If This Was a Movie (Evergreen Park #2)

Chapter 25 – Jules

TWENTY-FIVE

JULES

The next morning, I wake up and already have a text from Nate.

Wanna come over and wake up Sophie with me?

I type back, smiling sleepily at my phone.

What’s in it for me?

He sends back a photo of a cup of coffee, and I smile once more, a seemingly constant state of being at this point. I roll out of bed and get ready for the day before shuffling over to the main house.

I’m not surprised to find the back door unlocked, knowing he probably did so as soon as I texted him back, but I am surprised when Nate walks around the corner as soon as I quietly click it closed behind me. He pulls me into his arms and presses a small chaste kiss to my lips.

“Morning,” he whispers against my mouth, and I smile.

“Morning. What was that for?”

“Decided I’m done wishing I gave you a good morning kiss every single morning. Just gonna take it until you tell me not to.”

“Does it mean I’ll get a goodnight kiss again, too?” I whisper against his lips, and I feel them spread into a grin against my own. “Or a call?”

“Don’t tease me, dollface.”

I open my mouth to say something I might regret, to poke the bear and see what happens, but then Sophie’s little voice, singing in her room, makes its way to us.

“Girls’ day! It’s a girls’ day!” She sings some made-up song, and her dad shakes his head and sighs.

“Save that idea for later, yeah? Let’s go get our girl.”

As we walk toward the room, his hand on my lower back and leaving only when he opens Sophie's door, I can’t help but think about how much I like the way he said our girl .

An hour later, I’m putting Sophie’s hair up into pigtails, sitting on the couch in the living room, when Nate steps out of his room dressed in another well-fitted sweater, this one navy blue with Donovan Contracting written in white on the back and a pair of perfectly faded jeans, making my hands go still.

It should absolutely be illegal for any man to look this good simply going to work.

“All right, I’m on my way out. Have fun, girls,” Nate says, leaning down to press a kiss to Sophie's head. “I’ll see you later.” He looks at me. “I should be done by seven at the latest.”

I shake my head.

“No rush, we’re going to have a girls' day.” I wink at him, and he smiles wide.

“GIRL’S DAY!” Sophie sing-shouts.

“Yeah, no boys allowed. We’ll do our nails, bake cookies, and watch girly Christmas movies.”

“Blech, definitely a girls' day,” Nate says, giving his daughter a fake grimace.

Sophie looks at her dad with all of the sass of someone three times her age. “Well, you weren’t even invited, so there,” she says, sticking her tongue out, and I fight the snort of a laugh.

“Shoot, before you go, would you mind if we stop by Ava’s today? Their new place is almost ready, and I want to go see it. It's in Ashford, maybe a fifteen-minute drive, so if you’re not?—”

“The one marrying a bodyguard?” I nod, and he smiles. “Yeah. See if you can set up a double date soon. I think I’d like that guy.” I know he would, though I don’t know if Jaime would do much more than grunt at Nate when he attempts conversation. Still, the idea of a double date with one of my best friends sends warmth through me.

“Got it,” I whisper with a small smile.

“Is Ava the princess?” Sophie asks as I tie off the last pigtail.

“A beauty queen, but yeah, kind of.”

She turns to her dad. “Dad, Jules so is Ashlyn because she has a queen for a friend. And a dressmaker!”

I laugh thinking about how Harper might not exactly love being called my dressmaker.

“And Ava’s got the cutest cat you’ll just love,” I say, thinking about Peach, the kitten Ava found in an alleyway on her pageant tour.

“A cat?” she shouts, standing up excited before looking at her father's big round eyes. “A kitty, Daddy!”

Nate groans and glares at me.

“Did I just touch on a sore subject?”

Sophie turns to me, hands on her hips. “I’ve been begging him for a kitty for years , and he keeps saying I’m not old enough.” She might as well stomp her foot with all the irritation painted on her face.

“Years is a bit of an exaggeration considering you’re barely five,” Nate says, deadpan, as he shrugs a jacket on.

“My whole life, I’ve wanted a cat, Dad,” she says, cutting the daddy from it like she’s a snippy teen.

“Yeah, yeah, got it. And I told you when you’re older and more responsible, you can have one.”

“How am I supposed to learn if we don’t have a pet?”

“She’s got a point,” I say, mostly because I’m finding the back-and-forth increasingly entertaining. Nate glares at me now, and I laugh before turning to Sophie. “Maybe one day we can babysit Peach for Ava and Jaime. Then you can learn just how much work it is to take care of an animal before you get one.”

Sophie turns her glare at me as if I just betrayed her, and I fight the laugh bubbling in my chest. She takes me in as I raise an eyebrow in challenge before she sighs.

“Yeah, yeah. I guess that’s a good idea.”

Nate looks at me at her acquiescence and gives me an approving nod for dodging that bullet. I wink at him.

“All right, my girls,” he says, grabbing his bag and looking at Sophie and me. A rush of warmth and butterflies fills my belly when he does. “I’m out of here.” He walks over to Sophie, bending over her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Bye, princess,” he says.

“Bye, Daddy,” she shouts, forgetting her previous irritation with him before he moves to me.

“Bye, dollface,” he murmurs, voice lower, huskier now. Then he bends down, a rough hand moving to the bottom of my chin to gently tip it before pressing a chaste kiss to my lips, barely even a brush. He steps back, winking once more before turning toward the door. “Soph, lock this behind me, yeah?”

“Got it!” she shouts, bounding toward the front door, leaving me stunned.

A moment later, she’s back, little feet pounding on the wood floor before she’s standing before me, a wide, gappy smile on her face, hands on her hips.

“My dad so likes you,” Sophie says with a smile.