“Did Mom give these to you?” Ash asked and swallowed a bite of cookie, his throat working hard to choke it down.
“I found them.” She lowered her gaze to the table, her lip trembling. “I asked her, and she said I could have apples. But I don’t want apples for teatime. Teatime is for cookies.”
“I’ve got you, munchkin. Wait right here.”
Ash stood and strode out of the room.
Riley pulled off her Batman mask and tossed it onto the floor.
“Do you want a tiara?” she asked, tears glittering in her eyes.
“Of course I do. Every teatime needs tiaras.”
She jumped up and ran to her toy bin.
“Here ya go.”
Asher came into the room with a bag of chocolate chip cookies in his hand and a big smile on his face.
“Ashy, you want a tiara too?” Riley looked up from her toy bin, all traces of her tears gone.
“You bet I do.” He sat at the table and opened the bag.
She giggled and dug deeper in her toy bin, her feet barely brushing the floor.
Ash smirked at me as he shoved a cookie into his mouth and chewed.
I rolled my eyes and sat back in my seat with a huff.
Just looking at him annoyed me. And that fucking smirk. I hated that smirk.
“Here you go!”
Riley came back to the table with two plastic tiaras in her hands and a big smile on her face.
We both took one and fit them on our heads.
“Would you like me to serve the cookies?” Ash asked as she slid into her seat and picked up her teacup.
“Yes, please.” She took a dainty sip of her juice.
I gathered up the stale cookies and set them on the corner of the table so I could toss them in the compost when our tea party was over.
Ash put two cookies on my plate, then served two to Giant Max and Riley. He then gave himself three cookies.
I bit my lip as he closed the bag and set it at his feet. Asshole couldn’t even give me an extra cookie.
Riley took a bite of one cookie, her pinky up, and smiled as we did the same.
I tried not to look at Ash as we chatted about her toys and the latest kid’s show she was obsessed with.
How the fuck could he look good sitting at a kid’s table, wearing a tiny pink tiara and sipping juice from a plastic teacup? He should look ridiculous, but my treacherous body tightened as he smiled at our sister.
Riley was the only person who could make Ash smile like that. It was real and bright and genuine. Normally his stupidly handsome face was twisted into a smirk.
Smirking Ash was sexy as all hell, but smiling Ash was beautiful.
I hated that I didn’t hate it.