Page 25 of Hart Breaker

Whyyyyy is she so adorable? Just why?

Lily turns and looks me up and down, making a face. Then she turns and asks, “Daddy, why Hart look like that?”

Boone looks over his shoulder at me and answers, “He’s in gangster mode. Game prep, flower.”

Jillian’s face scrunches up, and she sucks her lips in so she doesn’t laugh, until …

“You gonna go gangster, Daddy?”

“Not a chance.” He winks at her and sings, “‘’Cause I’m a cowboy, baby.’”

Lily jumps up on the counter and sings, “‘With a top hat back and the sun shining high.’”

The fact she slaughters the lyrics doesn’t take away from the reality that she’s fucking adorable, and both Jillian and I laugh our asses off as Boone, and she do some bit they’ve clearly done a million times.

The sludge? Fucking gone.

As I walk Jillian to the door so she can head back to Mom’s, she whispers, “If she and Zane are going at it, I’m coming right back here.”

“Guessing since Roman and CeCe arrived, they’re done with whatever it is they were doing.”

She grins. “That means my man is here, too. In that case, we may be back to break one of your beds so we don’t freak Mom and Rome out.”

I simply shake my head.

She’s clearly offended at my lack of reactions. “Not even an ew from you?”

“I love you and only want what’s best for you, Jill. I want you happy, so no ew from me. You two are welcome to break a bed whenever you want.”

“That may be one of the sweetest and most fucked-up things you have ever said to me, especially since it’s yours and Rome’s fault no one ever dared try to date me, and I was a virgin until Nour.”

I kiss her cheek. “You’re welcome.”

She shoves me away and turns to leave. “Whatever.”

“Daddy, I wanna be a virgin, too,” Lily says from behind us.

“Shit,” Jillian whisper-gasps.

“Flower, I’m gonna need you to say that again.”

Shocked, I turn and look at him as he holds his phone up. “All right, I’m ready.”

Lily grins. “I wanna be a virgin, too!”

“For how long?” he asks, grinning like a fool.

“Forever!” She throws her hands in the air.

“All right, perfect.”

After Jillian leaves, we watch some tape while studying our playbooks and taking notes with Lily between us, watching some video on her iPad and scribbling in her own notebook.

Smiling as I watch her, Boone clears his throat, and I glance up at him. “What?”

“Nothing, man, absolutely nothing.”

Pulling into my parking spot at Legacy Field, my playlist is summoning the sludge, and it’s coming back with a vengeance as we pass the charter bus. Then Boone reaches over and turns down the tunes.

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