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The words spun in her brain, but she was too tongue-tied to string a sentence together. This wasn’t good. He was in her head. The worst part was, he knew it.
Kassie took little Kaleb out of Ali’s arms as she looked around the arcade. She was trying her best not to watch Luc, but he was a hard guy to keep her eyes off. Besides being too good looking for his own good, he was also quite the showboat.
“Did Luc just do the ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ dance?” Ali asked, her attention focused in his direction.
“Um, yeah. I believe so.” What a dork. “He’s a bit of a show-off, isn’t he?”
“No one ever accused him of being modest,” Ali said with a laugh. “He’s quite the character. I’m not sure he can help it.”
“Yeah.” Her eyes lingered on him as they talked. “But they are being pretty cocky about their skee ball game. You might have to go over there soon and show them who’s boss.”
“I will. Just waiting for Kaden to tag me in.” Ali gave an exaggerated sigh. “You know he always does.”
Ali was especially good at skee ball and liked to show the boys up when she got the chance. This looked like one of those times. Kaden was never shy about turning the spotlight on her when it came to the game.
“That’s because you’re better at skee ball than him.” Kassie danced around with little Kaleb, trying to head off any crying. “Hey fussy boy, hey now. No crying with Aunt Kassie.”
“Want me to take him, sis?” Ali asked.
“No, he’s fine. I’ve got him. You’re fine, aren’t you little guy? Yes, yes you are.” She continued to speak baby talk to her nephew as he calmed down.
“I’m surprised you wanted to hang out with us tonight. You had to have better offers than the Fun for All with our families?”
She wished she had better offers. But the dating pool was suffering from a drought, not like it mattered. With Luc on her mind all day, she wouldn’t even notice if someone did make her a better offer. Yet, she had no words to explain to her sister-in-law. “Nah.”
“Hey there, big boy!” Hailee scooped the baby up out of Kassie’s arms. “How’s my best guy?”
“Hey! I thought I was your best guy?” Dom whined.
“Oh, hush! Babe, you know you are!” Hailee reassured her husband.
Kassie had only met Hailee a few times, but she seemed nice. With her purple hair and tattoos, and a wicked sense of style, she was one of the sweetest people Kassie had ever met. Her husband, Dom, was just as great. And just as tattooed. But Kassie had never been affected by Dom’s masculine presence. Dom was like a big brother to her. He had been a friend of Kaden’s for a long time.
“Having fun, little O’Conner?” Hailee asked, unknowingly irritating Kassie.
Ali caught Kassie’s gaze, and cringed apologetically at her friend’s words. Kassie shrugged. She had confided in Ali how much she hated always being referred to as Kaden’s little sister. She was going to correct Hailee, but Kaleb broke the tension for her.
As nice as Hailee was, apparently kids didn’t find her as appealing. Kaleb wailed any time she tried to hold him. As bad as Kassie felt for Hailee, who was his godmother and just wanted to dote on him, it gave her a small sense of satisfaction that her nephew was coming to her rescue.
“Why don’t kids like me?” Hailee whined as she handed him back to Kassie.
“Hailee, he’ll learn to. Trust me.” Ali tried to comfort her friend. “He’s just a baby.”
Kassie bounced Kaleb on her hip, trying to stop him from crying and to get a smile out of him again. She sang her favorite song from the radio and danced around until he was all smiles again. “There’s my little guy!”
Unfortunately, all the ruckus Kaleb had created attracted some attention, and people were watching in their direction. That included a sexy, smirking Luc Marcella.
***
CHAPTER SEVEN
Luc
Some of the Renegades planned a family-friendly fun night at the local Fun for All. A typical night out was to a bar or club, but some of the guys with families couldn’t always go. So tonight, Kris could bring Ian and Sam could bring Willow. Kaden had even brought Kaleb, although the baby was too small to run around with the other kids.
“Better watch out, Marcella! I’m getting close to beating your high score!” Sam called from the skee ball lanes. Willow stood beside him in her own lane, imitating her dad’s moves, but obviously throwing a much lower game.
“Good luck trying, Morris!” Luc waved him off. “There’s no way you’re beating my—”
