“Cheaters do,” he tells me, before attacking me with his hands.
“I’m not a cheater,” I object, squealing and trying to wiggle away from his hands. “No tickling! Tickling is the worst! Derek, stop,” I call between bursts of helpless laughter.
He finally relents and I whack him in the stomach, attempting to lift my hips and unseat him. It doesn’t work, and he smirks at me. “Nice try, hon.”
“I’m going easy on you because you’re injured,” I tell him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Oh, right,” he says, playing along.
“Otherwise I’d throw you right off,” I insist.
“I believe you,” he says, winking theatrically.
“Remember when we used to play fight in your room?” I ask him.
“I do. When there were no kids around,” he says pointedly.
I grin. “I always won.”
“You definitely always lost,” he disagrees.
“Didn’t feel like I lost,” I say, smugly.
Derek smiles and looks over at Cassidy. “Is it your bedtime yet?”
Her big blue eyes widen. “What? Not even close.” Since Derek has me immobile over here and she is mini-Derek, Cassidy crawls across the floor and lays her head sideways on my stomach.
“What are you doing?” I ask, curiously.
“Trying to hear my baby sister.”
“There’s no baby sister in there,” I assure her.
“Yeah huh,” she says. “Women have babies in their tummies.”
“Not all the time. It’s not a birth on-demand situation. There’s a whole process. Trust me, no baby Nobles reside in this womb.”
Behind her, Derek mouths, “Yet.”
I shake my head at him. “Between the two of you, it’s like I stumbled into some kind of backwoods raunch novel. Trying to breed me and force me to cook for you.”
“We’re a sophisticated people,” Derek states.
“Clearly,” I murmur dryly.
Cassidy knocks on my stomach. “Aria, can you hear me?”
I cover my face with my hands. “I can’t handle you two.”
Chapter Twenty Six
Since Derek is feeling better, I figure he will take over Cassidy’s bedtime routine tonight. When it finally is her bedtime, Derek gives her a choice.
“You want me to put you to bed tonight, or you want Nikki to do it like she has been?”
“Nikki,” Cassidy decides, pointing at me.
Derek nods his head. “I see how it is. I’m chopped liver now that there’s a lady option. All right, come give me hugs.”