Page 36 of Power Play

“I know,” he said, and thank God, he finally pushed that hair off his face. “What the hell do I do?”

Oh, the poor guy. I mean, there were solutions, the guy had more money than sense. But he obviously felt some responsibility for this little girl. Which meant the stakes were high and he knew it. Except if there was one thing I knew about Liam, it was that he only did casual.

The little girl in question came tearing into the kitchen. She wore a purple t-shirt and a pair of purple leggings with spiders on them. She looked at us and we looked at her.

“I don’t know your name,” the little girl said after a long second.

“Sorry,” Liam said. “Tess, this is Kit. Kit, this is Tess.”

“Baby foxes are called kits,” Tess said.

“So are skunks,” I said, which for some reason seemed to delight her. “Kit, I set up the board if you’re ready to play.” The girl had extremely good manners.

“What are you playing?” Liam asked, looking so upset that she was going to play a game with me and not with him. It had obviously been a very long afternoon for both of them.

“Chess,” she said. “Maybe Kit can teach you.”

Oh, it was a fantastic burn and the kid didn’t even know it. How fun.

“Yeah,” I said with a grin. “Maybe I can teach you something.”

He growled in his throat and the little girl took my hand, which kind of shocked both of us. I looked up at him and he shook his head. Like he wasn’t sure what was going on either.

I was used to kids liking me. Before everything had crashed and burned with my dad it had been my dream to be a teacher. Now I was the daughter of a convicted felon.

“I have your money,” I said to Liam in a low voice. “I can pay you and-”

“Stay,” he said. “Play chess. I need to get a few things taken care of.”

I nodded and let myself be tugged into the other room.

We sat down on the floor beside the coffee table. I saw on the couch behind her, plates full of abandoned food. “You’re not hungry?” I asked, moving my pawn.

“I don’t like that food.”

“What food?” I asked. I saw pizza and those wings.

“That food,” she jerked her thumb back at all the plates.

She moved her pawn.

“What food do you like?”

“Graham crackers,” she looked up at me hopefully. Like I might have some in my bag.

“I like those too.”

“The kinds with cinnamon.”

“So good.”

Within a couple moves I realized I was in trouble. If I didn’t get my head in this game she was going to take my queen. I moved my queen out of harm’s way. “So, what do you like doing, Tess?”

“Reading.”

“What else?”

“Swimming.”

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