Page 62 of Broken Princess

“It is, but work has to happen before fun happens.”

“Do you always do all of your work before you have fun?”

He’s got me there, because I’d be a big fat liar if I said I did and one thing I don’t do is lie to my favorite little humans. “No, I don’t.”

“Then I shouldn’t have to either.”

Telling him to do as I say and not as I do would make him lose trust in me. Instead, I try to reason with him. “Tell you what. I have some work I need to do. Let’s set a timer. We both get our assignments out of the way and then it’s party weekend non-stop.”

“We’d have to stop because we go back to school on Sunday afternoon. Dad needs the driver.”

“What if I take you Monday morning?”

“You would? In your car? The black Spiderman one?”

The Venom? Right, because what boy doesn’t want his buddies to see him pulling up in a sports car. I hardly ever take that thing out of the garage, using my roadster as my every day vehicle instead, because I don’t trust the kids on campus not to vandalize it out of spite. “That’s right. My car.”

He jumps off the floor, running to the door. “Deal. I’m doing my homework now.”

“It’s gotta be correct when I check it!”

“It will be.”

Ava pouts up at me from her spot on the floor. “What’s wrong, pea?”

“Now I won’t get my treats?”

Ah, so she’s still in negotiation mode. “Yes, you will. You negotiated in good faith. It’s not your fault Hunter breached your contract when a better offer came along. And since I’m the catalyst for your deal falling through, I’ll make sure you’re still compensated.”

“And what do I have to do?” Her stern, untrusting face is so cute. The shift in the color of her eyes is so much like dads.

“Keep the terms of our discussions and anything we do this weekend quiet.”

“Like a MDA or like a pre-nub?”

A what? Wow. The joys of a social climbing mother. “Like an N-D-A. Non-disclosure agreement. It basically means, we’re sworn to secrecy.”

“We pinky swear?”

“Double pinky swear.”

She nods, her blue eyes wide as she contemplates the severity of this promise. “I can keep a double pinky swear secret.”

I plop a kiss on her red curls. “Good, now go get your lessons done too, and I’ll set an alarm for two hours.”

“Okay, and you’ll have the Hershey’s?”

“No, but I’ll drive us to the store to get everything we need.”

Running to the door she screams, “Hunter! Logan’s driving us shopping. We never go shopping. Logan is the best. He takes us to do fun stuff.”

I chuckle at the thought that she thinks grocery shopping is the fun stuff. Both of their nannies poke their heads into the playroom. Cautiously optimistic that they’ll get time to themselves this weekend.

“Ladies, I have no pressing business, the two of you are relieved of your duties.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing you need before we take off?” Mirna, Ava’s nanny, asks. She’s probably hoping I have a personal need. Sorry Mirna, my dick is on lockdown even if Jordanna hasn’t said the words.

“Yeah, I’m all good here.” They offer a hurried thanks and disappear to wherever they hide out when their charges are here. Once I reach my room, I pull up my English paper on my laptop. I’ve been postponing this assignment all week, because I spend enough time with the written word at The Guild. Retrieving the book I’m reading from my bag, I thumb through it, looking for the quotes I highlighted to include in my analysis.

---