“You need to eat more, baby girl,” Zander said in a low voice.
Ahh, no, she definitely didn’t.
“Saving room for the cupcakes,” she explained.
He gave her a look, but nodded. The others all got up as well to clear. Should she do that too? She reached for Zander’s plate but he shook his head and handed it to Honey.
“You helped cook. You don’t clean up,” he explained.
“I didn’t, really.”
“Decorating cupcakes is helping. Although, next time just so we’re clear, you have to eat all your veggies before you’re allowed any sweets.”
Sheesh. That was mean.
She gave him a pleading stare, but he just shook his head. When the table was cleared, the cupcakes were set out. She flushed with embarrassment, tensing as she waited for someone to say something mean.
“Wow,” Miles said, breaking the silence. “These are my sort of cupcakes. Zander usually puts next to no icing on the top and we only get sprinkles when it’s our birthday.” He bit into one, spreading icing around his mouth and on the tip of his nose. She giggled, and he grinned at her. “Delish. You can do the decorating anytime, Kiki.”
Happiness flooded her as he called her by her nickname.
“If we want to have a heart attack and gain fifty pounds,” Honey added caustically.
Everyone stared over at her and Keira’s happiness faded. What was up with her? Would she ever like her?
“It’s a treat,” Zander said roughly. “Not an everyday thing.”
“Hmm, I’m with Miles. These are great,” Webb said, biting into one. Eli cut his up into squares and she noticed that Ammo wiped off most of the icing before eating his. But he still ate it. And maybe he didn’t like icing.
She’d heard there were weirdos out there who didn’t.
Honey huffed out a breath, then left, and the tension in the room dropped.
“So,” Webb said. “Who’s up for a game of poker?”
“Poker?” Eli asked, looking interested.
“Yeah, I’ve been teaching Keira how to play,” Webb replied. “I think she’s ready now.”
“All right,” Ammo said slowly. “Let’s play.”
* * *
“Fold,”Zander said.
Generally, he was pretty good at poker. Webb and Ammo were better. But the biggest shock was Keira.
He felt certain he’d be able to read her. But he couldn’t and she was kicking ass.
“I’m out,” Eli said with disgust, throwing his cards facedown.
“Me too,” Webb added.
“I’m in,” Ammo said, adding some M&Ms to the pile. “Show your hand, girl.”
Keira flipped her cards over, displaying four kings.
“Damn it.” Ammo turned his cards over. He had three sixes. Good, but not good enough. “How are you doing that? You’ve won all four rounds.”