Page 53 of Fierce-Dane

“He’s getting some work done while Willow is sleeping. He’ll be out soon. I got the feeling you wanted to talk.”

There were no secrets from his sister. She always saw through him.

“I did, but let the kids get in the water and settle.”

“Oh boy,” Chloe said. “You don’t want them to know so it must be about Melanie.”

“No,” he said. “Mel and I are fine.”

“Are you the only one that calls her that?” Chloe asked. “She asked me once not to do it.”

“She did?” he asked. “She’s never said that to me. I mean that I’m theonlyone who calls her that.”

Chloe shrugged. “No clue. No one calls her Mel but you and she got nasty about it one day.”

He sighed. “Why am I just hearing this now?”

“Don’t know. I figured she’d tell you if she didn’t like it. Maybe it was just a special name you called her and she didn’t want anyone else to do it. That’s not a horrible thing if it’s the case.”

“Why are you taking her side?”

“No way,” Chloe said. “That will never happen. You know how I feel about her and what she did. I’m just saying I don’t want you to overthink it or worry and I shouldn’t have said a word about it so I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve always called her that and am not sure I could call her anything else at this point. She’s had no problem telling me things she didn’t like before so maybe you’re right.”

“Could be,” Chloe said.

Both kids came out. “Sunscreen,” he said. “Both of you over here.”

Chloe opened a cabinet she’d kept it in, but he had some in the bag over his shoulder. He’d get in the water next.

His kids lined up and he sprayed them down from head to toe, then they turned and he did the back.

They took off toward the little built-in kiddie pool. It was more like a spa, but the jets were not turned on. They knew the rules as they’d been here once before when the pool had first been installed.

“If it’s not about your ex, what is it?”

He waited until the kids were splashing and not so close to hear him. He and Chloe went and sat under an umbrella, him turning to say, “I’m dating someone.”

“Ohhhh,” Chloe said. “Seriously?”

“Yes. I need you to make sure the Fierce women know that so they get it out of their heads to set me up.”

His sister laughed. “It’s funny how that is the first thing that came into your head. Who is it?”

“Sloane Redding.”

“From Sloane’s Spa?” she asked.

“How many Sloanes do you know?”

“Only her,” Chloe said. His sister was rubbing her hands together. “Can I take a guess how this all happened?”

“Sure,” he said, grinning.

“You got your massage, the gift from the kids, and loved it.”

“That was a given. I scheduled another. I thought I told you that.”

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