A Secret for a Secret (All In #3)(53)

She points to the two crayons I’ve been using to shade in the area around the nose and then the picture itself. “How do that?”

She’s pretty shy around people she doesn’t know, but maybe since we’ve met a bunch of times, she’s getting more comfortable around me. “You mean the shading?”

“Yes. The sading.” She points at her own picture. This one has a big sun in the sky. “I want here.”

“Want me to show you how?”

We bend over her picture together, and I lightly run the yellow crayon around the edge of the sun, filling in the middle. Lavender hands me the orange crayon when I set down the yellow one and slips it back in the package.

She doesn’t have the manual dexterity yet to be able to manage it, but I can already see her eye for color in the way she sets up her pictures.

“Do you ever use paint instead of crayons?”

Her lips pucker and her fingers flex, lids fluttering rapidly. She exhales a loud breath and says softly, “At home. It’s too messy for here.”

“Mmm. Good point. But maybe we can find a time to paint together, when it’s okay to be messy. Would you like that?”

A huge smile breaks across her face, and she claps her hands. “Oh, yes!”

“I’d like that too.”

We go back to working on her drawing, heads bent together over her paper while we shade in her sun, then give it a silly face.

And that’s exactly how King finds us when he stops by, likely wanting to discuss our dinner plans for tonight. His eyes flare with surprise, and a wide grin makes his gorgeous face even more stunning. “Miss Lavender, what a wonderful surprise.”

She ducks her head and gives him a shy smile, peeking up at him from under her lashes as she waves.

“What are you two up to?” He tucks his thumbs into the pockets of his khakis and rocks back on his heels.

“Creating masterpieces, of course.” I hold up the card she made for her brother, where Lavender re-created a version of a puking emoji sitting in a sunny field, but instead of throw up, it’s a rainbow coming out of his mouth.

“That is definitely a masterpiece. We should call the Louvre and tell them we have the next Picasso on our hands.”

“I totally agree.”

Lavender blushes some more and snuggles into my arm.

The door to my dad’s office opens, and a man I’ve seen once before, when Corey was first brought to the team, steps out. I have to assume he’s Corey’s agent. I seriously hope he gets a decent cut of his salary for dealing with so much bullshit. Alex and my dad follow behind him. They all look a little worse for wear, and agitated. The men shake hands, and Corey’s agent nods at us, then rushes out like his ass is on fire.

Alex runs a hand down his face and sighs. “Well, that’s three fuc—” He stops just before he completes the curse, his gaze landing on his daughter, whose eyes are as wide as saucers, and a hint of a naughty smile flirts at the corners of her mouth. I’m sure she’s heard bad words before, since Violet often forgets to censor herself.

“Lavender? Hey, sweetheart, I didn’t realize you were here.” Alex gives me a look that’s halfway between questioning and apologetic.

Lavender hops off her chair and rushes over to her dad. He scoops her up and plants loud kisses all over her face. She giggles and then snuggles right into his neck.

I bet every pair of underwear I own that Kingston would be exactly the same kind of dad. And that thought makes my lady parts excited. Which is crazy, because I’m only twenty-four and I’m in no way ready for kids. We haven’t even dropped the L bomb on each other.

“Is everything okay? Where’s Vi?”

I stop staring at Kingston and address Alex. “River isn’t feeling well, so Violet took him to the doctor. She was hoping she could leave Lavender with you, but since you were in a meeting, I volunteered to hang out with my favorite budding artist.”

“Is River okay?”

“Violet thinks he might have the flu.” I look at my phone to check how long she’s been gone. “I have messages from her. Hold on.” I pull them up and scan them quickly. “Yup, it’s the flu. She’s going to take him home and get the nanny to come over to watch him so she can come back and get Lavender.”

“When did Violet drop her off?” He adjusts his hold on Lavender so she can effectively wrap her arms around his neck without choking him.

“Maybe a little more than an hour ago.”

He rubs the space between his eyes and then kisses his little girl’s cheek. “Jake, I might need to run Lavender home. I don’t want Vi to have to leave River with the nanny if he’s sick.”

“Or we could take her,” Kingston offers. “Queenie and I, I mean. I don’t need to be on the ice for a couple of hours.”

Alex looks conflicted. “Lavender, would it be okay with you if Queenie and Kingston took you home?”

She rubs the space between her dad’s eyes and then leans in, whispering something in his ear.

“I’m okay, honey. It’s just work stuff and nothing you need to worry about.”

She places her hand on his cheek and says quietly, but audibly, “Okay. I go with Keenie and King.”

He blinks a bunch of times, clearly taken aback that she’s answered without whispering in his ear, which is pretty typical, from what I’ve witnessed. “Okay. That’s great.” He kisses her on the cheek and sets her down.