Page 3 of Roughing the Princess

I laughed. “Nope. This.” I grabbed her from her chair and turned her upside down, holding her in the air by her ankles.

“Uncle Talon, let me down!”

“Not until you finish your vegetables.”

“Upside down?”

“Yup.” I adjusted her ankles to both be in one of my hands and then I grabbed her a fork with my free hand. “Eat up.”

She laughed. “I can’t eat upside down.”

“Strange. I can.”

“Can you really?”

I put her right side up and set her back down on her chair.

And then I walked over to the kitchen island and stood on my head, only balancing because my back was pressed against the island. I’d been practicing handstands for an epic touchdown celebration, but my form still needed work. “Give me some of those green beans.”

Olivia shoved one of them into my mouth.

It was a lot harder to eat upside down than I imagined it to be. But I somehow made it work. “See? And now you have one less to eat.” I fell over ungracefully and Olivia laughed.

Jasper was still zoned out.

Olivia ate a few of her green beans. “Dessert time now?”

I ruffled her hair. “Go get some ice cream from the freezer.”

She looked so excited as she ran over to the fridge.

And then Jasper finally turned toward me. And smiled. One of his shit eating grins. A grin that meant he’d done something awful.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Who said I did anything?” He stood up from his chair and started whistling as he helped Olivia get a bowl of ice cream.

“It just seems like you’re in a strangely good mood,” I said.

“Yup.” He hoisted himself up onto the counter and sat down. “Actually I’ve been in a good mood all day. I’ve been working on something special.”

“Um…what?”

He smiled. “Don’t be mad. But I did a thing.”

I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.

“Remember that podcast we recorded a couple weeks ago? And how I said I’d edit out that segment about Tova Saber? Well…I didn’t. And the podcast went live a few hours ago.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“No. You’re not. Because you failed to give your phone number to Tova. And…now she has it.”

“What?” I asked.

“She heard the podcast. Or someone she knew heard the podcast. I think she was flattered that you have a little crush on her. So she asked for your number. She’ll probably text you any minute.”

I laughed. “Yeah right.”

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