Page 326 of Branded
Not for more than a few minutes, anyway.
Twenty-Seven
Cas
“And then I’m going to reverse.” Ethan slapped a card down on the stack in between us. “And skip and then I’m going to…” The little guy made a flurry of movements and before dropping a final card on the deck. “Uno!”
And yup, that was the moment I realized I’d seriously underestimated the tiny human sitting across from me.
“Your turn, Cas!”
My mind was still spinning from the sudden turn of events, and I randomly set a card from the ones I was holding onto the pile between us.
The wrong card, apparently.
Because Ethan slammed down his final card. “I win!”
He didn’t just win.
He’d absolutely destroyed me.
Holy hell.
Setting my mass of cards down—yes, mass—on the table, I extended my fist across the table for Ethan to bump. “That was well played, bud.”
Bubbling hope and joy in Ethan’s eyes. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, bud, for sure.” I stole a fry from his plate, grinned when Ethan stole a tot from mine. “Next time we do this, we’ll have your mom drop you at the rink so we can get a skate in first.”
“Really?”
I ruffled his hair. “Really. But I think for tonight we’re going to have to call it.”
Ethan’s brows pulled together, and fuck if he didn’t look like his mom when he did that. It was cute as hell—almost as much as the question he asked. “What do you mean, call it?”
“I mean, it’s late, so we’ve got to get out of here, do your homework, and then head off to bed.”
Now nose-wrinkling joined the frown.
Fucking cute.
“I don’t like homework,” Ethan muttered.
“I didn’t like it when I was in school either, buddy, but it’s important.”
“Why?”
Well, that was a good question. “Because it reinforces what we learn in school,” I said, thinking that was a damned good answer. Ethan made a face—whether that was because he didn’t know what reinforce meant or because he wasn’t buying my explanation, I didn’t know, but I quickly added, “I have homework too. We can do yours and mine, then go to bed.”
Wide eyes. “You have homework?”
“Yup.” Video to watch, plays to go over. “Think you can help me with it?”
Wider eyes. “You need me to help with it?”
“Yeah, bud.”
“Okay! Then you can help me with my math and reading.”
