and I’m a runner.

  FlyGuyTy: A runner? How far?

  Dani-Kong: No more than five miles and no less than three most days. I doubt I’d pass Air Force regulations.

  FlyGuyTy: lol. You’d be surprised then. Five miles is better than the AF requires.