She turns back to Ariana. “Not you, though.”
“Oh no, not me.” She grins and boops Callie on the nose.
Callie looks at me again. “Luca’s pretty.”
My cheeks feel hot when Ariana’s eyes move to my face.
“Luca’s very pretty,” she says, blushing slightly.
Callie’s mom returns with a plate of food and a lemonade. “I can take her if you want.”
Ariana shakes her head. “I’m not giving her up yet unless you make me.”
“Okay, I’m going to go say hi to your mom. Callie, you be good for Ariana. And eat your carrots.”
Callie glares at the plate. “Ew, carrots.”
“But look, there’s ranch!” Ariana says with a laugh. “And if you eat three of those carrots, I’ll let you have one of the cookies.”
“Did you make the cookies, Ari?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Okay, good. Your cookies are the bestest.” Callie beams at Ariana, who kisses the top of her head.
As she hands food to Callie, they chat about preschool and dolls and cartoons. Warmth fills me. This might just be what my future looks like. Ariana, with an adorable tot on her hip, throwing smiles my way someday? Sounds fucking perfect all of a sudden. I don’t know if she wants kids. Hell, I never even thought about it before, but I’m thinking about it now.
Ariana, Lil, and I have an epic water gun battle with all the kids. After shooting Ari in the ear, she and Lil gang up on me and knock me to the ground.
“Dog pile on Luca!” Ariana shouts, and half a dozen little kids launch themselves at me.
She and Lil play bocce ball and horseshoes with their friends. They sneak attack me, Marco, Ford, and Sully with water balloons all damn day long. I’m sure they would get Parker, too, if he wasn’t hiding inside. He’s probably watching the whole party from his security room. I flip a camera off, and my watch dings, showing a middle finger emoji. Yeah, he’s watching.
For two girls who were adamant they don’t like parties, they sure as hell are enjoying it.
I can’t help but stare at Ariana all day. And follow her around like a puppy dog.
As the party winds down, she smiles while saying goodbye to a few guests.
Marco stops next to me and hands me a beer. “You’ve been looking at Ariana like she’ll be your queen one day.”
“She’s already my queen. Now, I need to convince her I’m worthy of being her king.” I take a drink of my beer and watch my girl.
Chapter 31
Christmas sucks, though
Luca
I’m almost to my room when I hear Lil yell, “Holy shit, why are you naked?”
“Well, you see, Lilith, in order to put new clothes on, you must first remove the clothing you are currently wearing.”
I grin to myself. My girl is such a smart ass.
“Fuck, I knew I should have paid more attention in school.”
“Too late now!”
