Page 63 of The Hat Trick

“Oh, remember when I—”

“Girls, I think Uncle Vinny wants to have you over for a slumber party tonight,” Em says excitedly.

I do like having my nieces over, but tonight I had some different plans of trying to see Chandler.

“Uh, I didn’t—”

“Really?” Josie asks, both her and Alana’s eyes bright with excitement. It pulls at my heart, and I know I can’t say no now.

“You bet,” I tell them. They screech in excitement while they finish picking up their toys.

I turn toward my sister who’s smirking at me.

“You owe me,” I tell her, and she just laughs.

“No, I think we are even now.”

I smile. “Girls, after we get ice cream, I’m going to buy you the loudest toys we can find at the toy store.”

My sister glares at me while her kids cheer, “Yay!”

23

Vince was telling me how he wanted to see me today, but then I get a text from him saying he got roped into spending the night with his nieces. I’ll be completely honest, I was a bit skeptical at that excuse. That was until he sent me a selfie with two adorable little girls’ faces squished against his while all three of them beam at the camera.

His bright blue eyes steal my attention, and the beaming smile on his face gives me butterflies. Something about him being so sweet and spending time with his nieces makes said butterflies feel like they are having a party in my stomach.

After debating with myself for a while I end up texting Brent. I’m not sure if Vince had planned on seeing me with anyone else present as well, but I haven’t had a chance to spend any one-on-one time with Brent, and he intrigues me.

Chandler: Hey.

God, I’m lame.

Brent: Hey beautiful, what are you doing?

Chandler: Nothing. Would you want to join me?

Brent: I’d love to join you in doing nothing.

I send him my address, knowing it’ll take him about twenty minutes to get here from his house. If that’s where he is. Then, I get to work on quickly cleaning up. We usually don’t let the house get super messy, but we also aren’t the cleanest people in general and I’ve seen his house. He seems somewhat of a perfectionist so I can’t help but be worried he’s going to judge me based on what my place looks like.

I’m just glad Audrey isn’t here. She said she had some errands to run and then was going to do a show with another one of her friends that is also a cam girl. She doesn’t do those all the time, but she said when she does, the money is really good.

Around thirty minutes later there’s a knock at my door, and I decide it has to be good enough, even though I wish I would’ve had time to sweep or something. I fix my hair with my fingers as I go to open the front door.

“Hey,” I greet him with a smile, opening the door wider so he can come inside.

“Hey beautiful,” he smiles back, dipping down to kiss my cheek before walking inside.

My place feels dwarfed by his presence. He’s so huge at his six-foot-six height that it makes me nervous for some reason.

“Do you want something to drink or anything?” my voice shakes slightly, and I don’t know why I’m suddenly overcome with these nerves.

Brent looks at me with the side of his lips pulled into a smile. “No, I’m okay. Your house is so nice.”

“Oh,” I laugh lightly, “thank you, do you…uh want a tour?”

I want to smack myself.

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