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Chloe tilts her head sheepishly and says, “Come on, we still love you,” as if she believes I’m upset by their teasing.
What she doesn’t know is that this moment—the easy way Jay referred to me as her mom and how the two of them instantly ganged up to tease me—is probably the greatest moment of my life. And this is only the beginning.
* * *
“And you got to go backstage?”Chloe asks, her eyes wide.
Jay eats up her excitement, a boyish grin falling across his face. “Even better.” He nods. “Afterward, I went out with them and sang karaoke.”
“Shut up. Cat, did you hear that?” Chloe asks, like I’m not sitting at the table with them. “Jay sang with Harry Styles.”
Jay holds a slice of pizza up and winks at me across the table. Every cell in my body screamswe love this man.
Turning to Chloe, I avoid blurting that out and reply, “Yeah, I heard him.” I grin and turn back to my fiancé. “Harry must have been drunk to agree to sing with the likes of you.”
Jay smirks. “I happen to remember you loving my voice, Kitten.”
The blush that burns my cheeks is instantaneous.
“Kitten?” Chloe asks, her nose scrunching.
A breathy laugh leaves my throat, and I shake my head at Jay. He’s sporting a grin and wiping his hands with his napkin in satisfaction.
“Your mom never told you that’s her nickname?”
The way he continues to call me her mom and the way he smiles at meandour daughter shreds all my defenses. I’m putty in this man’s hands, and he knows it.
She shakes her head. “Shedidtell me she refused to give you her name the first time you met.”
Jay throws his head back and guffaws. “Pretty sure that’s the moment I fell in love,” he says. His irises glitter, pulling me under his spell.
Chloe’s smile says it all. She’s enjoying herself.
“And when I finally caught her name, I told her I thought she seemed more like a Kitten than a Cat.”
I laugh. “And the name stuck.”
Jay cocks a brow. “Don’t act like you don’t like it.”
Shaking my head, I try to fight back a grin, but it’s no use. “You told me you fell in love with me when I punched you.”
Chloe cackles at that. “What?”
In response, Jay only shrugs. “What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment.”
“But why did you punch him?” Chloe asks with a mouth full of pizza.
“Because he grabbed me as I was walking off the train, and I didn’t know it was him.”
Chloe purses her lips and nods like that makes complete sense. Good, at least she knows what to do if a stranger approaches.
“Frappadingue,” she whispers.
All I can do is laugh in agreement.
“Wait, what did she say?” Jay asks.
Chloe giggles as I reply, “She called you crazy. Or, more accurately, a nutcase.”
