Page 66 of No Wrong Moves

I placed a couple of pancakes and bacon on Lottie’s plate, cutting everything up for her.

“This is so annoying,” she grumbled.

“It hasn’t even been a day.” I quirked my brow at her. “Your pills are there too.”

Anyone would think I was offering her something toxic by the way she scrunched up her nose, but she dutifully swallowed them with her juice, knocking her head so far back to swallow that I had to work to not laugh.

“You’ll be able to cope with cutting your own food. I promise. You’re just sore and a little awkward at the moment. The weeks will fly on by,” I said sympathetically.

“And at least you won’t be stuck in Alabama,” Pearce supplied, cutting off a large piece of pancake. “You have time with your mom, then get to come and spend some time with us.” He finished with a flourish of his fork and crammed the syrup-dripping pancake in his mouth.

I had to look away, too tempted to lean in and swipe a drip of syrup from his mouth.

“That’s true. And at least it’s my—” She looked at her hands and made an L-shape with her pointer finger and thumb. “—left hand.”

“True.” Pearce winked at her before glancing at me. The expression told me enough. He was nervous and wanting to get this done. Giving a barely perceptible nod, I cleared my throat and placed down my utensils.

“Lottie, I’ve… that is, Pearce and I have something we want to talk to you about.”

As she chewed, she bobbed her head, eyes bright and so unaware.

With my pulse picking up speed, the sound drummed loudly in my ears. Jesus, my nerves were ridiculous. “Actually, there’s also something we want to tell you.” I swallowed hard and opened my palm toward Pearce.

His cheeks flushed immediately, but he quickly placed his hand in mine and squeezed. A small, nervous smile lifted his lips, and he turned his attention to Lottie. My gaze followed in the same direction, landing on Lottie. Wide-eyed, her head moved as she drifted her focus from our faces to our hands and back up again.

“Pearce and I—”

“For real?” she interrupted. While her face was hard to read, I didn’t hear anything bad in her tone.

“We’ve been together for a little while.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” I wasn’t sure if it was hurt, surprise, or a simple statement. Hell, this kid of mine would make a killer poker player.

“Well,” I responded, appreciating Pearce’s encouraging squeeze, “I know our relationship affects you, but we wanted to be sure we were making the right decision by getting together. And that’s something only we could navigate through.”

“So you’re what, boyfriends?”

My heart crashed against my rib cage so hard, I could barely hear myself think, let alone the words coming out of my mouth.

“We were,” Pearce cut in. My gaze whipped to his, and his focus was already on me, a brilliant smile directed my way. “Last night I asked your dad to marry me.”

Our eyes stayed connected. Only the sound of Lottie’s fork hitting the tabletop broke the eye contact. I focused on Lottie. Her cheeks were pink, and tears swam in her eyes.

“Baby,” I whispered, standing and moving over to her. Kneeling before her, I stroked strands of hair out of her face. “You know how much I love you, right?”

She bobbed her head while I quietly started to freak out. My girl was rarely this quiet. She had an opinion about everything.

“Me too,” Pearce added, shifting to my side. “I love you so damn much, kiddo.”

And holy shit, she smiled. This headstrong, whirlwind child of mine smiled so damn big that my heart exploded for the second time in twelve hours.

“And you did say yes, right?” she asked with a sniff.

“As if your dad could say no to me.” Pearce chuckled and squeezed Lottie’s leg. “Do you not see how irresistible my face is?”

Rubbing at her nose, Lottie sniffed again. “So you’re really getting married and we’re all going to be together?”

Fuck. Emotion beat at me as I tugged her into my arms, only remembering at the last moment to go easy on her. But there was no holding back my tears. I held her tightly, Pearce’s comforting hand pressing against my back. “Yes, we are.” I didn’t get into explaining how that would look, but she didn’t need to worry about any of that for now.

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