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All of the boys jumped off the couch.
"We’ll be in the back." Knox bent down and kissed Laura on her forehead.
She tensed, thinking one of the kids might have seen it, but they ran past them totally oblivious.
"Is your friend going to stay for pizza?" Pricilla, who was five, asked.
"I think so."
Pricilla sighed wistfully. "He looks like Flynn Ryder."
Pricilla had been crushing on the prince from Tangled for the past year. She’d drawn pictures of him with hearts around his head.
"I think he looks like Aladdin," Penelope giggled. "I love Aladdin."
She couldn’t blame either of her nieces for having a crush on Knox, which they clearly did.
"Do you love him, Tia?" Pricilla asked.
"No." Laura shook her head.
"Yes, you do," Penelope sing-songed as she danced around the living room with her stuffed teddy bear.
She ignored her niece and went to the kitchen to see what she had in the way of paper plates and cups. She normally kept a decent supply since her family was so large, and they sometimes came to Whisper Lake to visit her unannounced.
As she walked into the kitchen, her stomach dropped to the ground. Through the back screen, she could see Knox kneeling down and speaking to Samuel, who was six. Tears were running down her nephew’s face. Out of all of her nieces and nephews, Sammy was the most sensitive. He got his feelings hurt really easily, then he would get embarrassed about being upset, and it took a lot to calm him down.
Her mind was already coming up with a plan for what she would say to him to de-escalate his meltdown, but she only made it two steps before she saw a wide smile break out on his face and his head fell back in laughter. She stopped in her tracks and watched as Sammy wiped his tears with the back of his hand, then gave Knox a high five.
Part of her wanted to rush out and make sure that he was okay, but she stayed back. Knox stood, and within seconds he was back in the middle of the boys as they all kicked the ball around.
She had no idea how long she’d stood there, watching Knox with the boys, but the next thing she knew, there was a knock at the door.
"Pizza’s here!" Penelope and Pricilla cheered.
She checked the monitor on her phone and saw that Santino was still sound asleep. Thank God.
Laura went to the door, and when she opened it, she saw Ryder Daniels standing on her porch holding several pizzas. He was Ricky’s best friend and was dating Chrissy’s oldest daughter, Fiona.
"Hey Ryder." She reached out for the pizzas.
Behind her, she heard all of the boys coming in from the backyard. "Whoa, you have a full house in there."
"Yep." As she took the boxes, she saw Ryder's face light up.
The kid lifted his hand in a wave. "Hey Knox!"
It made sense that Ryder would know Knox since he was dating Chrissy’s daughter.
"Hey!" Knox greeted him.
"Thanks," she told Ryder as he moved off the porch, still having a little bit of hero worship in his eyes.
Ryder looked at Knox the same way that her nephews did, like he was Superman, Batman, or some other superhero. And he was. His longest commitment had been to this country. Although she doubted that, that’s why her nephews or Ryder put him on a pedestal.
She was pretty sure that had more to do with the fact that he was six-foot-four, tattooed, and put off major alpha energy. When he walked into a room, people took notice of him. And unlike the alpha-holes Laura had known, Knox was the true definition of the term.
He was protective and could handle any situation. He stepped up as a leader and took care of those around him. As his reaction tonight proved, it was Exhibits A, B, and C.
