Playing for Keeps Playing for Keeps (Hope Valley #10) - Jessica Prince Page 0,3
She pulled me into a quick hug before taking the bottle of wine and waving me inside.
“That Charlie?” Micah called from the kitchen. “I heard the door. Is she here?”
We turned the corner into the kitchen and I spotted him with his hip propped casually against the counter, an open beer in his hand. He gave me a blank look.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Well, would you look at that? She is alive,” he stated sarcastically. “I was starting to wonder since I haven’t heard from you in forever.”
When it came to me, Micah had a tendency to be a bit overprotective. And by a bit I meant it was so over the top it bordered on downright intrusive at times.
It had started when I was working with him and Leo to take down Officer Cormack and only got worse after I was hurt. No matter how many times I told him it wasn’t his fault, he still blamed himself for the fact I’d been tortured and shot. As time progressed and I healed, our relationship morphed into one where he began to look at me not as a responsibility but almost as a little sister. It was kind of sweet . . . when he wasn’t being a royal pain in my ass.
“I just saw you three days ago,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic.”
“I’m not being dramatic,” he grumbled. “All I’m saying is you could maybe call once in a while. For all I knew, you could’ve been lyin’ dead in a ditch somewhere.”
I felt my lips pull up in a smile, something I hadn’t done a whole lot of in my life until recently. “That’s the very definition of being dramatic, Micah.”
“Whatever,” he continued to pout.
I moved to him and lifted up on my toes, placing a kiss against his cheek. “I’ll call more often. Promise.” He was being totally ridiculous, I knew that, but if a little more effort on my part was all it took to put him at ease, I’d do it. I owed him more than I could ever say. He’d saved me in more ways than one. He proved there actually were people in this world who were trustworthy, he’d given me a family and a place where I felt like I belonged, and I’d forever be in his debt for that.
“That’s all I ask.” His arm came around my shoulders, and he gave me a slight squeeze before putting me in a playful headlock. “Now let’s eat. All that worrying really worked up an appetite.”
Chapter Two
Charlotte
“All right, love bug. It’s bath time.” I heard Hayden’s voice above Ivy’s adorable little giggle and stopped us both mid-spin, turning to face the back patio where we’d all moved after dinner.
Hayden and Micah had been sitting on one of the million pieces of lawn furniture that were scattered throughout the large, impressive back garden while Ivy and I had been playing tag.
“Ah man.” Ivy’s bottom lip came out in an impressive pout as I rested her weight against my hip and carried her back to her mom. “Just a little longer, Mommy? Please?”
Hayden arched a single brow, completely unmoved by her daughter’s cartoonishly adorable doe eyes and wobbly bottom lip. “Nope. Bath then bed, Miss Thing. Now say goodbye to Aunt Charlie and get a move on.”
She cupped my cheeks in her tiny little hands and twisted my face back to hers, squishing them together until my lips puckered. “Night, Auntie Charlie. Love you.”
That was something Ivy had been tacking on since the second time she met me, and just like it did every single time I heard it, my heart melted into a puddle right in the center of my chest.
“Love you too, munchkin,” I lisped through my fish lips.
She gave me a kiss on the tip of my nose just before I put her back down on her sparkly little boots, then skipped off toward the back door.
Hayden shot me a wink and followed after her as I headed for one of the rockers covered in overstuffed cushions. I snuggled in, bringing one foot up into the seat while using the other to set the chair in motion. Across from me, Micah was kicked back and enjoying another beer. Grabbing the glass of wine I’d abandoned earlier in order to play with Ivy, I brought it to my lips and took a sip.
“Man, that little monster loves the hell out of you,” Micah observed.