Mel smiled broadly. “I like June! Because it’s going to be the best month ever. That’s when Lu and his friends come to our kindergarten!”
“Really?” Anna glanced up in surprise.
Lucas nodded.
“Why?”
“It was Lucy. She chose me, Dax, and Leon, and maybe Fox too, to visit a kindergarten. For publicity. One of the kids therepainted a picture for us and asked us to visit for his birthday. It’s good for the club if they send someone.”
“But why you?” she asked, surprised.
“Leon and Dax, because they have a bad reputation. Me, so I’ll seem less like akiller. Fox, so he’ll look after us,” he remarked darkly.
Anna laughed and reached out to squeeze his arm. “That sounds like a fantastic idea.”
“Yes!” Melody agreed loudly, her face lighting up. Anna’s thoughts began to race when she noticed Lucas shifting restlessly in his seat at Melody’s enthusiasm.
His teammates didn’t know Melody existed. Melody’s kindergarten friends, as well as their parents, didn’t know that Lucas was a famous hockey player with sole custody.
What would he do? Tell everyone...?
No drama.
No, probably not. He could tell everyone he was her uncle without mentioning that he was raising her because her mother had died.
But if he told everyone, it wouldn’t matter if it came out that they were sleeping together. Sure, her brothers would freak out and so would the press, but otherwise... it would be okay.
He won’t tell anyone, Anna. He’ll protect Melody.
She lowered her gaze. Naturally, the voice in her head was right. And it didn’t matter. She didn’t want everyone to know that she and Lucas... That she... Yeah, that she what?
God, her life really wasn’t any less complicated since she’d finished school!
“It’s so great, Lu,” Melody continued, waving her hands in the air. “Because then I can prove you exist. The kids in my class don’t believe me.”
He frowned. “They don’t believe what?”
“That I’m not alone, that I have you. They think I don’t have parents. But that’s not true, is it?” She looked at him uncertainly — and if her expression was already breaking Anna’s heart, she didn’t want to know what it was doing to Lucas.
“No,” he murmured somberly. “That’s not true.”
Melody breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s what I always say! You can also tell them that I used a saw all by myself. That’ll make them jealous.”
“Mel, we’ll have to look into the saw thing,” he replied hesitantly. “You might have to get a little older before you...”
“I’m really old,” Melody interrupted loudly. “I even got to have a sip of Grandpa’s coffee.”
Oh dear. Anna practically felt the dark shadow of displeasure crossing Lucas’ face.
“You got to what?” he asked sharply. “God...”
Anna cleared her throat loudly before Lucas could curse too much.
His gaze flicked to her, and he sighed heavily before asking more calmly, “You got to have coffee, Mel?”
The girl’s head sank between her shoulders. She obviously realized she’d said something wrong. “It was just a tiny sip. And I can saw, really. I’m old enough. I can even handle a sharp knife!” See?”
The next moment, she picked up the sharp bread knife that was lying on the table in front of Lucas. Unfortunately, she grabbed the blade, not the handle.
