“Way Zeke looks at her, I’d say he wants the same thing.” Charlie grinned.
“Not sure Eden wants anything to do with Zeke. Those two seem to explode whenever they get near each other. Although the night he came with Kent to pick us up from Suck ‘n Blow, he did seem very worried about her,” Abby said.
Ellie grinned. “Maybe they just need a little bit of help.”
Charlie shook her head. “Bear will not be happy if you try to matchmake.”
“Bear doesn’t need to know.”
“You’ll get your butt spanked,” Charlie sung.
“I already got my butt spanked today,” Abby told them with a pout.
“Me too,” Daisy commiserated with her.
“That sucks,” Charlie said. “Daddy made me take a nap.”
; “Urgh, taking naps is sooo annoying,” Daisy said. “I have to take them all the time.”
They all nodded. They knew what that was like.
“But the very worst is corner time,” Daisy complained as she let Abby fix her Aurora outfit, which was a gorgeous pink princess dress.
“Corner time is really boring,” Charlie agreed. “The other day Daddy made me stand with my nose in the corner and I got so bored I started singing and then I got a scolding. Apparently there’s no singing allowed when you’re standing in the corner and that’s a silly rule.”
“Totally is,” Daisy agreed.
“Our daddies are so mean.” Ellie grinned. “But tonight, we get to do whatever we like! Well, so long as we don’t leave the house. But who would want to leave when there’s so much to do!”
“Let’s eat some candy!” Daisy clapped her hands excitedly as she skipped her way over to the table of goodies. “Daddy made me eat yucky vegetables for lunch so now I’m gonna eat candy for dinner. Yippee!”
Ellie sent Charlie a grin. She was glad to see that Daisy was relaxed and happy around them. She slipped her hand through Charlie’s, leaning into her.
“Ooh, I’m gonna build something with Legos, what you gonna do, Abby?” Daisy asked her around the sucker she’d just put into her mouth.
“I thought I’d do everyone’s nails,” Abby said, moving towards the mani/pedi station. “Who wants their nails done first?”
“Me!” Ellie cried out. “Just let me get a cupcake.” She raced over and grabbed a chocolate cupcake that had swirls of strawberry icing on top.
Yum. Tonight was going to be awesome.
Bear sat back on the sofa in Clint’s study and watched the game on TV without really seeing it. Every so often a squeal of excitement or the sound of laughter would reach them from the lounge and all the men would smile.
He didn’t like the odds of Clint getting much sleep tonight with that noise. Even if his bedroom was upstairs. Mind you, he didn’t expect he’d be getting much sleep without Ellie tucked in beside him.
Which is why he wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere. He noticed none of the other men were moving either.
“Found out today that this is the first real Christmas Abby has ever had,” Kent commented.
Bear looked over at him. “What about when her nana was alive?”
“Apparently she wasn’t a fan of Christmas ‘cause her old man used to get drunk around that time and hit his wife, sometimes his kids.”
“Motherfucker,” Jed muttered.
Bear nodded agreement. He didn’t understand how a man could ever raise a fist to a woman or to someone weaker than him. To Bear’s way of thinking, men were put on this Earth to look out for all those that were weaker than them, but most especially those that belonged to them.