Page 59 of Under One Roof

He blows out a long breath. Agrees with a scowl. “You’re right.”

I curl my lips over my teeth so I don’t let my laugh escape, and he shakes his head like I’m naughty. When I do give in to a grin, he traces my lips before blinking as if a thought just occurred to him. “What the fuck is a Snap? And who the hell is Valentina?” I pat his shoulder patronizingly, and he grumbles. “Don’t you fucking start with me too.”

I pivot to put away the leftover cake, pushing my butt out. “Or what?”

When I glance over my shoulder, he’s staring. “Or we’ll see how much you like my hand making your ass red.”

I bite my lip at the idea because I think I might like that. He raises his brows, reading my mind, and pulls me to him when I’ve got everything put away. “Tell me.”

“Snap meaning Snapchat. It’s social media. Kinda like texting.”

He’s legit angry about this. “Then why don’t they just text?”

“Because…it’s more fun,” I say, but it sounds more like a question. How do you explain Snapchat to someone who doesn’t use it? “You can send pictures and videos.”

“Like you can with a text.”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t know, Griff. It’s fun, okay? And a lot of people, especially kids, use it to talk to each other.”

“Do you use it?”

I show him the app on my phone. “Yeah, but not a whole lot. See?”

I let him skim through it, but he’s not impressed and places it back into my hand. “What about Valentina? Who’s that?”

“A girl Logan likes. And if she’s on Snapchat and he’s not…”

Griffin sighs. “He’s going to hate me.”

“No, but you can talk to him about it. Explain your reasons for not giving them cell phones, for not wanting them on social media.” With his focus somewhere over my shoulder, I make a suggestion. “How about we go to an amusement park tomorrow?”

He quirks his eyebrow, slowly bringing his attention back to me. “A what?”

“An amusement park,” I repeat slowly, as if he’s never heard the words before. “You can go on rides and play games. Usually there is ice cream and cotton candy. People go there for fun. Fun is a feeling people can have when they do activities they like.”

He slaps my ass, and I gasp. “Griffin!”

“I warned you.”

I fold my arms over my chest, but I’m no match for him. He hauls me up onto the counter, stepping between my knees, his hands gliding up and down my bare legs, fingers dipping under the hem of my cotton shorts.

“We’re not really an amusement park family,” he says, and I poke him in the chest.

“Well, you are now, because we’re going. My treat.”

“You’re not treating.”

“It’s my idea. And you don’t even like amusement parks.”

“I never said that. I said we weren’t an amusement park family.”

I wave my hands between us. “Either way, you’re getting me off topic. I think it would be really fun for all of us to go, and it would make really great core memories for the kids. You can go talk to Logan about the cell phone and tell him.” When Griffin doesn’t move, I nudge him. “Now, I mean. Go now.”

He huffs with a squeeze to my calves. “You’re awfully bossy when you want to be.”

I sit up tall, my hands on my hips. “I am the nanny after all.”

He shoots me a look of pure lust before backing away, waiting until the last moment to turn around and head to Logan’s room, and I don’t see anyone for the rest of the night because Griffin spends the next few hours alone with his kids. Which is pretty amazing, considering it’s a Friday night and the newly anointed eleven-year-olds might want to hang out with their friends.

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