Page 10 of Already Callin’ You Mine

“I see that,” I reply. “But we have to stay outside of the pool to play with the duckies. We don’t want to scare them.”

“I scare duckies?”

His tiny bottom lip quivers, worry filling his blue eyes. Oh, shit…

Owen appears behind him, handing me a small towel over the kid’s head. I take it, keeping my smile as big as I can as I try to dry off his pants and shoes. This might be a fool’s errand, but I’m going to try nonetheless.

“I think they’re okay, but we don’t want to scare them, do we?”

“No.” He shakes his head hard, the worry in his eyes lightening.

Fuck, he’s adorable.

“I’m Jace. What’s your name?”

“Otis.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Otis.”

“Is nice to mee you too,” he returns, his little kid speak shining through his well-taught manners. Whoever he belongs to clearly made those a priority.

“Where are your mommy and daddy?”

“With Paps.”

Paps. Okay…I don’t know who that is. I glance up at Owen, who shrugs in response, clearly not having any kind of idea either. Paps…Paps…who on earth in this town could be Paps?

Anyone, actually. Because that sounds exactly like the kind of southern nickname one would give anyone. For any reason. Which means I have nothing to go off of here, and am unlikely to get more out of little man.

“Right…” I respond, trying to buy some time. “How does a cinnamon roll sound?”

“Yummy!”

That’s what I thought.

More importantly, my own mommy, Miss Belle, is working Dolly’s booth today, since Dolly is still training her new gal at the diner. Between her and my older brother Anton, who oversees the agriculture department of the family business and also has a stand at the farmers’ market, conveniently right next to Dolly’s, we should be able to deduce who Paps is. Maybe. I hope.

“Cinnamon rolls it is.” I nod, pushing to my feet.

Holding out my hand, I offer it to Otis, ready to hold on to this guy for dear life. Somewhere in this farmers’ market is a set of parents who are panicked beyond belief, going out of their minds looking for him. It’s on me right now to keep him safe.

“Up?” Otis asks.

Up?

I look at him, his request taking a second to fully register. By the time his arms are raised, I’m on to him, and already kneeling back down to lift him up. I pull him against my chest, his wet pants soaking into my shirt as he wraps his legs around my torso and his arms around my neck.

“Hold on tight!” I tell him. Otis does as asked, hugging me even closer.

Shifting to support his weight, I can’t help but notice how easily and perfectly he fits in the space on my hip. Like he and I do this all the time. Like he’s mine. My heart squeezes all over again, this time getting my pulse in on the action and skittering, loving this way too much.

I need to stop myself, because he is most certainly not mine. One has to have had a woman in their life in order for this to be the result, and based on his age, there is no math on this planet that works that out. More than that, he doesn’t even belong to one of my siblings. Making it so I’m not even Uncle Jace to this little guy.

Still, with each step we take toward my family’s tents, Otis calling out all the different things he sees along the way, I think I fall a little more for him.

Maybe I can still be Uncle Jace somehow.

“Boo-ey!”