Halftime Husband (Sassy in the City 5)

I couldn’t help but laugh. I ruffled her hair. “You have an amazing mind, Pops.”

We ate our pizza and Poppy and Dakota chattered away. Willow was quiet and so was I. Dakota not answering me was grinding on my nerves.

“Oh, hey, I want to show you something before this weekend,” Dakota said.

Hopefully that meant her naked.

“I’ll be right back.” She disappeared into her room.

When she reappeared she was wearing a Dak North jersey. That was about nine times too small. Her entire midriff was showing and it was skintight. “Did you steal that from a toddler?” I asked. I was both turned on by how tight it was and how much skin was showing, and irritated that she’d chosen the star quarterback’s jersey.

The girls exchanged glances and then both looked at Dakota. She raised her eyebrows back at them.

“What?” There was a conspiracy going on. I wasn’t included in whatever the joke or prank was. “This is a joke, right?”

“No. Dakota needs something to wear to the game Sunday, so she borrowed my jersey,” Poppy said. “I think it works.”

“I think it’s not happening. Under any circumstances.” I studied all of them. None of them were cracking. They all looked like they thought this was a great idea. “You can’t be serious.”

“Okay, we’re not,” Dakota said, finally laughing. “At first when Poppy offered, I thought it might work because she said it was too big, but then I put it on and we all just about died laughing.”

“Dad, your face.” Willow was laughing now too.

I gave a sigh of relief. “You almost gave me a heart attack visualizing you showing up to the game in this. And what’s up with wearing North’s number? Does he have a crush on you or something? Tell him to get in line behind the doorman.”

Dakota’s eyes widened. “Are you finished?”

Maybe. Probably not. I might even just be getting started.

“Dak North has a crush on you?” Willow’s eyes widened. “That would be so cool.”

“I’ve never even met him, so no, he does not.”

“If you two got married, it would be Dakota and Dakota on all your wedding stuff. How cute would that be?” Willow asked, looking delighted at the prospect.

On the other hand, I despised the idea. She’d already dated one player, what was to prevent her from dating another? Since we weren’t dating, nothing really.

“Your babies would be so cute,” Poppy said, squeezing her fists together again. “Little blond babies.”

Dakota was leaning against the counter eating her pizza slice. She wasn’t saying a word. I wondered if she wanted kids. Little blond babies with some young guy her own age. Then I wondered why it mattered to me.

Poppy was right. I was grumpy.

An hour later, I was on the couch, being grumpy, when Dakota sat down next to me, tucking her feet under her butt. The girls were both in their rooms.

“Why didn’t you answer my text?” I demanded in a low voice.

“Because your phone was sitting right on the kitchen island. If I’m texting, then your phone dinged, right after you texted and my phone dinged, it would be obvious to the girls we were texting each other. Then they would wonder why and probably assume it was about them. Then they would be sneaking glances at your screen and would see it’s not about them at all but something dirty.”

Oh. “That makes sense. So what’s your answer to my question?”

“It wasn’t really a question. More like a command.” She eyed me and stretched her legs out. She pushed my leg with her foot. “Are you jealous of the doorman? I turned him down, by the way. In case you were stewing over it.”

I had been and I felt stupid amounts of relief. “You can date whoever you want.”

God, why was I being such a dick?

“Now why would I do that when I’m sleeping with you?” she asked. She glanced toward the hallway, clearly to make sure we were still alone. “Or have you retracted your command to come to your room later?”