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My daughter adamantly refuses to put on a stitch of clothing since it is so hot and Mindy from her class has a pool and she wants to play in a pool.
“We have a pool,” I say casually, chewing another cooled slice.
When Mila’s eyes brighten, I shrug. “But it’s not for kids. Too deep.”
“But Uncle Ian has a pool. Why can’t I go there?” Mila pouts, and I instantly know that is a fake pout.
My child inherited my powers of manipulation, and they are all wasted on Eve who just raises a brow. “I got you the inflatable pool. What’s wrong with that?”
Mila’s lower lip trembles. “Jake and Sam don’t want to play in it. They say it’s for babies.”
Oh, so that’s what this is about!
“They’re ones to talk. Jake was scared of water until last year.” I offer up this random bit of information to my child and from the unholy gleam in her eye, I know it isn’t going to be used for anything good. “Why don’t you go fill up the pool and I’ll play with you.”
When Mila hesitates, I urge. “We can play with that fish doll of yours.”
“It’s called Ariel, Daddy.” She gives me an offended look.
“Yeah, that one.”
A little more cajoling and she is on her way.
Eve glances at me wryly from where she resumes writing in the notebook. “You’re rubbing off on her in all the wrong ways. She’s going to make Jake cry now.”
Mila’s little crush on Ian’s younger brother had been amusing at first but my four-year-old delights in tormenting the kind-hearted boy who usually gives in to her whims.
I wince. “I’ll, ah, warn him.” Then, curiosity rising, I try to peek into what her little notebook. “What are you writing?”
She has an ink smudge on her lower lip from where she was absently chewing the pen, and she gives me a distracted look. “I’m reopening the dance studio next Monday. Just doing some brainstorming on discounts I can offer to lure students back in.”
“Are you sure about this?” I walk around the island counter to her and lean against it next to her. “We haven’t caught who was responsibl
e for the attacks.”
Eve tugs up the strap of her tank top for the second time. “I can’t keep sitting in the house. It’s driving me crazy. Besides, Elijah said he will look into a constant security detail.”
I barely hear her words, staring at how her clothes, which had once fit her so well, now were loose and hung from her frame.
She lost an incredible amount of weight since I met her.
“Eve.”
She doesn’t look at me, crossing something out in the notebook.
I hesitate. “You’re happy, right?”
That got her attention. She looks up at me, and pushing back from her chair, she studies me for a while before asking. “Why are you asking me that? Of course I am.”
I tug at her tank top, and she grimaces. “I forget to eat sometimes. That’s all.” When she sees that I didn’t quite believe her, she rolls her eyes and grabs me by a fistful of my shirt, dragging me into a kiss that is all heat and woman.
I am dazed by the time she releases me, and she smirks. “If I weren’t happy, I would have kicked you out of my bed a long time ago.”
I believe her.
However, there are things we need to talk about. Things she refuses to speak.
“I think we should talk.”
