Page 62 of Promised Summer
“I want to do this. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about it since probably the first night you two stayed over.”
The admission shocked me. “Since that long ago? But you still hated me then.”
Jones pulled me close. “You know damn well hating you is near impossible. I was hurt, sure, but hate you? Never.”
Hurting him was something I would always regret. And I would live every single day trying to make it up to him.
“Fine, but I’m covering the costs of the room makeover,” I told him, leaving no room for arguing.
“Sure, baby,” he said, and made a noise that was neither agreement nor disagreement.
I narrowed my eyes at him as if by doing so, I could see what he was really thinking. Jones flashed his pearly whites through the entirety of my inspection, looking innocent.
Sighing, I grumbled under my breath. I knew when I was fighting a losing battle. When it came to doing things for the people he loved, the man was too stubborn. I’d just make sure to pick up the tab whenever I could.
“Oh, and could you not call mebaby?” I asked with a wrinkle of my nose. “It feels weird being called that when it’s what we call Karla.”
Jones’ smile grew wider as he pulled me to him and held me tight. “What, you don’t want to be my baby girl, too? Dan would hop on that chance in a heartbeat.”
“Hell yeah, I would!” Dan agreed from where he and the others were crowding around Lily and her babies.
I rolled my eyes and pressed my palm against his chest to push him away. “I’m neither a baby nor a girl,” I grumbled.
Jones chuckled and plopped a loud kiss on my cheek. “Fine, I’ll think of something else to call you.”
“Idohave a name,” I reminded him.
“Sure, but I want something that only belongs to me.Hmm, I can’t do something unoriginal likebabeorhoney. Darlingis just not me,andlove of my lifeis too long.” He took a pause to think, then said, “I’ve got the perfect name. Sparkles.”
“Sparkles?” I asked, incredulous. It sounded like the name of a cartoon character…or a stripper.
“Yeah, it fits you perfectly,” he replied with the brightest smile.
“How so?” I asked suspiciously.
He swept back my hair, his touch as gentle as his eyes that watched me. “Because you brought back the sparkle every summer you returned to me. The sun can’t even compare when I’m captivated by your radiance.”
“Jones…” Aw, fuck. I didn’t know how he always managed to melt my heart into a pile of goo.
“You totally want to bone him right now, don’t you?Iwant to bone him after hearing that.”
Dan’s voice jolted me out of the moment we were having to find our friends watching us with sly smiles. I could just die from mortification. When the hell did they even come over to where we were standing?
And if I thought it couldn’t get worse, my sweet, innocent baby girl ran over from behind the wall of men. She hugged Jones’ and my legs and looked up at us with bright blue eyes as she asked, “Daddy, what’s he going to do with a bone?”
I didn’t even have to look to know that Jones was glaring at Dan. Meanwhile, I picked Karla up and tried to do damage control. “He means he’s going to give Lilya bone as a treat, isn’t that right?” I said, gritting out the last part as a question to Dan.
Dan chuckled nervously and quickly agreed. Thankfully, Karla just nodded and then got distracted by something else.
“What do you want to add to your walls, baby?” Jones took Karla from me and asked.
Naturally, she shouted “Flowers!”
Jones smirked and replied, “I knew you’d say that.” Karla giggled, and Jones turned to his friends. “It’s time to get painting, boys!”
They all hollered their agreement and went to start the task.
“I’ll watch Karla so she doesn’t get in the way,” I told Jones. I tried to offer to help with the room makeover, but he insisted they had it handled. Besides, I probably would have been more of a nuisance than a help.
