Juliet’s shoulders slump forward in defeat. “No, Daddy.”
“Then I suggest you lose this attitude before we all take turns spanking it out of you, little girl. Now, say hello to Isabella.”
Still looking distinctly disgruntled, Juliet glances up. “Hello, Isabella.”
“You can call me Izzy, if you want.” Isabella offers up a shy smile. “My friends all call me Izzy. And I think our Daddies will be very annoyed if we don’t become friends.”
Chuckling at my Little one’s clever observation, I press a kiss to her cheek. “It would certainly make me very happy to see my three favorite girls getting along.”
Isabella gives me another of those shy, sweet smiles. “Daddy, can I show Tori and Juliet my room? It’s so pretty.”
The last thing I want is to have my little doll out of my sight for even a second. But she looks so earnest, and itwouldbe nice for the girls to get along. “Of course you can, little one. Unless their Daddies have other plans…?”
I offer the out, secretly hoping the men I think of as brothers will take it, but they don’t. Jasper rises from the couch, Juliet perched on his hip, and gestures toward the doorway with a wide smile. “Lead the way.”
Biting back an annoyed sigh, I head for the stairs, Maxwell and Jasper close behind with their Little ones. We make our way up to the nursery, and the moment we enter Victoria lets out a stunned gasp.
“Oh, Izzy it’s beautiful! The green is so pretty! And the ballerina paintings! Daddy, I want ballerinas in my nursery!”
“If you can remember how to ask Daddy for somethingpolitely, we can discuss ballerina paintings,” Maxwell says, shaking his head as he delivers the gentle rebuke.
In his arms, Victoria sighs and rolls her eyes. “May I please have ballerina paintings for my nursery, Daddy?”
Maxwell’s expression hardens. “Little girls who roll their eyes do not get presents. They get sent to bed with no dessert and red-hot bottoms.”
Pink rushes to Victoria’s cheeks. “Sorry, Daddy.”
“Much better. Now, why don’t you go ask Izzy if she’d like to play for a while?”
Bending down, he places Victoria on her feet and she immediately rushes over to me and Isabella, bouncing excitedly on her toes. “Wanna play dolls, Izzy? Juju and I love playing with our dollhouses!”
“Can I, Daddy?”
“Of course, little one.”
Jasper and I both put our Little girls down, and even Juliet bounces with excitement as they rush over to the giant dollhouse that’s an exact replica of our actual house. Maxwell had them commissioned for each of us after the plans for our individual houses were drawn up, and we’ve all been waiting for the day we’d have Little ones of our own to play with them.
“Do you have a monitor?” Jasper asks, keeping his voice low enough the girls can’t hear us.
“I do.”
“Video and audio?”
“Of course.”
“Good. Let’s give the girls some space to get to know each other. We can watch from the monitor and make sure they don't get themselves into too much trouble.”
I can’t help but grin at the implication that our Little ones will get intosomekind of trouble without us hovering. And because I can’t wait to see exactly what they manage to come up with, I grab the monitor and gesture to the door. “After you, gentlemen.”
ChapterSeven
Isabella
“Thank god. I thought they’dneverleave.” Setting the doll she’d been playing with aside, Juliet leans back on her hands, her Mary Jane clad feet out in front of her. She looks over at me, her gaze surprisingly shrewd for someone dressed like a toddler. Though I suppose that’s not a fair assessment since I’m wearing a similar outfit, but she and Tori seem to have embraced their role whereas I am fighting it with everything I have in me. “So, what’s your story? How’d you end up here?”
Beside her, Tori shifts, sitting cross-legged with a doll still in her lap, an eager expression on her face. “Yes! We need details.”
As nice as they seem, I’m not sure I can trust them. And if I tell them too much, I risk losing the little bit of edge I have with Daddy.
