"MOM!" Morgan's voice rips through my thoughts as she nearly takes my eye out with the foam finger. "Did you SEE that? Did you see what Cade did?!"
"I saw, baby."
"He's aGOD.I love him. I want to marry him."
Colt snorts beside me. "He's a bit old for you, Morgs."
"I don't care."
"He has a girlfriend."
Morgan waves the foam finger dismissively. "I'll wait until they break upandI'll be patient. Plus, I'm a very mature ten."
I'm still laughing when Colt squeezes my hand and leans into my ear, his breath warm against the shell of it.
"Surprise time?"
I look over at him, and there's that grin again.
"Colt. If you've arranged anything else tonight, I swear to God—"
"Morgs." He cuts me off entirely, turning to my daughter with the kind of theatrical seriousness that immediately makes her stop breathing. "How would you feel about meeting the team?"
Morgan falls silent for the first time all fucking day. She blinks up at him.
Then she makes a sound that I'm fairly certain hasn't been heard since the dinosaurs went extinct.
"WHAT."
Colt beams brighter. "You heard me. What do you say we head down to the locker room? Right now."
"WHAT."
"Yes or no, kid. I mean, if you don't wanna—"
"YES!YES, YES, YES, OH MY GOD, YES!"
Morgan grabs the front of Colt's jacket with both hands and shakes him so hard his head wobbles like a bobblehead.
"Take me.Take me now.I amready."
The entire row around us bursts into laughter as Morgan physically hauls Colt out of his seat and starts dragging him up the concrete steps toward the aisle with the single-minded determination of a woman on a mission, foam finger abandoned somewhere behind her.
"Colt! Wait… Hold on." I chase after them. "The locker room. Like... thelocker roomlocker room?"
He arches a brow over his shoulder. "I mean. Yeah."
"With the...players."
"That's typically who you find there, yes."
"And they'll be—" I gesture vaguely to my mid-section. "I mean, are they—dressed?"
The grin that spreads across his face shouldn't look that good. It really shouldn't.
"You're worried about my teammates being naked?"
"I'm worried about myten-year-old daughterbeing in a room with a bunch of naked men, Colt!"
