She puffed out her bottom lip. “I know, but that was forever ago.”
I pressed my lips together so I didn’t laugh at her over exaggeration, and Toby grinned at me over her head. With four kids, summer breaks were hard. Now that the boys were a little older and in sports, their schedule was pretty full. Emily’s gymnastics camp had only lasted a few weeks, and she hadn’t wanted to sign up for anything else. And Lilah was four, so she only did play dates with the other Iron Rogues kids who were close to her in age.
I padded over to them and brushed a kiss over the top of her head. “Luckily, Daddy has the whole weekend off.”
“Yay!” she cheered, doing a cartwheel away from us before pumping her fist in the air.
“What’s Lilah up to?” Toby asked.
“Playing doctor with Tryp,” Emily mumbled as she wrapped her arms around his waist, pouting over his question.
She was a great big sister to our youngest, but she didn’t like to share Toby’s attention too much because she was a total daddy’s girl.
I barely stifled my giggle at the wrinkle that popped up in the middle of his brow as his brows drew together. Toby’s overprotectiveness of me had quickly extended to our children, but most especially our daughters. And as our youngest, he was even more careful with Lilah.
Not wanting to upset Emily, he gave her a long hug before he pulled back to look down at her and ask, “What do you mean?”
She rolled her eyes. “You should know what playing doctor means, Daddy. You are one!”
“Fuck,” he groaned.
“Oooh, you said a bad word,” Emily chirped.
Growing up in a motorcycle club, it wasn’t rare for the kids to hear cursing, although Toby tried to clean up his language around the girls. So him saying fuck like that right in front of Emily let me know just how bothered he was by the idea of Lilah playing doctor with Fox and Dahlia’s son. And that he took it the wrong way, judging by how he stomped out of the kitchen and up to the kids’ playroom.
While Emily grabbed a snack from the fridge, I followed after my husband. His shoulders sagged as he heaved a sigh of relief, and I nudged him to the side so I could peek him into the room. Tryp was on a chair with Lilah standing in front of him, wagging her finger. She had one of Toby’s stethoscopes around his neck and a lab coat that was so big it dragged on the floor around her. Tryp’s knees and elbows were covered in pink and purple glitter bandages while he listened to Lilah, nodding along with what she babbled.
Tugging on Toby’s shirt, I went on my toes to whisper in his ear. “See, your baby girl is perfectly safe, playing doctor in the most innocent way possible. Nothing like the examination you’re going to give me tonight.”