Going Down Easy (Boys of the Big Easy #1)(41)

Addison swallowed, then nodded. “As a girl myself, I can confirm that it’s okay in those instances.”

“Do you like kissing?” Cooper asked.

Addison grinned. “I do like kissing. Some boys. Not all, of course.” She shot Gabe a quick look, but it was very hard to decipher the expression on his face. It was that possessive-hot look again, combined with what looked a little like amazement. “But I’ll tell you something,” she said to Cooper, leaning in a little as if to impart a secret.

“What?” Cooper asked, dropping his voice to a loud whisper.

“Sometimes girls start the kissing.”

Cooper giggled. “Do they drink beer and say bad words, too?”

Addison laughed. “Nope, never.”

Gabe snorted. “I think Addison is just like Uncle Logan, Coop.”

“Full of beans?” Cooper asked.

“Yep. Totally,” Gabe said, giving Addison a wink.

“Hmm,” Addison said. “Okay, I’m going to say something, and you tell me if I’m telling the truth or full of beans.”

Cooper wiggled in her lap, turning so he could see her more easily. “Okay.”

“Alligators lay eggs like birds.”

Cooper’s eyes got wide. “True!”

She nodded. “How about this—when baby alligators are ready to hatch, they make a sound that their mom hears, and she knows she needs to uncover them.”

“Yes! True!” Cooper exclaimed.

“And raccoons will sometimes eat alligator eggs,” Addison added, loving the excited look on his face.

“They do,” Cooper said, nodding. “Yes, that’s true, too.”

“So I’m not really full of beans, am I?” Addison said.

“No way.” Cooper looked at Gabe. “She’s not full of beans.”

Gabe gave his son a smile. “Nope, I guess she’s not.”

“Do you like alligators?” Cooper asked, turning back to Addison.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I think they’re interesting, but they’re kind of scary, too. But I’ve never been around one in person.” She snuck a look at Gabe and realized that, when his son wasn’t looking at him, Gabe had a very intense look on his face. If she didn’t know better, that look said he was thinking about stripping off her clothes and saying very dirty things to her. But that couldn’t be right. Could it?

“They are scary,” Cooper said with a little frown. “Is this true or full of beans? An alligator’s jaw can produce thirty-seven hundred pounds of force per square inch.”

Addison nodded seriously. “True.”

“Yep.” Cooper said it with a grave look.

“Have you met one in person?” Addison asked him.

“No.” Cooper looked over at Gabe. “Dad said we could go on a swamp tour, though.”

“Stella wants to do that, too,” Addison told him. What am I getting myself into? she wondered briefly. But maybe having someone with him who was also less than enthusiastic would help Cooper. Lord knew Stella would love to have someone like Gabe along who would totally get into it all and be excited.

And dammit, those big brown eyes and sweet giggle and, yeah, the fact that he’d climbed into her lap so easily, had won her over. Just as she’d feared.

“Is that Stella?” Cooper asked, pointing at her daughter.

“Yes. We’re new.”

“She’s kind of loud,” Cooper said.

“Coop,” Gabe chastised, but Addison just laughed.

“Yes, she sure can be,” Addison agreed. “But I promise she’s not all the time.”

“Would she be loud on a swamp boat?” Cooper asked.

Well . . . Addison had to be honest. “Yeah, probably.”

Gabe chuckled at that, and Cooper even smiled. “That’s probably okay,” the boy decided. “It’s outside.”

Addison wanted to squeeze him. And his dad. There was something about Gabe just sitting there, reclined in the chair next to them, watching them interact, that made her feel all tingly.

“Maybe they should go with us, Dad,” Cooper finally said. “You could pet an alligator with Stella.”

Gabe’s expression was so full of affection at that, Addison had to catch her breath.

“I don’t need to pet an alligator,” Gabe told him. “I’m happy with whatever you want.”

Cooper nodded. “I know. But Addison doesn’t want to pet one, and Stella does. She needs a grown-up to help her.”

Gabe looked surprised for a moment. He met Addison’s gaze. “You don’t want to pet one, huh?”

Addison gave a very honest little shudder. “Nope.”

“Well, I would be happy to help Stella with it,” he said.

She could tell that he was trying to be nonchalant about it, but there was a definite tension in him suddenly as he shifted forward in his chair to rest his forearms on his thighs. She shot him a questioning look over Cooper’s head, but Gabe gave her a little headshake that seemed to say, Not now.

“Then you should come with us,” Cooper told Addison. “We can watch them.”

She swallowed. Okay, so she was making a date for her, Stella, Gabe, and Cooper to spend time together. Just the four of them. This had escalated quickly. She had no idea why she was surprised by that. “That sounds good,” she told him.