Page 79 of Her Unflinching Warrior (Omega Sky)
“My mom tried to teach her to cook, her granny tried to teach her to cook. She’s missing the cooking gene. I never realized it was a genetic trait like blue eyes, but it is. She doesn’t have it,” Jada explained as she nuzzled Neil’s neck.
“For real?” Gideon asked.
“Yeah, but I never said it. She’s still making attempts. This seems to be important to her, and I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
“Sebastian, be careful, she could end up killing you. That girl is one day going to try to feed you raw chicken,” Jada warned.
Sebastian’s eyes twinkled as he watched Jada with her Godson. “You know she’s too OCD to do anything like that. Now, will it taste awful? Yes. Kill me? No. I want to make one of the bedrooms into a studio so she can focus on her art; that way she won’t focus on the kitchen as much.”
Jada wasn’t paying attention now that she was holding Neil. She’d forgotten to put her hair in a ponytail, and he now clutched a tiny fistful of dark curls in his hand, trying to bring it to his mouth. She vaguely listened to Sebastian and Gideon talk as she went to her favorite spot on the sofa and sat down with one leg curled up under her butt.
“Did you miss me, kid? I haven’t seen you for six whole days. Not since I was over visiting you and your mom.”
Neil didn’t make any noise. He just stared at her, watching her mouth move and her facial expressions. That’s the kind of baby he was, solemn and transfixed by everything around him.
“Hey, Jada,” Sebastian whispered. He was standing above her, out of Neil’s line of sight. “Gianna and I really appreciate you and Gideon taking Neil for the night.”
Neil’s head bobbed as he heard his father’s voice. Nothing got by this baby. He tried to turn around to look at his father.
“You’re not fooling your boy, so you might as well stop with the whispering,” Gideon teased.
Sebastian took a step to the right then crouched down and looked at his son. “Is Gideon right? Do you see right through me?”
Neil bobbed his head again and all the adults laughed.
“Hey, young man, how about we don’t snatch Auntie Jada bald-headed, huh?” Sebastian asked as he gently pried open his son’s fist to release her hair.
“As for you thanking us, we love taking care of our Godson,” Gideon said as he stood next to Lucy. “We’ll take care of him anytime, just bring him on over.”
Jada sat up straighter. “Well, until Miles is caught and I go home, then Gideon won’t be as available.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Gideon growled.
“Gideon, I don’t want to mooch off you forever,” Jada frowned at him.
Sebastian stood up and looked speculatively between the two of them. “So if I were to tell you that you could move into our house tomorrow…?” he asked Jada.
She bit her lip and glanced up at Gideon.
“Not happening, man. She’s staying here.”
Sebastian laughed. “Thought so.”
He looked down at his watch. “Shit. I’m going to be late.” He bent down and kissed Neil’s forehead. “Have fun, kid. Make sure to vomit your peas on your Uncle Gideon.”
Jada shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“Bye, you two.”
She sat there snuggling Neil to her chest as Gideon walked Sebastian out to his car. Lucy padded over and placed her head on the arm of the sofa and let out a low whine.
“You’ve missed your friend, haven’t you girl?”
Neil reached out toward Lucy. Jada had been concerned the first time Lucy and Neil had interacted. Especially since Neil liked pulling Jada’s dark hair and she knew that the baby would probably want to pull Lucy’s long, shaggy dark hair too.
It hadn’t been a problem.
Gideon had explained about Lucy and her sister being raised together with the Ellis family, and how they had grown up as pups around a toddler, so Lucy was used to being very gentle and protective with babies. Still, Jada discouraged Neil from pulling on the big dog’s hair.
