Page 119 of Miami Ice

“Oh, I love it,” she says, her eyes lighting up. “Please, come inside. I have a coffee bar set up and several desserts for you to choose from.”

I smile. I bet none of the desserts have been concocted from something that fell into a trash can.

I bend down and pick Stella up, settling her on my hip. She pats my hair. “Pretty.”

“Stella, remember what I said,” Aaron warns.

She sticks her lower lip out, and I can’t resist it. “Aaron, if the girls want Elsa hair, I’ll happily do that for them.”

Beckham scoops up Lucy and tosses her in the air, sending her shrieking. We follow Aaron past the beautiful floating staircase that leads up to the second floor and head to the den, where some kind of cartoon is blaring on the large-screen TV.

I’m introduced to Aaron’s parents, Mike and Vanessa, who greet me warmly. Winston makes a beeline for Mike, and Mike begins petting him.

“That’s Winston,” I say.

“Well, aren’t you a good boy?” Mike says cheerfully. He looks up at me. “I love dogs. We have two back home.”

“Winston always knows his dog people,” I say.

Mike sits down on the sofa, and Winston jumps up beside him, dropping his head in his lap.

“It looks like Mike has a new best friend,” Vanessa teases.

We set the girls down, and Stella wanders over to her mom. “Hairbrush?”

“Why do you need a hairbrush?” Sofia asks, her dark brows drawing together in a V.

“Georgie is going to give us Elsa hair,” Stella reports.

Sofia looks over at me, and I nod. “I’d be delighted to do it.”

“I’ll get the hairbrush in a bit. We’re going to have dessert first. Then Georgie can do hair.”

“Okay,” Lucy says, picking up a teddy bear.

Stella’s tiny lips twist in thought. “That might be a long time.”

“No, it won’t be, I promise,” I say.

“First, we need to take care of business,” Sofia says, quickly shifting gears. “I have an autumn wreath hanging on the back of the front door; it will be a perfect place for your launch picture. We can also get some of you at the table eating pie, that’s about as freaking wholesome as it gets. Now, I know it’s weird, but Beckham, if you could put your arms around Georgie’s waist, and Georgie, if you could lock your hands around the back of his neck, that would be a complete money shot for socials.”

I glance at Beckham, who told me he was going to surprise Sofia with a completely different kind of hard launch tonight.

“What if we do this?” he asks. Then he slides one hand to the back of my head, cradling it, and lowers his mouth to mine, kissing me.

“Kissing!” one of the twins shrieks. “Mommy! Kissing!”

I begin to laugh, and Beckham does, too. He lifts his head, but then slides his arm around me and draws me into his chest. I put my hand over his heart, and he drops a kiss onto the top of my head.

Sofia is staring at us, her mouth hanging open. Aaron’s eyebrows have shot up in shock. His parents look baffled.

“We’ve already launched,” Beckham says.

Sofia takes a moment to digest this information. Then her whole face lights up in complete happiness. “I KNEW IT!” shecries gleefully. “Iknewyou liked Georgie! Oh, this is the best news ever!”

“Wait, how did you know?” Beckham asks.

“You were far too agreeable to this whole situation, for starters.”

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