Page 75 of Last on the List
I drape my jacket over a barstool before opening the slider to the deck. Everly’s head pops up when she hears my footsteps.
“Dad!” She rushes up the deck steps and barrels into my stomach, wrapping her hands around my hips. “Can I please, please, please,pleeeasehave Claire come for a sleepover tonight?”
“Claire?” I ask, frowning over at Cassandra. “Lynsey’s niece?”
“Yes!” Everly exclaims. “We were chatting on kids messenger, and I think it would be so much fun to have her here. Can I please?”
She holds her hands up in prayer and gives me those puppy dog eyes that I can never say no to. “Sure, it’s fine by me.”
“Yes!” She thrusts her fists up into the air. “Okay, second question…”
“Oh, God,” I groan and begin to undo my tie, knowing the next request is going to be the tough one. Everly always buries the lead.
“Can we do the sleepover in the tiny house? Cozy said she didn’t mind. And I love sleeping in the loft. It feels like camping.”
“Spoken like someone who’s never camped,” I retort, shaking my head adamantly. “That is Cassandra’s home. You cannot use it like it’s a playhouse.”
“But she said she didn’t mind!” Everly whines and looks backward. “Right, Cozy?”
Cassandra shoots me a guilty look as she slides her hands into her pockets. “I really don’t mind. I washed the sheets today and everything but it’s obviously your call.”
“Please, Dad?” Everly whines again, tugging on the tails of my tie.
I sigh heavily and look at Cassandra. “Are you completely sure? This is one request I have no problem saying no to.”
“It’s fine.” Cassandra waves her off. “I’ll go stay at my sister’s or Dakota’s.”
My brow furrows at that reply before Everly says, “Or you can sleep in my bed!”
Or she could sleep in my bed, I growl inwardly like a fucking psychopathic papa bear. I clear my throat and shake that thought away. “We’ll figure out the sleeping arrangements for everybody later. Let’s call Claire’s parents first, okay?”
Everly whoops with joy, and I do my best not to think too much about my decision to break my rule about no sleepovers with women in my house.
“Claire will be here within the hour,” Max calls up the spiral staircase to Everly, who squeals with delight.
“I’m packing my overnight bag for the tiny house,” she yells down. “This sleepover is going to be GOAT!”
Max turns his sexy, confused face to me.
“Greatest of all time,” I translate with a laugh because he doesn’t remember from the last time we explained it to him. He’s such a cute grump sometimes.
“I’m going to cancel Michael tonight and just order pizza,” Max grumbles, pulling his phone out to text his chef. He looks stressed. An eleven-year-old having a friend sleepover has ruffled him. It’s adorable.
“Ask him if he has any cookie dough first,” I offer helpfully. “The girls could make the cookies without the mess of making the dough.”
Max wags his finger at me. “Genius.”
“This is why you pay me the big bucks.” I laugh and then cringe because the fact that Max is still putting deposits into my checking account every week feels kind of weird now that we’re sleeping together.
“That and because you keep my kid alive,” he responds like he’s reading my mind.
After a moment, he sets his phone down and looks around. “Pizza and cookie dough ordered. What else do I need to do for this?”
“Everly’s really never had a sleepover here before?” I ask, thinking about how I unintentionally planted this seed in her head when I told her a story about Dakota and me having a sleepover in a graveyard once. Not one of my finest nanny moments, but Max doesn’t need to hear about that.
He shakes his head and leans down on the counter, giving me an eye-level view of his devastatingly handsome face. It’s inhuman. He should be studied in a museum.
“I’ve always been very possessive of my time with Everly. Getting her a few times a month feels like nothing in the grand scheme of things, so the last thing I would want to do is share her with her friends.”
