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“Definitely.”
Taking my hand in his, he led me across the hall to the benches where Lex sat. Her little eyes focused on her iPad as she tapped her fingers across the screen.
“All right, Lex!” Wes cheered loud enough to draw the attention of a few hotel guests in our direction, but it didn’t faze him. “Are you ready to have some fun?”
Her eyes grew big and excited.
“Are you ready to go look at some fishies?”
She nodded, enthusiastic and childlike. “Can we go to Predator Lagoon?”
“Yep.”
“Wooooohoooo!” She hopped up from the bench, and instantly, the iPad was long forgotten as she handed it off to me and ran straight into Wes’s opened arms. He lifted her up with ease and spun her around a few times as I turned her iPad off and slid it into my purse.
“Come on, Mommy!” she shouted toward me. “Let’s go look at one of the resort’s fourteen lagoons! Altogether, they hold over eight million gallons of salt water and more than fifty thousand aquatic animals representing over two hundred and fifty marine species!”
God, she was the cutest and easily could have been one of Atlantis’s employees with the vast knowledge she possessed about the resort. From the second Wes and I had told her about the trip, she’d ensconced herself in her normal routine of soaking up every little bit of knowledge about the Bahamian destination that her little genius brain could hold.
I followed their lead and watched from behind as Wes carried her in the direction of the exhibit my daughter was so excited to see. Her little lips were moving a mile a minute and most likely filling his ears with random tidbits of information about the marine life and their habitats. Her hands were wrapped around his neck tightly, and the most genuine smile etched her pouty pink lips. His soft chuckles and the warmth that highlighted his voice with each of his answering responses were pure music to my ears.
He loved Lexi. He loved everything about her, and whenever I had the precious opportunity of witnessing them spending time together, I always felt overwhelmed with how thankful I was for him. He truly loved my daughter and saw her as his own. He loved her unconditionally, exactly how a father loves his little girl.
Lexi finally had a father. She finally had the male figure in her life who would always support her, always encourage her, always keep her safe, and most importantly, always love her.
I had no doubts about his presence in her life—our lives.
Wes, Lex, and I were a family. We were forever.
Eventually, I swallowed past my little moment of happy, thankful tears and caught up with them. Wes smiled down at me and took my hand in his, and with our daughter in his arms and our hands locked tight, we walked in the direction of the lagoon of Lex’s choice.
The instant her eyes met the see-through glass, they lit up bright enough to give the sun a run for its money. She hopped out of Wes’s arms and pressed her nose to the glass, her curious eyes taking in everything in meticulous detail. The blue sparkle of the water, the saw-like nose of a six-foot-long carpenter shark as it put on a show on the other side of the glass, and the school of fish that flitted away as he moved closer. Each little piece stood out to her, her visually pervasive brain far and away better than the basic function of my own.
Wes wrapped his arm around my shoulders and tucked me into his side, and both of our gazes were more focused on Lexi than the actual marine life swimming gracefully through the water.
Lex pointed to another shark swimming directly in front of her. “Great hammerhead shark, also known as the Sphyrna mokarran. The mallet-shaped head of the hammerhead enhances its ability to find prey. They have sensory systems on their heads, and their eyes are located far apart, which actually improves their field of vision. They also have jelly-filled pores called the ampullae of Lorenzini that detect the weak magnetic field produced by fish.”
Wes and I looked at one another with amused grins.
“Did you get all of that, Mommy?” he whispered into my ear. “Because I sure as fuck didn’t. Our daughter is too goddamn smart.”
I simultaneously smiled and swooned at his words.
Our daughter.
I wasn’t even sure if he realized he had said it, because he didn’t act like he did, but I couldn’t deny it only made me love him more—and if that continued to happen, it wouldn’t be long before my heart might not fit inside my chest.
“I’m afraid if the bigwigs at Atlantis catch on that she knows more about their resort than any of their employees, she will most likely get offered her current dream job as one of their marine biologists,” Wes added with a proud grin, but I was still trying to wrap my mind around his earlier words.
Our daughter.
His eyes searched mine when I didn’t offer any kind of response, completely mute and just staring up into his warm gaze.
Eventually, he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of my mouth.
“She is my daughter,” he whispered into my ear. “Our daughter. We’re a family—me, you, and Lex. We’re a family.”
He leaned back and tenderly held my face with both hands. “I love you, and I love Lex, Win. I will always love both of my girls.”
“I love you so much,” I whispered past the emotion thickening the walls of my throat.
My eyelids fluttered as his lips touched mine in a soft caress, and I sighed and wrapped both arms around his waist and hugged him tightly on reflex. It was natural at this point, ingrained, a perfectly poised response to the elusive pleasure nerve. Every action of his put another block of happiness on top of the pile inside me.
“Baby Ace!” Lexi shouted ecstatically, grabbing our attention just in time to see her run toward Kline and Georgia…and Ace.
“Looks like the nannies are still hard at work,” Wes whispered with a smirk.
A soft laugh left my lips. “You think they’ll get a break during this trip? Or are they Ace’s full-time, around-the-clock nannies?”
“I wish I could say I see a break in their future, but the little man’s parents appeared a little too cozy at lunch.”
“Do you think they know they’re being manipulated into childcare duties?”
Wes looked at Kline and then back at me. “I think one of the nannies knows he’s being played, but he’s just going along with it because that little baby makes his wife smile.”
“The dirty and despicable things men do for the women they love.”
Wes slyly slid his hand down my back and pinched my ass. “Remind me to show you later exactly the kinds of dirty and despicable things men do for the women they love.”
I giggled. “Promise you’ll show me?”
He leaned down, and in a low, deep, and sexy as fuck voice, whispered into my ear, “Looks like it’s going to be a real late night for Winnie and her greedy, pretty little cunt.”
Fuck, I love this man.
Football players danced alongside pageant contestants, and all I could do was watch with the knowledge that this had been my wife’s idea. Harebrained and a little unexpected, especially the whole teenage aspect of the contestants, on the surface, it was a terrible idea. But after Wes’s talk with the players upon arrival to the big pageant rehearsal, I’d honestly never seen a group of strong, alpha men so desperate to look away from their female counterparts.
Several sets of eyes reached out to the audience and refused to move, and a few others even seemed to be staring at the ceiling. Granted, there was an authentic, mural-like design of the lost city of Atlantis painted there, but I hardly thought that did anything more than give them an actual point of interest to focus on.
No, the sparkling, low-cut tops of each contestant were like beacons, striking out and reflecting off of every available surface in the blazing stage lights. And as inappropriate as it was, it was more as though their breasts looked at you, rather than you having to look at them.
I also found it endlessly amusing how many of these fine star athletes seemed to be lacking in rhythm. Sure, Bailey and Sean Phillips seemed to be following along to each step, twist, and maneuver just fine, and Mitchell made so much fun of himself that he actually looked good—kind of like a baby so ugly it was cute—but there were a few guys really struggling. If it wasn’t so much more enjoyable to find it funny, I might have felt bad for them.
There is no amount of rehearsal that can save these guys…
Professional football players—an athletic position so highly regarded and sought after that we made them millionaires with just a year’s salary—forced to dance around a resort stage with fifty-one of the most beautiful teenage girls in the country. Partnered up—and they couldn’t even look at them.
But aside from the logistical details of this trip and its professional implications, I didn’t think my wife had ever been smarter.
The sun, fun, our friends and family, and a whole group of rowdy players just waiting to garner some attention through mindless entertainment was the ultimate mood-lifter.
Georgia glanced over her shoulder briefly, a huge smile on her face as she worked.
The feel of receiving it hit me right in the chest like her affection always did, but these days it meant more.
I knew she’d been struggling, watching her best friend carry and deliver an unplanned, healthy baby—a feat she couldn’t manage to achieve herself with even the most concise strategy.
