The Sister Between Them

Chapter 16

Rocco ended up at the office for much longer than he wanted. He sent Dani a text not to start dinner. He'd just take them out before the movie. Dante was so far behind that Rocco would need to return to the office tomorrow instead of Thursday. He was confident Dani could handle herself fine, though.

Alyssa, who was supposed to be back on Friday, called and left him a voicemail on his cellphone, which she knew was broken, telling him it'd be Monday now. He just rolled his eyes. He was in a good mood and didn't want to ruin it by calling her back. He had managed to get out before Dante started in on him about how Alyssa disrespected him again.

He pulled up to the house and found Dani and Gavin on the front porch; he was happy to finally see it being used. They were playing with the blocks he had brought home for Gavin.  Gavin sprinted towards Rocco as soon as he heard the car door open.

"Daddy!"

"Hey, champ," Rocco picked him up quickly and started walking to the porch.

He stopped at the steps as Dani stood up and smiled at him; she had changed into jean shorts and her long legs were on full display in them.  He gulped hard and carefully forced his eyes to stay on her face as he scooped up Gavin to hug him. 

"Sorry, it took me so long. My brother's really in the weeds on some stuff at the office," he said, as Gavin set back down, who returned to his blocks.

"That's cool; we had a good day. Lexi came by," she mentioned.

"She did?" he cringed, "I should have known she'd go and do that; I'm sorry."

"Don't be; she was really cool." Dani smiled. "I would have spied too."

"You're something else, Valentine," he smirked.

She just laughed it off, averting those eyes from his. He could see her cheeks darken a little. She was so bashful it was refreshing.

"You two ready?"

"Ready," Dani confirmed with a smile. "I already locked up."

"Yeah, movie time!" Gavin cheered.

"All right, let's go." He picked Gavin back up and gestured for Dani to follow them to the car.

Dani relaxed in her seat, looking out the window in awe of the purple and pink sunsets. Those shorts had slid a few more inches on her smooth thighs in the car. One peek nearly killed him. He was probably white knuckle gripping the steering wheel at one point.

He would just have to get used to being around such a beautiful girl all the time. He lived in Sun City, and there were temptations everywhere, yet he'd never been affected like this before.  

As Rocco pulled up to the theater and they chatted about which movies were playing and other mundane things, he was finally able to put those thoughts aside, far aside.

He had no right to steal glances at Dani; she was family. He was married. End of story.

Gavin nearly ran into the movie theater holding tight to Dani's hand. They opted for the latest Disney movie and got in line. Rocco laughed when he noticed Gavin was clutching onto that teddy bear.

"You brought Kiki?" Rocco asked.

"You said him come," Gavin said.

"I think you did," Dani agreed with a small smile.

"Good afternoon," the woman behind the glass smiled her eyes raking over him. She looked to be in her mid to late forties with dark red hair and a lot of makeup. He instinctively took a step back, putting himself right in front of Dani.