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Carter narrowed his eyes, and the next thing I knew, he set my iPad aside, pulling me into his arms.
“I love you, Val. Meeting you has been my luck. Loving you for the rest of my life will be my honor. My joy. You have my devotion. All of me.”
“And you have all of me,” I whispered, my voice full of emotion as I curled my arms around his neck.
Ten minutes later, we had to hurry downstairs. I tried not to look too guilty as I smoothed my hair. Will and Paige arrived at the same time with the movers, and Jace a few minutes later.
It was early afternoon, so we had just enough time before dinner to arrange the boxes and a few furniture items, so the house wouldn’t look like a storage room.
April and Peyton would be home in an hour. We’d finally hired a new nanny for them. She picked them up from school and spent time with them when Carter and I were busy with meetings. Truthfully, though, I liked slowing down in the afternoons to enjoy my time with the girls. My team didn’t mind me working remotely now and then, and Carter’s partners were supportive of him. Things between Carter’s partners and me had been a little awkward, since I’d known they hadn’t been too keen on him taking on my case, but I assured them I didn’t hold a grudge. Everyone liked being on the winning side. It was how life worked. I especially enjoyed being on the winning side right now, as the magazine that had published Beauty SkinEssence’s smear campaign had run an article on me, singing my praises. The line had come out last week to rave reviews. Since the competition’s line had come out at the same time, my profits were going to be small, but I wasn’t too worried. It was just how business decisions worked out sometimes.
A few hours later, the house looked semi decent and the rest of the family had arrived. I slipped into the kitchen to prepare dinner. I was making fried chicken—Jace’s favorite. I was usually very strict about respecting his meal plan, but some comfort food was in order right now because his team had lost a game.
April and Peyton were “helping.” Translation: while keeping an eye on Peyton, April and I were strategizing how she could order some boots Carter would surely deem too “grown-up.” They were not. I was still working on my persuasion skills in that area, so I considered taking one for the team this time and simply saying I’d ordered them for April as a surprise.
Carter was going to feel ambushed, but it was high time I introduced April and Peyton to the Connor ambush and intervention techniques. Peyton was still a bit young, but I had full confidence that April could pull it off. Girls had to stick together. As someone who’d always been surrounded by overprotective brothers, I knew the girls needed someone to champion their causes. I volunteered for the task.
April clamped her lips shut as Carter came to check on us. He glanced from April to me.
“What are you two up to?”
What? How could he know? Could he read the guilt on our faces? Crap, he was a lawyer. He was probably trained to sniff out guilt a mile away. So I resorted to one of my favorite techniques to distract him: talking his ear off.
“Want to taste the fried chicken? It’s delicious.”
“Sure. “
“It’s Jace’s favorite. His team just suffered a defeat, and I’m making this so he won’t be grouchy. Grouchiness is contagious in my family.”
“Because we live here now, are we your family too?” asked Peyton.
I stopped in the act of stabbing a piece of chicken with the fork, spinning around to face Peyton. Her e
yes were wide, and she was looking expectantly between Carter and me. April had gone very still. Carter squeezed me to his side. “Do you want to tell them?”
I nodded, then lowered myself to my haunches. Peyton ran straight to me.
“Of course you’re my family too.”
“Grandma and Grandpa too?”
“Yes.”
I’d met them last weekend, when they flew in to officially meet me and to see the girls. They were both great people. Mrs. Sloane definitely seemed to want to move to LA permanently. Mr. Sloane insisted he had to be at the farm, but I could see him melting a little every time his granddaughters insisted they wanted to spend more time with him.
I wasn’t known for orchestrating ambushes and interventions for nothing, so I foresaw planning one or the other in the near future where the Sloanes were concerned.
Peyton snuggled closer, lacing her little arms around my neck. I’d told Hailey last week that Carter and I planned to get married, so of course, the whole Connor clan knew the next day. But we hadn’t told the girls yet.
“Carter and I are getting married.”
Peyton squealed with joy. April looked between Carter and me with a smug smile before saying, “I already know. Hailey told me.”
“You’ve made my favorite,” Jace exclaimed when we were all seated around the table a while later. “You always know how to put me in a good mood.”
“Maybe I’m just trying to bribe you.” I cocked a brow, leaning into him and nudging his shoulder playfully.
“Aww, Val. You know I’m always at your service, like the dutiful brother I am.” He gave me a mock salute. “Though I’ll never say no to fried chicken.”
