She purses her tiny bow-shaped lips before saying, “He probably just wanted to talk to you some more.”
I grin, trying not to laugh at Xander rolling his eyes. This little girl is destroying his I-rule-the-school-and-get-whatever-I-want image in the blink of an eye. I’m pretty sure she’s my new favorite person for that reason alone. “Two questions, Janie. First one—do you want a cone or a cup?”
“Cone!” She practically jumps in Xander’s arms.
“And, second question—how old are you?”
She holds up four fingers. “Five.”
I stifle my giggle. “Did you start kindergarten this year?”
She nods excitedly. “Mrs. Gruber is my teacher, and she’ssonice.” Her whole face lights up.
I start scooping out her bubblegum ice cream. “What’s your favorite thing to do in kindergarten?”
She grins. “Lunch!”
Xander tickles her again. “Yeah, except you’re so busy talking to all of your friends you keep forgetting to eat your lunch.” He gives me an exasperated look. “She keeps coming home starving with an untouched lunch inside of her lunch box.”
Janie wrinkles her nose and shakes off what he’s saying. “It’s more fun to talk. And they don’t let us in class.”
Xander sets her on her feet, and I hand him her cone. He carefully wraps the base of the cone in a few napkins, then squats down next to Janie to hand it to her. “Got it, sweets?”
She nods and points at the table. “Can I sit there?”
“Yep.” He leads her over and lifts her onto the chair, talking quietly to her.
My heart thumps hard in my chest. Xander with a child is the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. It’s hard to believe this is the same guy who told me I should drop out of Rosehaven Academy on my very first day. But lately it’s been different, like I’m seeing a different side of him. The many faces of Xander Grey, I guess. I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever figure him out. He’s made up of intriguing puzzle pieces, and each one I uncover tells me just a little bit more about him—but so far, half the pieces don’t fit. And this latest one? The sweet, doting brother? I didn’t see that one coming. Not at all.
He strides back over to me and rests his forearms on top of the ice cream case. “What’s good?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He shakes his head, glancing down for a second before looking back up and pinning his dark, hypnotic stare on me. “I’ll give you two choices—give me as many samples as I want todayor… be my date to the bonfire this weekend.”
My brows shoot up.
He drums his hands on the top of the case. “What’ll it be?”
“I thought we were keeping ‘us’ quiet for the moment.”
He shrugs, his voice low. “I’m impatient sometimes. Especially when I know what I want.” He rakes his teeth over his lower lip, staring at me, the hunger in his eyes back again. “I keep thinking about how sexy you are.”
I clench my legs together in response.
Just then he glances back at his sister to see ice cream streaming down the back of her hand. Rushing over there, he cleans it up with a few napkins, then takes the cone from her, licking up the drips. “You’ve got to watch for those drips, Monkey.”
My heart squeezes.
He comes back over, a sheepish grin on his face. “Sorry. Emergency clean up needed.”
“No problem at all.” I try hard to disguise my smile by looking down into the case. “So, if I go with you this weekend, I don’t have to get you a million samples?”
“That’s right.” His gaze narrows on me, a tiny smirk teasing at his lips.
I look past him to his sister. “Hey, Janie.”
Her head whips around and her pink tongue sweeps down to lick the ice cream dripping down her chin. “Yeah?”