Page 52 of Exposed

“Really?”

I nodded.

Brooklyn handed him the first cupcake.

Jacob looked down at it for a second, and then back up at me. “You can have the first one, Coach. The first one is the best.” He handed it to me.

“Thanks, kiddo.”

Brooklyn’s hand paused halfway through icing the next cupcake.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah…it’s just…that’s what my uncle always called me.”

“Oh. Yeah, I…I remember that now.” I shook my head. “I actually call all my nieces and nephews that.”

“Really?”

I nodded. I’d forgotten about that. Geez, I really did have her all around me over the years. I took a bite of the cupcake, thinking it would probably be some healthy variant of an actual cupcake. I even tried to make a neutral face so I wouldn’t offend Brooklyn. But…it was actually good. I was pretty sure there was real sugar in there. And butter. It was delicious. “This is really good, Brooklyn.”

“Yeah?” She looked pleased with the compliment.

“Yessie,” Jacob said and grabbed the one that she’d just finished putting icing on. “Mommy makes the best cuppycakes.”

“You got that right.” I smiled over at her. “Can I have another?”

“Más más!” Jacob said.

She laughed. “Insatiable.”

I raised my eyebrow at her. I was insatiable. In more ways than one. I thought about the fact that she needed weeks before I proposed again. But I think I had it right the first time. She only needed days. Because she could feel it too, right? That we all already felt like a family?

She blushed and looked back down at the cupcake in her hand.

“Are you my abuelo too, Coach? Or my aunt?” Jacob asked me.

I laughed. “I’m just…Matt. You can call me that. Or Coach. Or whatever you want.”

“Okay, Coach. Can you and Mommy dance?”

“Oh, Jacob,” Brooklyn said. “That’s okay, we…”

“Mommy’s always happy when she’s dancing. And I like when she’s happy. Please?” He looked up at me. He probably got his brown eyes from his father. I expected to feel…hurt. Or something. But he was just really cute.

I looked over at Brooklyn.

She shrugged.

“Dance, dance.” He clapped his hands together.

“I think I can handle that,” I said.

Brooklyn grabbed her phone and turned on a fast paced song. It was quiet in the large kitchen. And I made a mental note to get a speaker system set up for her. She kept fiddling with her phone like she was nervous.

I hadn’t danced with her since…when? Halloween maybe?Yeah. Halloween.She owed me 16 years of dancing too. I shimmied my shoulders at her and she laughed.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her in close.

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