“Got ’em,” she yells back.
“I really wanted to kiss you,” Phoenix mutters, wrapping an arm around my waist.
I lean into him. “Don’t worry. We have the rest of our lives for kissing.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Happy New Year
Phoenix
I walk into my kitchen on New Year’s Eve to find Jordie wiping down the counters. She’s all smiles when she looks up at me and offers me her mouth for a kiss. In the words of some mobster dude, it’s an offer I can’t refuse.
Wrapping my arms around her from behind, I allow my tongue to dance over the seam of her lips, and when she parts them for me, I deepen the kiss.
“Mmm, I missed you today.”
“I missed you too. How were things at the office?”
“All good. I got everything finalized for your ad that will air during the NFL Super Bowl.”
She turns in my arms and strokes her hands up and down my chest. “A Super Bowl ad is big bucks, Mr. Hale.”
I wipe some flour from her cheek. “You’re worth every penny. What have you been cooking?”
God, I hope it’s not something from Reece’s Easy-Bake Oven. Ever since Jordie started watching my daughter, I’ve come home each night to some bland, dry dessert, and, of course, I ate every bite with a smile. A forced smile and about a gallon of milk, but whatever.
“We made cookies.” Her lips quirk. “In the real oven.”
“Oh thank god,” I sigh, looking at the platter laden with… “Um, what are those supposed to be?”
They’re definitely cookies, but they’re all misshapen and covered with lines of glittery frosting.
“They’re fireworks,” Jordie informs me, casting an assessing gaze at them. “At least they’re supposed to be. They’re kind of… blobby, aren’t they?”
“A bit,” I admit. “But I can kind of see it with the glittery stuff. I’ll make sure to tell Reecie they’re the most gorgeous cookies ever.”
“Good plan.” Jordie bounces on her toes, her eyes alight with excitement. “Oh, we went to your mom’s house today to see Lorraine. She said thank you for the soup, by the way.”
“Everything go okay?” I ask, feeling worry wrinkles form on my forehead.
“Fine. George drove us directly from here to your mom’s, and we pulled into the garage so no reporters got a glimpse of Reece.” She scrunches her nose. “I still can’t believe you hired a car and driver for us.”
“I don’t want them bothering you two. We’ll keep George on the payroll till everything settles down.”
“I think it already has. There were only two paparazzi vehicles that followed us today. They’re moving on to the next bit of drama. Some Hollywood celebrity got arrested for soliciting a prostitute last night, so I think that took a bit of heat off us.”
I hold her hips and kiss the top of her head. “Thank you for being patient with me. I know I’m overprotective.”
“You’re just being a good dad. They have no business trying to get pictures of a child, and if I ever catch one trying, I’ll snatch their camera and stuff it up their butt.”
Laughing, I pull her closer. “I have no doubt you will.”
She wriggles away and begins cleaning up the mess again. “Oh, what I started to tell you before… Reece and I went to see Lorraine today, and you’re never going to believe what happened.”
Reece’s nanny is staying at my mom’s house. She’s three days post-op from her knee replacement and doing well.
“What?” I ask.
