Pound Foolish (Windy City Neighbors Book 4) by Neta Jackson, Dave Jackson Page A

fellow?”
         Nicole grimaced from the bathroom. “Oh, stop it, Greg. If you only knew what it’s like to come up with truly educational experiences for the kids all the time, you’d realize this was a blessing, nothing more.”
         “But you could’ve driven the kids down there yourself, couldn’t you? I leave the Cherokee here for you so you can do errands and stuff. In fact, you took them to the zoo last fall, didn’t you?”
         “Yeah, that was when Nate got lost and nearly scared me to death for thirty minutes before I found him. Ya know, it really helps to have another adult along.”
         “Another adult. Who just happens to be a good-looking—”
         “No!” she snapped. “A neighbor who just happened to offer our kids an outing. Come on, Greg, give it a rest. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
         He said no more, and they both crawled into bed a few minutes later, back-to-back, but Greg could tell by Nicole’s frequent sighs and movements that she didn’t go to sleep any sooner than he did.
     
    * * * *
       
    Nicole stared at the red numbers of the digital clock on her bedside table. In a blink, they went from 11:14 to 11:15 to 11:16, and before she knew it, to 11:37.
         She flopped onto her back and closed her eyes tightly, causing a kaleidoscope of color wheels until the image of Nathan standing at the thick window into the big cat habitat materialized. A full-maned lion lay on the other side of the glass and pawed at the window, inches from Nathan’s face, like a kitten wanting to play with a mouse. Fearlessly, her son had called for her to watch. It was both exhilarating and terrifying.
         The whole afternoon had been that way—exhilarating and terrifying. But why? Why had it been scary? Because she’d enjoyed every moment of Lincoln Paddock’s attention . . . and knew she shouldn’t.
         “You want a bag of popcorn?” “Let’s let the kids ride the carousel.” “Hey, I’ll get on the unicorn if you ride the ostrich next to me.” And he’d helped her up.
         He’d taken her elbow when they stepped over a rough section on the path to the polar bear exhibit and when they went down the ramp of the great ape house. Nicole told herself he was just being a gentleman, but she thought his hand lingered a little longer than necessary . . . and she liked it.
         When Nathan got tired of walking, Lincoln had picked him up and carried him on his broad shoulders without a complaint until the boy was rested and wanted to get down and run again.
         There had been no “Robbie” to chauffeur them to the zoo and back in a stretch limo. Lincoln had driven a standard-sized limo, but the shiny black Town Car had seemed all the more luxurious with him behind the wheel.
         “So what’d you do before you became a . . . what do you call it, a teaching mom?”
         Nicole had felt herself blush as he glanced over at her on their way home. But why was she blushing? It was a simple, straightforward question any two people might ask as they got acquainted.
         “I was a paralegal for a law firm.”
         “Get outta here! Really?”
         “Yeah. I started as a legal assistant with Whitney, Young, and Gould right after college.”
         “Real estate law, right?”
         “Uh-huh. On the near Northside, but then the kids came, and we decided I’d homeschool them.”
         Paddock had glanced into the rearview mirror at the two children in the backseat who were too tired to even talk. “Well, I think you’re doing a great job.” He was silent while he changed lanes. “Have you ever thought about getting back into the legal field?”
         Her heart sped up a few beats. “Well, sure, sometimes. In fact, I wanted to get my law degree and become a lawyer, but . . .”
         “Hey, don’t give up that dream. You’d make a great lawyer. In fact, even if you