“Ah, okay.”I shrug, because this little girl is so cute she can call me whatever she wants.I’m already smitten.Tiny hands reach for my hair, and I glance in question at Lily.
“She’s gentle,” She assures me with a grin.“Mostly.”
Larkin gathers a section of my hair between her little fingers, her mouth forming a small O like she’s discovered actual magic.“It’s sooooo pretty.”
My heart melts inside my chest and I know I’m gone for.“Thank you.”
“Can you sing too?”
Hayden chokes on his coffee behind me.Luc looks a little too delighted at my dilemma.
“Sort of,” I admit with a shrug.
Larkin gasps again.“Like Ariel?!”
“Maybe not quite that good.”I giggle.
“That’s okay.”She pats my arm in reassurance.“You can practice.”
I laugh so hard I almost lose my balance and fall on my butt.And somewhere behind me, Hayden goes very, very quiet as he stares down at me.
An hour later, I’m sitting cross-legged on Luc and Lily’s living room floor, the Little Mermaid on the huge flat-screen television, while Larkin sings and dances to every song.She pauses every now and then to brush my hair away from my shoulders like she’s afraid it might disappear.
“Well, aren’t you popular?”Hayden jokes as he hands me a fresh mimosa.I lift my gaze to his, and for one suspended second, the expression on his face steals the air from my lungs.
He’s looking at me like I’m something fragile and miraculous all at once.Something almost unbearably emotional in the depth of it that it makes my stomach flip.“What is it?”I ask so only he can hear.
Hayden blinks once like he didn’t realize he’d been staring.“It’s nothing.”
Lie.Luc notices it too.Of course he notices.A knowing smirk touches his mouth before he disappears back into the kitchen.
“You’re missing the mean octopus lady’s song,” Larkin informs me, her little hands bunching into fists as she plants them on her hips.
“I’m listening,” I turn my attention back to her, one of her hands finding its way back to my hair again as tiny fingers stroke my locks.
Larkin sighs.“I wish I had hair like you and Ariel.”
I hear Hayden and Luc laughing from the kitchen and it fills me with something I didn’t know was missing from my soul.Lily plops down on the rug next to me, a mimosa now in hand instead of coffee, bumping her shoulder against mine.“Thanks for humoring her.”
“Are you kidding?I love having my very own fan club.”I giggle around the champagne flute as I take a sip of my drink.And something inside my chest squeezes painfully tight because this is what I wanted.This part of his life.The people, the warmth, the messy and beautiful connections.
Hayden walks in a second later and catches my eye from across the room.And this time when he smiles at me there are no walls anymore.I only have a second to absorb the realization when the front door swings open without warning.
“We come bearing expensive champagne!”Mikey’s voice crashes through the house like chaos seconds before he appears carrying two big bottles of Dom, Quinn following behind him laughing.
Hayden closes his eyes immediately and shakes his head.
“Did you know they were coming?”I ask Lily, whispering louder than I realize.
“Luc absolutely texted him.”She shakes her head with an eye roll.
“Damn right I did,” Luc calls from the kitchen.
Mikey spots me sitting on the floor beside Larkin and his grin turns almost feral.“Well, this explains a lot.”
“Mikey,” Hayden warns.
“What?”Mikey shrugs feigning innocence.“I haven’t even said anything yet.”
