“Is she a queen?” asked Ava Grace solemnly.
Erik squatted down beside her, hating like hell that the woman holding his daughter so rapt was the same woman who had kept them separated for the first five and a half years of her life.
“Nope. That’s my mother.”
Ava Grace turned to him. “My grandma?”
Erik took a deep breath, tilting his head to the side, wishing that things were different and he had a warm, loving, wonderful family to share with his little girl. “I guess so.”
“And will I meet her when I meet Aunt Hilnary?”
He grinned. After receiving two dozen penguins this morning, Hillary had achieved legendary status, which was reflected in the way Ava Grace said her name.
“Hillary.” Then, recalling her question, he quickly stopped grinning. “And no. You won’t meet . . . your grandma.”
“She’s dead like Nana?”
“No, baby,” he said, sighing as he stood up and looked at the regal face of Fancy Rexford, which made him grimace. “She’s just . . . far, far away.”
“And she can’t go to New York ever?” asked Ava Grace, slipping her hand into his.
“Not right now,” he said. “Maybe . . .” He flinched but forced himself to say the words for his daughter’s sake. “Maybe someday.”
She looked up at him, smiling happily. “Someday’s good enough as long as I got you and Mama.”
“You definitely have me and Mama,” said Erik, reaching down to pick her up so he could look into her eyes, marveling, as he did every time, how much they looked like his own. “In fact . . .”
Leaning forward, he whispered something into her ear, then drew away to look at her face. “Would that be okay?”
Her small face spread with an ear-to-ear grin, she giggled and nodded, clasping him around the neck as he squeezed her tight, his heart bursting with happiness.
***
By five o’clock, Laire was showered and dressed, wearing her favorite winter dress: a House of Scalzo original wrap dress in a zebra print with an oversize belt, three-quarter sleeves, and a plunging neckline. At a street fair in Paris, she’d picked up a chunky jet necklace, which she clasped around her neck, and she tugged on her black suede Roger Vivier boots, on which she’d splurged when Madame Scalzo had offered her a job. She darkened her eyes with kohl and dark brown mascara, and brightened her lips with coral gloss.
Checking herself out in the mirror, she grinned. Runway ready? Not quite. But sexy for a girl from the Outer Banks? Hell, yes.
As she closed her closet door, Ava Grace scampered into her room, telling her all about the castle on the beach called Utopia Manor, and she looked up to find Erik in the doorway.
She watched his eyes as they traveled slowly down her body, darkening with desire.
“Laire,” he breathed, “you look . . .”
She smiled at him. “Thanks.”
“I mean, damn, woman!”
“Erik!” she exclaimed, her eyes widening as she looked down at their daughter.
Chastened, he chuckled. “Your mama looks like dynamite tonight, Ava Grace.”
“Yeah, she’s pretty.” Then she jumped up and down. “Mama! Kelsey’s here! She brought pizza, and we’re goin’ to watch a movie!”
She raced from the room, dark red braids flying straight back and Mr. Mopples holding on for dear life.
Erik stalked her. “Who are you?”
Her heart flipped over. “Laire Cornish.”
Erik took another step toward her, shaking his head. “No way. I know Laire Cornish. I met her six years ago at my parents’ summer house. She had pinkish-gold hair and was wearing jeans and boots and a black shirt. She told me she had crabs, then ran away.”
Laire giggled, her stomach fluttering as he took another step closer. “You don’t like this look?”
“You’re so sexy, baby, I don’t want to leave this room.”
He was so close now, she could smell the sea air on his skin. “You took her to your house?”
His hands landed on her hips, and he pulled her against his chest. “I wanted her to see it before we moved.”
“You don’t think she’ll ever have another chance?”
He shrugged, his face hardening. “Not for a while, darlin’.”
Laire sighed, looping her arms around his neck and resting her cheek on his shoulder. She didn’t want to spoil the mood by asking about his family. “So, tell me, where are we going tonight?”
“Not a chance. You’ll see when we get there. You ready?”
She drew back from him and nodded, happy that his flirty mood seemed to be restored. Backing out of his arms, she grabbed her black silk clutch. “I’ll go say hi to Kelsey.”
He nodded. “Just give me a minute to change.”