Changing Lanes (Devil's Knights 2nd Generation 4)

“Does that mean you are leaving Kane with me?”

Royal bumped her shoulder into Marco. “I think you can handle him for an hour.” She pointed at me. “We should check out the coffee place in town when we go.”

I nodded. “Sounds good to me. I can use my chef taste buds to see if the coffee is actually good.”

“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” Marco groaned. “I just meant you have much more experienced taste buds than we do.”

“Experienced taste buds?” Murphy laughed. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s kind of like you just judged her by how much food she’s tasted.” Princeton shook his head. “Don’t food shame her, Marco,” he laughed.

I laughed so hard that I snorted.

“Look what you did,” Marco called. “She’s going to hyperventilate because of your lame humor.”

“I’m gonna get a shirt made for you that says ‘chef taste buds’ on it.” Royal sipped her coffee. “I bet I could make a mint if I printed a bunch of them.”

Marco leaned toward her and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “You already have a mint, amore mio.”

Royal rolled her eyes. “Do you really think I want to sit around counting your pennies all day?”

“I don’t have pennies,” Marco grunted.

“He’s got hundos laying around for you to count, doll,” Princeton chuckled.

“I really wish you wouldn’t refer to my money as ‘hundos.’” Marco wiped his mouth and sipped his coffee. “You sound like you’re fifteen, not forty-one.”

“Someone has to act young and hip around here.” Princeton snagged one of the pieces of toast I buttered. “We all know that isn’t you.”

“We can do it tomorrow, Royal,” I called, ignoring the bickering between Marco and Princeton. “I’ll take an inventory of my pantry again and see what I need.”

Royal smiled wide. “Great. We can make a girl’s day of it.”

“Girl’s day?” Marco drawled. “I thought you just said you were only going to be gone for an hour.”

Royal batted her eyelashes at Marco. “Maybe a couple of hours. Would that be okay? I can hire a nanny or see if Fayth would want to come over to keep an eye on Kane if you aren’t up to it.”

Marco looked down at Kane. “I am more than up to taking care of my son, amore mio. Take as much time as you want.”

Royal smirk and winked at me. “If that’s what you want, honey.”

Marco had played right into her hand. Apollo shook his head but didn’t say anything. We all knew what Royal had done except for Marco.

“Sucker,” Princeton mumbled under his breath.

I wouldn’t say Marco was a sucker. He was being a good dad who was giving Royal some time to herself. He had thanked me for talking with Royal. This would be good for both of them. Marco would have alone time with Kane, and Royal would have some time to herself.

“Oh,” Royal gasped. “We should see if Indiana wants to come with us.”

“You’re going to the grocery store,” Apollo drawled. “I don’t think that is as exciting as you think it is.”

Royal waved her hand at Apollo. “Indy and I have fun no matter what we are doing.” She glanced at me. “Are you okay with her coming with?”

I shrugged. “I’m open to anything.” As long as I could get the things I needed for the pantry, I was fine.

Royal clapped her hands together. “Great. This is going to be so much fun.”

Apollo shook his head and looked down at his plate of eggs. “You know you’re getting old when going to the grocery store is exciting.”