Spark after delicious fucking spark.
Run, baby . . .
Maise intercepts me, a snowball flying at my head, which I only just duck and miss. I can see whose side she’s picked.Little traitor.
I ball up another shot and send it flying into her back.
She spins around. “Hey, not fair!”
“Oh yeah? Two against one isn’t fair, either, kiddo. But here we are.”
She knows I’m joking but sticks her tongue out at me, anyway.
Something moves behind me, but I’m too slow. A hand tugs at the back of my coat and ice slides down my back. “Jesus Christ, Mary, and Jose?—”
CC runs across the snow, desperate to put space between us.
“Daddy! Language!” Maise screeches but topples over laughing as she and CC try to get away but slip and slide in a tangle of legs and hit the cold snow together.
I stalk to where they are lying in a heaving pile of giggles and feigned fear.
“Please have mercy on us! In our defense, it’s more like almost one whole adult against... well, you.” CC’s eyes don’t waver from my gaze.
I guess she has a point.
I extend a hand to help her up. Maise is already on her feet, hands loaded with snowballs.
When Maise narrows her eyes at me, I reach down to CC.
Her hand slides into mine. It’s cold.
I haul her upward, but she drops her weight. I lose my footing, crashing onto the snowy ground beside her.
“That’s better. Down here with me,” she whispers into my ear.
Maise tilts her head, giving us an odd look before something like anticipation claims her expression.
CC jumps to her feet, and Maisey’s look fades.
She was waiting for us to . . . ?
I grab CC’s hand and haul her back down. This time, she lands in my lap.
Where she fucking belongs.
“What are you?—”
I cup her face with my hands. “Think the cat is outta the bag, baby. But it’s up to you.”
Her gaze studies my face for a beat, then she glances at Maisey. “Are we putting it back in?”
I swallow hard. I don’t fucking want to, but...
“It’s up to you.”
“Kiss her already, Daddy!”
We both burst out laughing as Maisey drops her snowballs to the ground, arms folding over her chest.Yep, that’ll make us cooperate, kiddo.
