Page 45 of Single Dad Dilemma
“Definition,” he bit out.
“Sorry?”
“I want the definition,” he said, enunciating the words. “I think you found some cheater Scrabble loophole, and my kids are ganging up on me because they love seeing me lose this game.”
Maggie giggled. “We do. We can’t ever beat you.”
Bryce moved around to Barrett’s side of the table and cuddled in under his dad’s raised arm. The easy affection was killer on my resolve. To my utter dismay, he was not a scary militant Christmas dad. We’d gone the entire day without a single mention of the time. He’d let his kids pick the movies—we’d moved on toA Christmas Story—as well as the games being played. The mood was chill. And dare I say, fun?
Until this sweet, delicious moment right here, he was a levelheaded competitor who did a great job patiently herding his kids through whatever was in front of them. Honestly, who needed drugs when there was winning at Scrabble against Barrett King?
“Q-A-T,” Bryce read slowly. “It refers to the leaves of a shrub.” He leaned in and whispered to his dad, “I can’t pronounce the scientific name.”
“I can see it,” Barrett said patiently, sending me a quick glare.
Again, I smiled. Just a little one. Enough to make his glare intensify.
Bryce continued, “You can chew them like tobacco or make them into a tea, and it, um, it gives you a eu-euphoric sensation. What’s that?”
I leaned back and spread my arms out over the chairs on either side of me. “Buddy,thisfeeling right here is euphoric,” I said, holding Barrett’s gaze. “Winning against someone who badly needed to be beaten. There’s nothing better in the world.”
Barrett exhaled steadily, and the sheer annoyance in his eyes made me fucking giddy.
“Fine,” he said, raising his hands and letting them drop. “I concede. You win.”
Maggie whooped, giving me such an enthusiastic high five that the skin on my palm stung. “That was awesome. I’m using that on everyone now.”
“Too bad this was our last game of Scrabble ever,” Barrett said lightly.
“No,” the kids wailed, laughing as their dad started picking up the pieces of the game.
“Yup. New house rule: No Scrabble, no weird leaf names.”
I bit down on a grin and picked up my tile board, fingers brushing lightly against his when I handed it over. He glanced at me, then back down at the box as he put everything away.
“Can we do one present tonight?” Bryce begged. “We’ll save everything else for tomorrow morning.”
“Please,” Maggie also begged. “Then Lily can see us open something.”
Barrett and I traded a quick look, and when he gave a subtle arch of his eyebrow, I turned to his daughter. “If your dad says yes, I might have brought something for you and your brother.”
“Really?” She bounced on her toes, gripping her dad’s arm. “Daddy,please. Just one. I’ll never ask again.”
He laid a big hand on the top of her head, and his mouth almost pulled into a visible smile.
Almost.
“What have we said about making promises we know we can’t keep?” he said evenly.
She let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. I won’t ask againthisyear.”
I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my smile. Barrett noticed.
“One,” he said.
The kids shouted, running over toward the tree and settling on the ground to study the pile of boxes. I picked up the top of the Scrabble box and handed it to Barrett. His eyes were fixed on the tattoo on theinside of my forearm, visible now that I’d pushed up the sleeves of my sweatshirt.
“Have a problem with tattoos?” I asked lightly.
