Page 58 of My Silver Lining

“Yeps.” She tucked her lips between her teeth, and I could tell she was nervous.

“Hey, Uncle Rafe would never take you to do something you weren’t ready for, okay?” I assured her.

She nodded, her lips turning up in the corners, and her little cherub cheeks were bright pink.

I turned to Lulu, who was watching the interaction intently. “You ready, Wildcat?”

“Absolutely.” She waggled her brows, and I helped her onto the front, placing Melody in the middle, and I slid onto the back. “Are we ready?”

“Yes!” Lulu and Melody shouted at the same time.

I laughed my ass off as I wrapped my arms around my niece, and my legs were long enough to hold Lulu in place, as well.

“One. Two. Three!” I shouted, as I used my hands to get us going, and we took off flying down the hill with snow falling all around us.

The wind hit us in the face, and the snow made it difficult to see, but I couldn’t stop smiling as I listened to both my girls squealing and laughing the whole way down the hill.

We continued moving fast once we got to the bottom until we came to a stop. I leaned forward just as Lulu turned around, both of us making sure Melody was good. Melody jumped up and dove on top of me in a fit of laughter.

“I knew you’d love it, my little adventurer,” I said, pushing to my feet and setting Melody down in the snow. She dropped onto her back and started making a snow angel through a fit of giggles.

“What did you think, Wildcat?” I asked against her ear.

“I think it is the best place in Rosewood River.”

“Yeah? Is this better than city living, or what?” I winked, and those honey-brown eyes were brighter than usual, as her plump lips turned up in the corners, and she nodded.

“I mean, I do enjoy a good department store and a fancy restaurant, but yummy pancakes and a snowy hill are definitely a lot more fun than I expected.”

“Stick with me, Lulu Sonnet. I’ll show you a good time.” I smirked.

“I have a feeling you’re right about that.” Her teeth sank into her bottom lip, and for whatever reason, I had to fight the urge to kiss this woman. It was getting more challenging. Maybe it was the game that we were playing. I didn’t know anymore. I’d never experienced a discomfort like this.

Wanting someone who was off-limits.

Yet pretending that we were together.

“Let’s go again, Uncle Rafe and Lulus!” Melody clapped her hands together.

I scooped her up and grabbed the toboggan, and we took off for the top of the hill again.

We went down three more times until we were cold and wet and ready to get inside.

I called Archer, and he was home from work, so we dropped off Melody and headed home.

When we pulled around the corner toward the house, there were two cars parked out front.

I parked in the driveway and glanced in my rearview mirror as two men came out of both cars at the same time, cameras in hand.

“Shit,” Lulu groaned. “They’re photographers. They have no shame.”

“What do they want?” I asked, my voice harsher than I meant it to be. But I didn’t like the fact that they were just waiting here for us. What if she’d come home alone?

“A photo of us because they can get a good paycheck for it at the moment.”

“Stay in the car. I’ll be right back.”

“Rafe. You can’t reason with these people,” she said, and I hated that I could hear the underlying fear in her voice. It pissed me the hell off that her ex put her in this situation and that these two men thought it was appropriate to stalk her for a photo.

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