“I’ll be fine.” Of course he would. The building haunted his nightmares, but for her, for the woman he loved, he’d figure out a way to walk into it. “Besides, little boys should know that nurse practitioner is an option, don’t you think?” Not just surgeon. Jealousy did not look good on him, and he needed to let that go.

“Well, sure, of course. But I don’t want you to do anything you aren’t ready for.”

“I’m ready.” He ignored the panic that streaked through his body at just the thought of entering that school.

She pulled back from him and studied his face, no doubt looking for anything that would tell her he wasn’t ready to go back into the building where he had last seen his daughter alive. He simply focused on how much he loved her. On how it broke his heart to see her unhappy. On how he didn’t even really care that she didn’t tell her parents about him, because he was willing to take any part of her she was willing to give.

“Daniel...”

“I got customers here, Anni,” Phil bellowed from out front.

Daniel pursed his mouth in amusement and tilted his head toward the front. “You better go. You may need this job after that fiasco today.”

She lightly smacked his arm as she narrowed her eyes at him, her grin poking through despite her efforts to hide it. “Ha ha. And you say you love me.”

“But I do.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb, getting lost once again in those brown eyes. He slowly drew his thumb over her bottom lip, before leaning down to gently suck it into his mouth. Her hiss of breath was all the encouragement he needed to open her mouth and deepen their kiss. She moved closer to him, whispering his name, and for a moment he forgot where they were.

“Anni, let’s go!” Even Phil’s bellow did not have the power to shake them from each other, though Annika did pull back.

They were both a bit dizzy from lack of oxygen when he let her go. Her lips were swollen and her eyes were glassy when they met his.

She straightened out her apron and cleared her throat. “Okay, then.”

Daniel swore she wobbled a bit as she headed out front. He was an idiot to even entertain jealousy.

Maybe he’d drop a hint to Nilay to have their father stop by the classroom on Career Day. He could finally see what a fabulous teacher his daughter was.