Page 123 of A Shade Too Far
“Again! Again!” Evani jumped up and down, smacked Emmett in the leg with the cutlass, and then zoomed after Boo, who immediately dashed behind the sofa.
Five seconds around the child and I was exhausted. I was not cut out for toddlers anymore.
My daughter ditched me to try to coax the kitten out.
Daya sat on the sofa chatting with Tatiana, both women drinking lemonade, with a charcuterie spread that could feed a small army set out on the ottoman in front of them.
Our host, on the other hand, hovered alone by the elevator, looking like he wanted to hide with the kitten.
I wandered over to Laurent in my best casual manner and slugged him in the shoulder. “Hey, you.”
He looked at me like I was insane, shook his head, then disappeared into the back part of the hotel.
“Hey, you?” Jude said. She gasped. “You slept with the French wildcard!”
Even though she whispered it, I still glared at her. “Shut up. And why are you even here?”
She fiddled with the tab of her pop can. “I missed the asshole.”
“Laurent?” Sure, they’d gotten to know each other when she’d been imprisoned here while enthralled, but a reunion seemed odd.
“Emmett.” At my smirk, she held out her little finger. “I won’t harass you, if you don’t.”
We pinkie swore.
“I do totally insist on all the details, however,” she said.
I grinned and blushed.
Jude high-fived me and we went to join the women on the sofa.
It was a great, if noisy, afternoon, other than the fact that Laurent seemed to make himself scarce. I kept telling myself that this was a lot for him to handle. It was a lot for me—and I’d been through loads of playdates with rambunctious children.
But when I carried the empty charcuterie plate into the kitchen and found him alone, washing glasses, my stomach did a little flip, positive that I’d get a brush-off. “So.”
“I bought condoms,” he blurted out.
A smile lit up my face. “Okay.”
“Okay.” He nodded, his bottom lip caught between his teeth, then grinned.
“Uncle Wooooolllllf!” Evani bellowed.
“Her lungs are not Sapien,” he groused, drying his hands on a tea towel.
I followed him back to the living room.
Evani pointed at the couch. “Make Mean Lou come out.”
Sadie looked over at me. “Isn’t the kitten’s name Boo?”
Evani stomped her foot. “Mean Lou.”
Laurent laughed and crouched down by the little girl, ruffling her hair. “Minou is ‘kitty’ in French. Not Mean Lou.”
The rest of us cracked up, while Evani stared at us imperiously. “That’s what I said.”
“D’accords.” He reached under the sofa and murmured to the kitten, who poked her head out. Laurent picked her up. “Gentle, Evani.” He sat down on a chair, the animal in his lap so the child could pet her.
