Page 103 of Her Billionaire Bargain (Kensington Square)

He flung himself at me, not settling until I gave him a big hug and accepted his doggie kiss square on the mouth. Berry’s laughter rang out in competition with Dex’s and it took all my willpower not to jump up to run to the bathroom to wash out my mouth. Bob’s breath was a lot under the best of circumstances. But I just buried my face in his fur and shrieked as Dex pried off my heels to tickle my bare feet.

“Your toes are rainbow-colored,” he commented, sounding fascinated.

“I did them for her,” Berry announced proudly. “But it’s been days. You should get a new color.” She popped up and cocked her head, staring at Dex. “Do you have any nail polish here?”

He frowned. “Me?”

Berry nodded enthusiastically. “Boys in my class do their nails sometimes.”

His frown grew. “I’ve never thought of it. But now I’m wondering why not.”

“I can do your nails!” Berry scrabbled forward and grabbed his hand mid-tickle. “Oh, you need lotion.”

I wanted to dispute that, but I wasn’t ready for that conversation with my almost-nine-year-old daughter.

“Hey, can we order Amazon overnight? My friend does that sometimes when she stays at her dad’s house. He bribes her that way.” Berry gave me a knowing look.

“No, we cannot,” I said before Dex could indulge her. Because he would. He’d order her a Barbie castle one-hour delivery if such a thing existed.

And it probably did.

“Oh, I have some in my bookbag!” Her delight lasted long enough to grab the bag in question so she could root through the front pocket. “Babs traded with me for my rainbow. Gave me sparkle black.” She held up the bottle triumphantly, and I couldn’t say which of us was more dismayed.

There were probably worse colors.

An hour later, I had fresh toenail polish—she’d polished right over my peeling rainbow since, hey, black covered all—and Dex had his first manicure. Which he kept staring at as if he was intrigued. “I have court tomorrow afternoon. That should be interesting.”

“I think you look handsome.” I tried to keep a straight face but the idea of him going to court with manicured nails made me laugh. He decided to take the opportunity to tickle me again and we fell into the pillow pile, laughing like fools.

Again. Seemed to be a common theme lately.

Berry stood up. “Bob has to pee.”

Before she could march out of the room, Dex was up on his feet. “I’ll take him.”

Berry started to protest but Dex and Bob took off before she could do more than sputter. She dropped down onto her butt and wrapped her arms around her updrawn legs. “I wanted to go.”

“Next time.”

Berry wrinkled her nose. “Whatever.”

I slung my arm around her shoulders. “We didn’t really get to talk today very much. Did your teacher tell you what she wanted to talk to me about?”

“Yeah. Kind of. She said it was a ‘process’,” air quotes included, “to figure out the best way to help me. But I’ve missed some homework.”

“What homework have you missed?”

“Nothing much,” Berry said quickly. “Just a few dumb worksheets.”

I shut my eyes. “Your teacher said she had more to tell me and asked me to come in next week, so that must’ve been part of that. I’ve been distracted. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not. You never have any fun. Or you didn’t before. Like…none, Mom.”

I opened my eyes and found her hazel ones locked on mine with a far-too-adult expression. I wasn’t ready to see that look in her eyes.

She was worried aboutme,and that so wasn’t her job.

“I know you’re upset because I caused trouble today,” she said in a small voice.

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