Page 66 of Defensive Zone

She tapped out a quick message.

Gabi: Ignoring your nieces and nephew to taunt me, Max? For shame.

His eyes met hers through the screen, and she swore it was going to melt. But in an instant, the look was gone, and he was focusing on Connor and Amelia again.

“I heard you spent the day with Chicklet,” Max said, like he wasn’t as rattled as Gabi.

This attraction was probably nothing to him. Typical.

No. That wasn’t fair. In the time she’d been living in this house, she hadn’t seen Max go on a single date and he was usually home after games, so unless he was super slick, he wasn’t out hooking up with anyone.

But maybe she was reading too much into all of this and she should stop making assumptions.

Maybe he ate out tons of women on his dryer.

Memories of his mouth assailed her and she coughed out a gasp.

“Gabs, are you okay?” Ava asked.

“Yep. Water. Wrong pipe,” she quickly played off.

“Your glass is empty,” Ava said, quirking her brow.

“Yep. Drank it so fast. So, Chicklet,” she said, trying to put the focus back on anyone but her.

Max was grinning.

Bastard.

She would not look at her phone if it buzzed again, but thankfully, it remained silent.

“Mommy said we could get a dog,” Amelia said.

“A dog?” Max asked.

“What? I did no such thing,” Ava said, startling Elise, who was wrapped against Ava’s chest. “Sorry, baby girl,” she whispered.

“No making up stories to your uncle,” Gabi said.

Connor huffed. “Mommy said we could get one if you said it was okay, Uncle Max.”

“That’s quite the stretch, Connor,” Ava said.

“It’s up to your mommy if you guys get a dog,” Max said.

“But it’s your house. You make the rules, Uncle Max,” Amelia said, turning her pleading eyes toward him.

“Oh no, this is your mommy’s decision,” Max said. “I’m not home a lot, so it’s not fair for me to get a dog.”

“But we’re here,” Connor said.

“We can’t live here forever, honey,” Ava said.

“But I want to live forever with Uncle Max and Auntie Gabi, and you, Mommy,” Amelia said.

Gabi heard the quiver in the little girl’s voice, and she put her hand on Amelia’s back.

“It’s okay, honey. I know there’ve been a lot of changes recently, but we’re going to figure it all out as a family,” Gabi said as Amelia leaned against her arm. Gabi gave Ava a smile over the little girl’s head.

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