Thickly, I swallowed, rasping, “You sent the right person to find me, baby.”
“I-I thought long and hard about it and knew he’d come and get you. Maverick’s sick again so I knew I couldn’t ask him, but…” She hunched her shoulders. “Don’t let Alessa tell you that I ran away.”
I arched a brow. “Don’t ‘let’ her tell me? Did that happen or not?”
That sparkle I was used to seeing in her eyes was back with a vengeance. “In a sense, yes.”
“‘In a sense.’ Have you been watchingThe West Wingagain?”
Conor chuckled as he pulled us back into the couch. My shoulders were still hunched into him, but the position encouraged me to relax.
“I haven’tnotbeen watching it.”
“This isn’t a courtroom, Kat,” I grumbled.
“You should treat life like it is, Star,” came the reprimand from my pre-teen kid. “Then if people take ligitious action—”
“Litigious,” I corrected.
“—then you’re prepared.”
“You don’t have to be prepared. You’re ten.”
“Nearly eleven.”
“In ten months. So ancient.”
“I know,” Kat said smoothly. “My wisdom knows no bounds.”
I slapped a hand against my forehead. “I don’t need Alessa to tell me that you ran away to Manhattan to find Conor. I need to tellherto change the pin code on the TV!”
Her nose crinkled. “Don’t do that. I learn loads.”
Like how to be more precocious…
My grin made an appearance because the last thing I wanted was for her to change. “You know you did wrong.”
“You’re not supposed to smile when you tell kids off,” Conor whispered in my ear.
“Says who?”
“Speak up, Conor,” my kid groused. “It’s rude to whisper.”
Conor laughed. “It doesn’t matter, Katina.”
“That means it does,” she said with a pout.
Knowing I had to make a point, I brought us back to the subject at hand. “What happened after Conor took you home?”
Katina ducked her head. “Maverick punched him and he hit his head on the ground. But I didn’t know that was going to happen! Maverick’s the bad one. Why didn’t his mom tell him you’re not supposed to hit people like you told me?”
Fuck. I nearly choked on my laughter as I managed to get out, “Our actions have consequences, Kat.”
“Conor found you though.”
“He did.”She had me there.
“He wouldn’t have found you if I hadn’t asked him to go looking. You would still be lost.”