He smoothed his hand over her wispy hair, gently guiding her head back to lay against his chest.
“Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince named Jason. He was strong, and rode a horse made of steel and chrome, and everyone loved him. One day, the handsome prince heard a voice so enchanting, he was instantly bewitched. He mounted his trusty steed, Harley, and went on a quest to find the woman, discovering a beautiful maiden with hair like fire, Lady Lauren.”
I gasped softly, and he flicked his eyes my way, giving me a wink. This one was playful, rather than flirtatious, and I found myself not minding it nearly as much.
His voice was low and soothing as he started weaving an impossible fairy tale about the handsome prince, who found himself helplessly captured under the spell created by her voice.
“Alas, Lady Lauren’s uncle, a mean old man named Viking, threatened all the men in the land, including Prince Jason, vowing to rain doom upon them and their appendages if they dared to try to court his beloved niece.”
By this point, I had resorted to holding my hand over my mouth to keep my laughter at bay, not wanting to disturb the almost-sleeping little girl, or interrupt the surprisingly charming man who held her. I was seeing another side of him right now, and I was surprised by how much I actually liked him when he dropped his playboy façade.
“Now, because Prince Jason was the bravest man of all, he –“
“Dammit, old man, you just ate the last brownie, didn’t you?”
“Ella made ‘em for me...she knows they’re my favorite.”
Trick’s story was interrupted by Uncle Bill yelling at Sinner, and Sinner yelling back, which startled poor Everly. Trick scooped her up onto his chest, resting her head on his shoulder as he swayed side to side in the chair to soothe her.
He grinned at me over the top of her head.
“How did you like the story so far?”
“It was fascinating. I’d like to meet this Prince Jason. He sounds like he might be my kind of guy,” I teased, unable to help myself.
Trick held out his hand, as if awaiting a handshake.
“Jase Patrick, at your service, Lady Lauren. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m not actually a prince, and the only person who ever called me Jason was my mom.”
I studied him for a moment, charmed despite myself, then slid my hand in his. “I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, Jase.”
“So, how does the story end?” I found myself asking, then wanted to smack my own mouth at the flirtatious tone in my voice.
“That depends on you, Lady Lauren,” he replied huskily.
A shout of excitement from Ethan as he scored a goal brought me back to my senses, only to find my hand still engulfed by Trick’s much larger one.
Everly stirred again, lifting her head from his shoulder to look for her brother, and giving a sleepy grin when she saw him doing what I assumed was supposed to be a victory dance in the middle of the yard. Either that, or a bug had flown down his shirt, I wasn’t sure which.
I pulled my hand back, shifting in my chair to hide my sudden nervousness. Everly demanded Trick’s attention when she decided she wanted to get down from his lap to join Ethan. According to Abby, she had started walking a few weeks ago, although she was only able to take a few steps on her own before toppling over.
Trick carefully set her on her feet, and Rome trotted over to take her by both hands and slowly led her over to her brother. Ethan had fallen to his knees and shouted encouragement to her, and I smiled as Rome let go of her hands so she could toddle the last couple of feet on her own. She fell into Ethan’s arms and they both giggled as they tumbled over backward.
King and Abby both had their phones out taking a video of the special moment, and I envied the closeness the Morgan family had.
“They’re sweet kids,” Trick observed quietly, and I nodded my agreement, unable to speak around the sudden lump in my throat.
I was saved from trying to continue the conversation when Lucky called Trick over to help settle an argument with Wrangler about which model of Harley-Davidson motorcycles was the best.
Viking came and sat down next to me, still grumbling about Sinner eating the last of the brownies. The party started winding down after that. I started to help with the clean-up, but King stopped me, telling me that the prospects would handle it.
“I appreciate it, sweetheart, but it’s part of their job.”
After a quick discussion with the other ladies, we agreed to hold off on our book club meeting for another week. We’d missed last Monday because Molly and Abby had caught a bug that had been going around at the elementary school they bothworked at. We weren’t going to be able to meet this coming Monday either, because Camille was working a rare evening shift at the hospital.
“I hate working nights, but at least I might get a little eye-candy this time,” she told us, playfully fanning herself with her hand. “We have a new doctor at the hospital. His name is Dr. Dooley, but I like to refer to him as Dr. Do-Me. He’s a sexy, silver fox who looks like he belongs on the cover of one of our books.”
Ella propped her hands on her hips and looked at her friend in exasperation. “Two hours ago you said you’d sworn off dating after the ding-a-ling disaster.”
