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He might be biased, but their daughter was the most beautiful child he’d ever laid eyes on. She had a little of both of their features and temperament. Her interracial heritage was evident in her skin tone—coffee with a lot of cream. She had his hazel-green eyes, thick wavy hair, and his ability to size a person up within seconds. Even at her age, she could spot bullshit from a mile away. She was a cutie-pie like her mother and had Journey’s nose, mouth, and smile.
Unfortunately, she was stubborn as hell…like the both of them. Her strong will challenged him and Journey on a daily basis. Still, he loved his baby to death.
“Hi, Daddy!” she squealed as if she hadn’t seen him in a long time when it had only been minutes. She slammed into him, and her arms went around one of his legs.
“Hey, baby girl. Are you having fun?” He lifted her into his arms and buried his nose in the crook of her neck, inhaling her fresh baby scent while sending her into a fit of giggles.
God, he loved this kid. She was his heart.
“Stop, Daddy.” Still laughing, she wiggled in his hold.
Laz stopped the torture and placed a kiss on her soft cheek. “Are you having fun?”
She nodded her head, and her two long ponytails bobbed back and forth on each side of her head. “I’m being a good listener.”
“I’m glad to hear that you’re being a good listener for Auntie Dee, Dani, and Zen.”
She’d been pretty proud of herself the last few months since her preschool teacher gave out stickers to good listeners. They chatted for a few minutes before Ashton’s son Caulder ran over with Dylan, Hamilton’s youngest son. He and Arielle were born months apart and were best of friends.
Arielle pushed against Laz’s chest and wiggled against him.
“Down, Daddy. Down,” she said, struggling to get out of his hold.
The moment Laz set her on her feet, the three took off, running back to the trampoline area. He started to follow, wanting to make sure they were supervised, but Dakota waved him off, letting him know that she had them.
Laz huffed out a breath. Looked like he’d be there for a while longer.
An hour later, Laz and Arielle were finally leaving, and he couldn’t have been happier. As he stepped outside the building, his ears were still ringing from the noise inside, but all that mattered was that the kids had a good time. He and Arielle were the first to leave, but the others would probably soon follow.
Laz gripped Arielle’s hand tighter as he slipped on his shades with his other hand. He was hoping the trampoline park would’ve worn her out, but the way she was skipping along beside him said otherwise.
“We go home?” she asked.
“Not yet, sweetie.” He was thinking about taking her to the Humane Society to look at puppies, something she enjoyed doing. He just wished Journey was going with them.
In her last voice message, apologizing for not being there with them, she promised to make it up to him and Arielle tonight. It didn’t matter. It was the fact that she bailed on them in the first place that bothered him.
“I—I wanna go home, Daddy. Grandma’s looking for me. I’m going to see Princess Tiana.”
Laz smiled. He loved that she was excited about her trip to Florida with Journey’s parents, even if he didn’t want to let her go. He gently tugged on one of her ponytails and smiled again when she started giggling.
“You’re not going with them until tomorrow. Today you’re all mine.” Laz still wasn’t comfortable with her being away from him for a whole week, but he knew she would have a blast at Disney World.
“I was a good listener today,” Arielle announced cheerfully.
Laz chuckled. He wondered how long he and Journey would have to hear how good of a listener she was.
Laz strolled through the small parking lot before moving to the sidewalk. Since the lot had been full, he’d had to park on the street earlier.
His grip on Arielle’s small hand tightened when his SUV came into sight, but that wasn’t what gave him pause.
It was the shady-looking guys, four of them, hanging near the truck that suddenly had his pulse pounding loudly in his ears.
Shit.What the hell are they up to?
