Spin My Love (My Love #1)(3)

He laughs. “Oh, come on, that was one time.”

He brought Parker a pet lizard once and I screamed when I opened the box. Safe to say—the lizard went back to the pet store.

“One time too many,” I reply with a shudder.

“Well, for Parker I brought some new toys,” he says with a grin.

“YAY!” Parker squeals. I roll my eyes and shake my head. Levi grins unrepentantly. I told him to stop wasting his money buying Parker more toys; the kid already has more than enough. Plus, there just isn’t enough room in this place. However, Levi loves to spoil him. He and Gage are always buying Parker clothing and toys so that I don’t need to. They tend to dress Parker in clothing identical to their own. While I’d never admit it to them, I do think it’s adorable.

I know Levi and Gage do this because they want to help as much as possible. I’m a single mother, and they are really the only family I have here. My parents live overseas, so I don’t have them to support me; I only have my brother and Levi. They are also Parker’s only male role models, since his father isn’t in the equation. Even working full-time, I’m only able to just make ends meet. It’s tough, but I do what I can. The support that Levi and Gage give me is incredible. I don’t know what I’d do without them.

I watch as Levi starts pulling presents out of the very large bag he’s carrying.

“What do you say, Parker?” I ask, eyebrows raised.

“Thank you, Uncle Levi,” he answers excitedly.

“You’re welcome.”

I smirk when I see a child-sized surfboard.

“Now, you can learn to surf with me, buddy,” Levi tells Parker, handing him the surfboard. He takes the board from Levi’s hands and dumps it on the floor. Parker stands on it and starts making wave noises as he pretends to surf. The concentration on his little face makes me smile.

“Surfing?”

“Why not?” Levi asks.

“Perhaps he should learn how to swim first,” I tease. Parker does take swimming classes, and has for a while. Levi has also been teaching him at every opportunity.

“He’ll get there soon,” Levi says with a proud smile before he turns back to his bag of goodies. Next, he pulls out some dinosaur toys. Parker sees them and squeals, ditching his surfboard. He’s going through a dinosaur phase.

My heart melts as I watch the two of them interact. We are so lucky to have Levi in our lives. He really is a good man.

“And for Miss Giselle,” Levi adds with a grin. My mouth curves into a pleased smile as Levi pulls out two books that I had been dying to read.

“How did you know?” I gape. It’s a trilogy, and I’ve only read the first one. The books have been extremely popular at the library, so I haven’t checked them out, because our library only has two sets.

“Last week you spoke about that book for half an hour. Gage told me to pick them up for you,” he says as I walk over and give him a small peck on the cheek. “Thank you Levi,” I say as I run my hands over the beautiful book covers.

“Anytime, Giselle. Now, I gotta get going. I’ll see you tomorrow at our place.”

“Okay, thanks again,” I tell him. He flashes me a grin and bends down to give Parker a kiss on the head before he takes off.

“Mama! Come and play dinosaurs with me, please,” Parker calls out, raising his head for a moment before looking back down at the toys.

I walk over to him and kiss him on his chubby cheek, then get down to business. Folding my legs beneath me, I get down to his level. “I’ll be the T-Rex,” I say in a silly voice.

*****

It’s Saturday, and I’m cleaning up while Parker finishes his lunch. The doorbell rings, and I walk quickly to answer it. Looking through the peephole I see Keira, Levi’s sister. She’s an interesting character. In her early thirties, she still behaves like an out-of-control twenty-something year old. I open the door with a forced smile.

“Hey Keira.” Her blond hair is immaculately curled and her makeup expertly applied. Her boobs are pushed up and on display in a low-cut top, while her legs are covered by skin-tight jeans. Her heels are high enough for me to know I’d probably die in them.

I look down at my ripped jeans and t-shirt with a sigh.

I turn to the little boy standing by her side with a genuine smile. “Good afternoon, Justin,” I tell him, giving his blond head a kiss. “Go on in. Parker should be finished with lunch by now.” Justin runs past me, slipping his backpack off his tiny shoulder without a word. He rarely speaks, but he is getting better.

I turn to Keira. “Plans for today?” I say, trying to make conversation rather than shut the door in her face.

“Some of us have lives,” she responds bitingly. I don’t know why I bother. She gives me a little wave with her manicured claws and turns on her heel without another word. I shut the door, closing my eyes, begging for patience.

I can’t stand her. I try to, because I love Levi and Justin, but heaven knows I would rather wring her neck than play nice.

When I go back into the kitchen, I see Parker is showing Justin his new dinosaur toys. There are a lot of “oohs” and “ahs”. Besides the blond hair, Justin looks nothing like his mother. His eyes are dark and his skin pale.

“All right boys, let’s get your backpacks,” I tell them.