Treat Me (One Night with Sole Regret #8)(49)

"Can I have two baby brothers?" Julie asked, holding up two fingers.

"Maybe someday," Jacob said.

He lifted her back onto his shoulders and continued down the path, looking for signs pointing to kangaroos.

"Why do you want brothers and not sisters?" Amanda asked.

"I don't want to share my princess castle."

Amanda laughed. "You share it with me."

"But you won't break it. My friend Courtney has a little sister. She breaks everything and she cries all the time."

"I think most babies break things and cry," Jacob said.

"Did I do that?" Julie asked, planting her hands on the top of his head and shifting forward to look down at him.

"You were a perfect baby," Jacob said, giving her ankles a reassuring squeeze.

Amanda snorted. "How soon he forgets. I don't think you slept once for the first six weeks of your life, Julie. All you did was cry and poop."

Julie sniggered. "Was it stinky?"

"The stinkiest baby poo ever," Amanda assured her.

Jacob had forgotten. He'd been on tour when Julie had been born and had missed out on most of her first weeks. He did remember Tina complaining about his absence and accusing him of sleeping with other women. He wondered how different things would have turned out if he'd called off the rest of the tour to be with his wife and newborn that summer. Would they still be married?

He reached over and wrapped an arm around Amanda's shoulders, and for once, she didn't push him away. 

"Why don't you have any kids, Aunt Mander?" Julie asked.

"I haven't got a husband," Amanda said.

"Yet," Jacob said, tugging her closer to his side.

"Yet," Amanda echoed.

"I know who you can marry," Julie said.

Jacob's heart warmed as he anticipated Julie saying Amanda should marry him.

"Who's that?" Amanda asked, looking above Jacob's head at her niece.

Julie snorted on a laugh. "SpongeBob."

"SpongeBob?" Amanda shook her head. "He's nice and all, but he's a little too square for my tastes." She made a square shape with her thumbs and index fingers and peered at Julie through the opening.

"Who do you want to marry Aunt Mander? A prince? I want to marry a prince."

Amanda shrugged. "I don't know. I think princes are in short supply these days."

"How about a rock star?" Jacob asked.

"Ooh, rock stars are cool," Julie said. "I think Daddy knows some of those guys."

Jacob bit his lip so he wouldn't laugh. Just how much hinting did he need to do here to get his daughter onboard with his plan to make her aunt a permanent fixture in their lives?

"I've heard relationships with rock stars never last," Amanda said. She looked up at him, the golden sunshine dancing through her hair and a question in her hazel eyes.

"Depends on the rock star," he said, leaning closer to Amanda. He wanted to kiss her so badly, he could already taste her sweet lips.

"Giraffe!" Julie yelled, startling him into backing away.

He'd just have to save all of Amanda's kisses for later.

He hoped her lips were well rested.





Chapter Ten


They stopped for dinner on the way home, so by the time they reached Jacob's house, the sun was already setting, casting an orange glow on the world. Amanda couldn't remember a day she'd enjoyed so much. She always loved spending time with her sweet niece, and the kid's father wasn't half bad either. As she retrieved Julie's bag, and-after only a second of consideration-her own, she watched the two walk hand in hand to the front door.

"Daddy, can we have a tea party now?" Julie asked.

"I'm tired, baby," he said as he released Julie's hand and fit his key into the lock. "Can I take a rain check?"

Julie glanced up at the sky. "Okay, I'm checking, and I don't see no rain clouds."

Amanda chuckled at Julie's literal rain check.

"Can we do a tea party tomorrow?" Jacob rubbed at one eye beneath his sunglasses.

Julie had her new stuffed monkey under one arm and her new stuffed elephant under the other. "Jojo and Lucky need to meet their new friends before bed. So we need to have a tea party tonight. Would you like it if you had to sleep with strangers?"

Jacob laughed, and Amanda wondered just how many strangers the man had slept with. "I guess I can't argue with that logic."

He opened the door and turned off the alarm. "You go set it up and come get me when you're ready."

Julie hopped through the foyer and down the hall singing, "I'm a little roo. I'm a little roo."

Jacob turned to Amanda, who'd entered the house behind them with a bag slung over each shoulder.

"I could have helped you with that," he said, reaching for one of the bags.