Touchdown Baby by Rose Harris

and that boss the perfect opportunity to hound her, but he had made the kid cry. Just when he thought this was a great day, it turned. Could this day get any worse?
    Roxi stepped forward to pick up Ashlyn, but the little girl only had eyes for Jace. When she reached out to him, he immediately gathered her close and whispered soft apologies in her ear. “Forgive me, princess, I would never hurt you on purpose. You can have anything you want.” Ashlyn’s tears stopped, and she wrapped her arms tight around his neck and placed a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Her acceptance of his apology went a long way in calming his rage.
    When Jace made eye contact with Roxi, he’d made a decision. “I’m going to call the dickhead and tell him I am not going to use his firm after all. That way I will save Ava the trouble of dealing with him, she won’t have as much work to do, and she’ll be able to come home early to her daughter. I wish there was more I could do to help her out and get the creep off her back.”
    “You know you could always demand more of her attention be brought to your case. There is no way the cheapskate will want to lose your money. The only thing he wants more than Ava is billable hours.”
    In consideration of his sister’s suggestion, he decided that could work for both of them. He would be able to spend more time with Ava, and she would not have to spend time with a man who she disliked. Just as he was about to make the call, Ashlyn grabbed his face and kissed him square on the mouth. He was stunned by the action of the sweet-smelling angel he held in his arms. The last time a female’s kiss made him speechless, he had been in middle school. Leslie Brock tried to sneak a kiss with him behind the old elementary school, the same one he was at yesterday when he met this little girl who had quickly stolen his heart.
    A giggle escaped Ashlyn as she batted her eyelashes to get his attention; he tickled her belly and told her to watch out or she was going to be as big a flirt as her mommy. As he kissed her on her forehead and hugged her just a little tighter, he sat her down so she could finish watching her cartoons while he talked to Aunt Roxi.
    Does that make me Uncle Jace? Never !
    Just like that, his smile vanished, and he knew he would do whatever it took to make sure Bob never had a shot with Ava. Even if he couldn’t give her everything a man should give a woman, he would make damn sure there would never be an Uncle Bob in Ashlyn’s life. She would not be giving that man any kisses.
    He was about to ask Roxi what she wanted him to do first as far as the house repairs went when the telephone began to ring and he settled back to wait for Roxi’s return. Jace contemplated the decisions he needed to make in the next few weeks. The only one that appealed to him was hitting something with a hammer. It would be therapeutic.
    The moment Roxi walked back into the family room, Jace knew something was wrong. “What’s wrong?”
    “That was Lia on the phone. She can’t keep Ashlyn this afternoon. I tried Mom, but since this is her day to help Dad with the office work, she scheduled a meeting with their accountant.”
    “Did you call Ava? I can go get her since I have her car?”
    “Yeah, after I got off the phone with Mom, but she’s swamped at work and asked me if I could keep her. She was about to call me to let me know she wasn’t going to be able to make our lunch date.”
    “So what’s the big deal? It’s sounds as if everything is worked out.”
    “That’s the problem. I can’t miss my afternoon classes, she can’t get out of work, and Lia has to stay at the hospital with one of her nursing home friends until their family can get there.”
    The moment Jace saw the light bulb go off in Roxi’s eyes, he knew he was going to hate whatever she was about to say. When she asked him if he would consider keeping Ashlyn for the afternoon, he didn’t hate the idea, but he was petrified. What did he know