Page 5 of Off the Naughty List

Piper pushed against his chest and glanced to Maya, making her meaning clear.Don’t make me want to jump you in front of my kid, asshole.

Bennet smirked knowingly, bending down to retrieve the three bags Maya had discarded.

“Don’t sweat it. I had a hotdog. Today’s cheat day.”

Piper beamed. “Yes! Doughnuts and pizza!”

Ben rolled his eyes as they walked to the kitchen. “Don’t pretend you wouldn’t have eaten it anyway. I taste the sugar on your lips every night.”

“Ew, gross!” Maya said, while chewing on an entire doughnut.

“Back at you,” Ben shot back.

“How come you’re already back?” Piper frowned, glancing at the clock. “The bus normally gets back later.”

She was an entire hour early.

Ben and Maya exchanged a look. The look that made it clear they had a story, and Piper had no business getting in the middle of it. The look that warmed her heart every time she caught it between the man she loved and the daughter who was everything to her.

“They cancelled lacrosse. The school called me to see if I could pick her up early. I had a light schedule.”

Piper smiled. Ben wasn’t trying to lie—not really. He knew she was fully aware of his schedule. She’d officially resigned from her position as his assistant two years ago after training her replacement, David, but they talked about work all the time. Piper was now in charge of all of McFinnley Investment’s charitable endeavors. Their company did its best to send help where it was needed. She was very invested in ensuring that the company continued being profitable, because the more money they made, the more they could give away to the rest of the world. When things were quiet on her end, she helped out in the investment department.

If he’d gone to pick up Maya, he’d cancelled an afternoon full of back-to-back meetings to do so.

That only made her love him more.

That it was possible to become crazier about him surprised her every day, yet every day, she fell harder for him.

“How did the dress fitting go?”

She grinned. “Wonderfully. Except it was entirely unnecessary, of course. Finn’s mother is making Anna wear her wedding dress.”

Ben whistled. “Arabella’s own dress? What did Lucinda say?”

Lucy, Piper’s best friend in the entire world, had married Finn’s brother a while back. Definitely not in Arabella’s dress.

Piper rolled her eyes. “Lucy would never have let Arabella bully her into choosing anything about the wedding—let alone her dress. She and Anna…they’re different. Arabella almost approves of Anna.”

And she definitely hadn’t approved of Lucy, at first.

“High praise.” Ben grinned. “Did you find a dress?”

Piper laughed. “I’m not the one getting hitched.”

Bennet rolled his eyes. “Weren’t you going to pick the bridesmaid dresses, too?”

She nodded. “In theory, but we got sidetracked. We had to go all the way to the Johnsons’ so Anna could try her dress. To be fair, it was rather perfect. It’ll hardly need any alterations.”

“There’s more shopping in your future, then.”

Piper nodded. “Yes, for the bridesmaids, and the flower girls too.” She winked at Maya.

“Can I wear my boots with the dress?”

Piper winced, imagining Arabella Johnson’s face if the sweet flower girl attended her son’s wedding in Doc Martens.

“Maybe at the next wedding, sweet.”

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