Page 91 of Primal God

My cheeks feel warm. I’m wearing black slacks and a dark purple top. My hair is down, and honestly, I feel like a million bucks. I call it the Dimitri Santos effect.

“Thank you.”

In the twins’ room, I find both Diego and Clara ready to go.

Clara asks me, “Nanny W, are you datingPapai?”

“What makes you ask that?”

“Just wondering.”

“YourPapaiand I are friends.”Who bang.I snort to myself. “Okay, kiddos. Let’s go.”

Clara asks, “Are Diego and I going to be the oldest kids there?”

“I believe so.”

“Yay!” She turns to her brother. “We’ll get to tell the babies what to do!”

From what Dimitri said, the other kids are actual infants, but I don’t voice my thought to Whirlwind Clara. I notice that the twins found all the ducks that I hid this morning. They’re keeping them in a row on the bookshelf next to the book. It’s become a game that even Dimitri enjoys playing. Clara keeps begging us to hide some outside of their room. We’ll see.

We leave their room just as Dimitri comes out of Isadora’s room. She hasn’t called me momma again since that day, which is probably for the best.

Dimitri says, “Let’s go, Santos Family.”

I meet his gaze in shock to find him smiling down at me. Thankfully, Clara doesn’t say anything about the comment andleads the way down the stairs. The drive to Brooks Henderson’s house doesn’t take long and we’re soon pulling up in front of a house that’s smaller than Dimitri’s, and beautiful in its own way.

A sign on the front door proudly states the Henderson’s live there.

Dimitri says to me, “Alessandro and Isabetta live down the street, and Grant and Greer are a few blocks over.”

“That’s sweet that they all live so close.”

“It is, but I think I like our house better.”

Our house. Gah. I desperately want to believe that he means it in the way I want him to, but we’ve only just started whatever this is between us. Heck, we haven’t even dipped our toes in the ‘serious topics’ waters. You know, like the part where I’m being forced to marry someone else… Oh, and that he has a child with me he doesn’t know about.

He rings the doorbell and I’m shocked when a very famous pro-wrestler turned actor opens the door.

“Santos,” the man greets. “We were starting to think you weren’t coming!”

“Nice to see you, Brooks.” He turns to me and points. “Brooks, this is Lilith.”

Brooks holds out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Lilith.”

“Please, call me Lili, and it’s so nice to meet you.” I blush. “I’m a huge fan.”

Brooks doesn’t seem phased by my fangirl moment and motions us inside.

“Everyone is in the kitchen. Lots of hungry infants in there, so be prepared for the noise.”

We follow him through a massive living room to an even bigger kitchen. I stop. Holy crap. The President of the United States is here. I glance at Dimitri to find him smiling down at me.

President Carter says, “Santos. Good to see you.”

Dimitri says, “Everyone, this is Lilith.”

The men all look at me curiously while the women smile.

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