Page 51 of The Off-Limits Play

“What dat mean?” She points at the image.

I shake my head, my lips twitching as I pick her up and pop her on the floor. Raising my chin toward Grady, I silently encourage her to go and invade his space instead. He doesn’t seem as bothered by the little earthling.

But Zoey doesn’t move. She keeps staring at the phone screen with a cute frown, obviously trying to figure out what I was doing.

Shit, I better delete that.

I’m about to reach for the phone when Sienna walks in. “Lil’ bug, do you have my phone?”

Zoey looks up with her most adorable grin and Sienna shakes her head, placing her hands on her hips. “Zoey Beth, you know you’re not supposed to play with my phone. Hand it over.” She wiggles her fingers, reaching out for the device.

“Actually…” I try to grab it, but Zoey walks out of reach, tottering over to her mom with her explanation.

“Selfees, Mommy.”

Sienna’s expression softens. “You were taking selfies, huh? Let me see.”

Shit.

I cringe but am also fighting the urge to laugh. I don’t know why. Sienna’s gonna flip, and that’s kind of entertaining to watch.

The second she spots the picture, her smile fades, replaced with a pissed-off scowl that is somehow still pretty. “Carson! Seriously?”

“What dis mean?” Zoey flips the bird around the room, and I snort while Sienna bulges her eyes and crouches down next to her innocent daughter.

Grady gives me a quiet “Dude? Really?”

All I can do is give him a helpless shrug while Sienna gently takes Zoey’s hand and folds her middle finger back into place.

“Lil’ bug, don’t do that. It’s something that’s not very nice. It’s like a rude word, but you do it with your hand instead of your voice.”

Zoey whips around to frown at me, her face a mixture of annoyance and betrayal. “You did me a woed word?”

Ouch. How can a two-year-old make me feel like I’m pure scum?

She’s so freaking adorable about it, and I actually feel kinda bad now.

Shaking my head, I try to placate her. “It was just a joke.”

Her pout gets deeper.

Shit. What is with this overwhelming urge to fix this and make her feel better? I should just shut up or tell her that if she wants to take photos of me, that’s what she’s gonna get.

But instead, my stupid mouth pops open, and I say in the sweetest voice I can, “Here let’s do another one.”

She shakes her head.

“I promise I won’t do any rude words. I’ll smile like a good boy.”

She eyes me up like a fucking detective before finally holding out her hand to ask for the phone back.

After a soft sigh, Sienna reluctantly hands it over. “You better be good,” she hisses at me.

I pick Zoey up and place her back on my knee, helping her hold the phone up and then smiling big and cheesy for the photo. Her cheek is squished against mine, and her smile is so adorably cute that I end up laughing.

She snaps a few pics and then looks through them. “Dat’s good.” She nods, then kisses my cheek before jumping down and running over to show her mom.

I don’t know what my face is doing as I watch her leave the room, but when I turn to glance at Grady, he’s grinning at me.

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