Jerking, I glare at Knox. “What?”
“Going to explain that?” He deliberately points his gaze in the direction of my arm around Kylie.
“Nope,” I say, tightening my hold when she giggles again.
“So when’s the trade happening?” he asks silkily.
I glare at him.
But, as usual, it doesn’t have any effect on the menace known as Knox Adler.
“Are you two gonna get married like my mom and dad?” Evie asks, dropping onto the couch on the other side of Kylie.
Her teacher skills mean that she isn’t nearly as thrown by that question as I am (though the answer is unequivocally yes because there’s no fucking way I’m letting her go, not now), and Kylie just smiles and hugs Evie close.
“It’s a little early to ask that question, sweetheart.” She kisses the top of her head.
“Why?”
“Sometimes adults take a long time to make up their minds.”
“Dad says when someone is worth loving, you never let them go.” She slips out from under Kylie’s arms and launches herself at Knox. “Right, Dad?”
“Right,” he rasps, hugging her until she wriggles free and takes Kylie’s hand, conning her into a game of UNO.
I lift my brows at Knox, who looks like he’s been sucker punched.
“What?” I ask as Evie deals out the cards.
“That’s the first time she’s called me Dad,” he whispers and it’s a rasp, his eyes glassy.
I bump my foot with his. “She loves you.”
“She owns my heart.” A breath and then he shakes off the emotion, returns to his normal pain-in-the-ass state. “Like that one”—a nod at Kylie who’s organizing her hand—“does for you.”
“Yeah.”
There’s no point in denying it.
We watch the girls for a while in companionable silence.
But, no surprise, it doesn’t last long. Not with Knox around. “You know the guys are saving up their shit for when you’re back in the locker room, right?”
“More shit than you lot have already been giving me?”
“What do you think?”
I scowl.
“Though…”
“What?” I say, knowing I’m playing into his hand but unable to resist.
His grin starts peeking through. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“It’s not like I’ve spent the last years fucking my way through the female populace”—not like Storm—“is it really a surprise I’d lock a good woman in?”
“No.” Now his grin goes full-bore. “The surprise is that Damon didn’t kill you for defiling his little sister.”
