Page 69 of Love, Rekindled

Well played, kid. Well played.

“But.” She tilts her head to the side. “Don’t you want to play?”

“Fine,” he grumbles. “You don’t play fair.”

She grins as if she’s well aware of her power over these big, strong men. I could learn a thing or two from her.

CHAPTER 11

Ben

Aarabelle is finallyasleep after an hour of Beauty and the Beast retelling by a six-year-old. I had to wear a blanket as a cape and hide in a closet where I was to stay until I could be nice. Then I wasn’t allowed to eat because I said a curse word and needed to be punished. Of course, Gretchen, being the princess, was allowed to eat all the cookies she wanted as long as she shared with the enchantress.

After that, I was allowed out of the closet, but then she decided I needed to go for a walk outside to think about my temper.

She may be the cutest kid in the world but she has a warped sense of fairytales.

Gretchen sits on the couch, legs tucked underneath her with my cape around her.

“You cold?” I ask and she jumps.

“No, I’m okay now that I’m allowed back inside. You?”

“Well, being outside with no coat wasn’t exactly fun, but at least I had my cape.”

She laughs and snorts. “That was the best version of that fairytale I’ve ever seen.”

“Which part did you like? The closet or making me watch you eat cookies?”

“Both were equally fun.”

“Women.”

Gretchen shrugs. “At least she knows how to manage you guys like a pro.”

That she does. “Aara has had a bunch of men at her disposal to do her bidding since birth. None of us can deny her anything.”

I’m fairly new to the crew, but that doesn’t mean I love her any less.

“She’s very sweet.”

“Yeah, she’s the closest most of us will ever get to having a kid, so she sort of owns us.”

“What do you mean?”

Having kids has never been on my list. Charity sure as hell didn’t want them, which worked just fine for me. Not that I don’t love kids, but I didn’t want to have them deal with me being gone all the time. Then, when my marriage dissolved, I decided it was probably better. I can’t exactly run around, lift and toss them in the air or be the kind of father I would’ve wanted.

“I just mean that kids aren’t really in my cards. I’m happy just being a good uncle to the kids around me.”

Gretchen’s face falls slightly. “Oh, well...then it’s a good thing you have Aara to spoil.”

“Spoiled she definitely is, but she’s a special kid. It’s like she just knows what each of us need. The first time I met her, I had just gotten the job and she saw my leg. She ran over, hugged my good leg and asked if she could kiss my other leg since I had a boo-boo. After that I think she owned me.”

Gretchen’s hands cover her heart. “That’s the sweetest thing.”

It really was. That was the first time I thought maybe I wasn’t unlovable. It was irrational to ever think it anyway, but when your wife leaves because your injury is so repulsive, you start to wonder.

Even now, there are times I question how any woman can look at me and not be repulsed.

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