“Can I go?”Milly asks, licking her lips.
Maddox shrugs.“Sure.”
“You can’t just take my sister without asking me first,” Malia snaps.
His eyebrows scrunch together.“Why?”
“Um, it’s kidnapping,” she retorts sharply.
“She literally just asked me,” he replies slowly.“It’s not kidnapping.And I’m good with kids.Never used to be, but I found I have the knack for it.”
“Is he for real?”
Makayla reaches for a slice of pizza, eyeing them both like she’s waiting for them to start fighting.“I think it’s best if Mill stays here and we can take her another day.”
“Suit yourself,” Maddox mutters before glancing at Malia.“I do early mornings, I wasn’t lying about the food, and you won’t be out of pocket because I’ll discount whatever we eat.If something we haven’t discussed needs doing, I will talk to you about it first.And I will warn you, the last female household we worked on, they kept walking around in their underwear or would accidently drop their bath towel in front of us.Most of us are in happy relationships so all it will do is piss us off.Andour partners, and you don’t want to mess with them.Right!Now that’s sorted, I’ll get a date sorted for when we can start.”
He grabs another slice of pizza, leaving Malia standing there with her jaw open.He takes the baby from Freya.
“Oh, you have company,” he declares.
“W-what?”I ask.
There’s a knock on the door and my head snaps toward it.“How did you...How?”
“I’m a Carter,” he replies, holding his hand out to his little girl.“I’ll be in touch, Malia.”
Malia points at me and then Freya.“We will be having words after,” she warns.
“Yo, Landon, your missus is here,” Maddox calls.
I race toward the door, hoping a brawl isn’t about to happen because her guy is here.Freya said they were cool, but she’s also in love with Mark who clearly inherited his family’s habits because he’s already demolished one pizza.
A beautiful brunette with red tinges in the strands stands next to a younger version of herself, who I happen to know is Paisley.We met at a barbeque not too long ago at the Carters’ house.The older woman is dressed in a pair of worn-out jeans with a black T-shirt tucked in at the waist.Paisley is wearing a summer dress that outlines her perfect figure.
The older lady steps forward, her smile filled with warmth.“Hello, I’m Liza, your neighbour,” she greets, her head tilting a little.“Well, as much of a neighbour as I can be with this many acres between us.This is my daughter, Paisley.She owns the bed and breakfast on our land.”
Malia takes her outstretched hand.“It’s nice to meet you both.”
Paisley smiles at the greeting.“We would have been here sooner, but we’ve both been swamped.We finally managed to get some time to come over and bring you this as a welcome to your new home gift.”Liza passes Malia a green crock pot stacked with another crock pot on top.“It’s lasagne.Mum makes a fantastic lasagne.She also made a vegetarian one in case you didn’t eat meat.It’s the top one.It still tastes just as good.”
“Thank you,” Malia replies, then hands them over to Makayla when Maddox doesn’t move from where his car is parked, his gaze on the food.Then she quietly orders, “Do not let him back in.”
Liza, having clearly heard, grins.“Maddox, there’s one in the truck for you to take home.I heard you were here.”Landon freezes near Paisley, his head slowly turning toward Maddox.“Landon, you have some back at the bed and breakfast.Don’t worry.”
He relaxes, which makes me chuckle.
Paisley sighs.“How bad were they inside?”
“Love, I did nothing,” Landon argues.
“He’s right,” Malia answers, then jabs her finger at Maddox.“It was that one.”
Weight rams into my side and I look down to find Milly, her arms wrapping around my waist.“He’s eating all the food.”
“Oh no, were you already eating?We can go,” Liza stresses.
“You’re fine,” Malia assures her, then turns to yell into the house.“Mark, if you want future babies then get away from the bloody food.”
