Page 49 of Breaking Conviction
She screeched with laughter before shouting with a toothy grin. “Throw me up high again! Again! Again!”
He smiled wide and began to pick her up again, but Naomi stopped him with a hand on his bicep.
“Thea, we talked about this. You gotta leave this poor man alone.”
Wes felt his eyebrows furrow before he switched gears and waggled them, teasing Naomi. “No she doesn’t. Playing with Princess T is one of the highlights of my day. Only second to seeing her mom, of course.”
Naomi narrowed her eyes as Thea ignored her and reached for him. Her mother intercepted her, though, and gently picked her up from the table to set her down on the ground.
“Playing the floor is lava once a day is enough, baby. It’s too early for all that right now and I’m sure Wes has work to do. You don’t want to get him tired.”
Wes settled his hands on his waist and raised a brow at her. “It takes a lot to get me tired, you know.”
Heat passed over Naomi’s eyes before she ducked her head. “T go back to watch TV, I’ll be there in a minute—”
“But, Mommy. Phoe-nik won’t let me watch my show.” Thea’s speech was perfect with a little southern twang like her mom’s, but she still had trouble staying the ‘x’ in Phoenix’s name, so she always said it very carefully. “Wes, will you tell him to move to let me watch Merida? Mommy won’t do it.” She glared up at her mom and Wes bit back a laugh at Naomi’s widened eyes.
“No ma’am! Theresa Jane Ward, don’t you dare look at me with that tone of voice. Your grandmomma woulda tanned my hide if I’d talked to her that way.”
The little imp looked the opposite of contrite as she tugged on the hem of Wes’s shirt. “Help me, please.”
Wes glanced at Naomi, who had a hand on one hip and was massaging a temple with her other. “Go for it. Girl’s been wearin’ me out already and it’s only eight in the mornin’.”
Wes chuckled and let Thea take him by the hand, leading him to the common room in her bare feet and signature green princess costume.
Her gorgeous, but exhausted, mom followed behind in a baggy sweater and leggings. Naomi’s dark auburn hair was piled on top of her head with loose curly tendrils hanging out. He fucking loved it.
He caught Naomi’s eye and winked before he nodded toward Thea.
“Must be tiring, huh?” he asked Naomi in an exaggerated voice. “Being bossed around by athree-year-old all the time.”
Naomi’s brow furrowed and she opened her mouth until Thea scoffed. Immediately, her face relaxed, seemingly figuring out his joke. The little princess dropped his hand before crossing her arms and pouting her adorable bottom lip. “I’mfourWes. And Itoldyou. Mommy says I ain’t bossy. I’m the boss.”
“I know. I know. Youain’tbossy. You’re the boss. I apologize, Princess T. It’ll never happen again.” Wes couldn’t keep a straight face and a chuckle rolled out of him. Thea smiled, showing all her teeth, before continuing her way to the living room.
“That was even funnier than I thought it’d be...” Wes wiped a laughing tear from his eye before looking at Naomi again. At the odd look on her face, he stopped following Thea and turned to her mother. “Naomi, what’s wrong?”
After blinking several times, she cleared her throat. “Um... nothing. I just—you’re really good with her, is all.”
Wes smiled at her, his chest puffing with a light airy feeling, but he couldn’t miss the opportunity to tease her. “That’s two now, you know.”
She tilted her head. “‘Two’ what?”
He shrugged with a wider grin. “Two compliments. Careful, my queen, or I might think you’re actually beginning to like me.”
Her immediate scowl almost made him feel bad for calling her out, but a twinkle of warmth in her campfire gold and brown eyes encouraged him.
Joking with her was the highlight of his day, and he opened his mouth to tease her about her lip trying to twitch into a smile when there was a shouted curse word from the other room. He tensed when the slaps of bare feet echoed back to them.
“Wes! Mommy! Phoe-nik said a bad word!”
“Phoenix...” He growled before beelining the rest of the way through the communal kitchen into the living room. Phoenix had the remote in one hand and the other holding his hat off above his head as he tugged his hair in frustration. His eyes were wide with dark circles underneath them and he was muttering under his breath. “What the fu—he—heck, man?” He caught himself before introducing two new words into Thea’s vocabulary.
“Dude, I’m sorry. But look—”
He pointed to the screen and Wes followed his finger to see the headline.
DMITRI RUSNAK FOUND DEAD
