Page 110 of Game On

“Why didn’t you tell me you bought it?” she asked. “I love this house. The commute will be killer to bring Rosie here, but…”

Her sentence died on her lips as we got downstairs, and she saw the kids and Mari standing there with big smiles on their faces and a sign the kids made that read ‘WELCOME HOME!’

I grinned when I heard her gasp as she looked around the room.

Mari gave me a thumbs up.

The basement had been finished when we toured it, and Lily made a joke about it being a perfect man cave, but that’s not what I turned it into. I dedicated one-half of the room as an arcade. Along the wall, I had lines of old-school game cabinets and pinball machines. I even had a bubble hockey setup.

There was a wet bar decorated with Dragonspire iconography. On the wall behind it was a painting I had commissioned Veronica to create of me and Lily in the cosplay of our characters. Last year we went to Comic Con and upped our cosplay game. Nobody knew I was a hockey player there, just another fan of the video game we loved, and it had been awesome. The other half of the room was our gaming setup. In front of the enormous couch was an entertainment center that housed TVs side-by-side, with both of our consoles hooked up and ready to play. One day I’d build us kick-ass gaming PCs, but for now, we loved our consoles.

“Logan,” she whispered.

“What?” I asked with a grin and picked up Rosie as she waddled over to me.

“I told you she’d flip!” Mari said.

Liam ran over to us and tugged on Lily’s hand. “Lily! Come play with me!”

“What do you say?” I asked her.

Her eyes were saucers. “What’s the question? This is awesome. It’s like my dream.”

“Come live with me. You and Rosie. Move in, and we can be a family.”

Not a shock that after we won shared custody of Rosie, Seth was up to his old tricks. He flaked out on Rosie, missing his weeks and dropping the ball. We’d taken him to court again, but they couldn’t do much if he refused to be her father. He was paying child support, even though he grumbled he didn’t have to because of my new contract. I had asked Lily if she ever wanted to get married again, and she said it didn’t matter. She didn’t need a piece of paper to know how much I loved her and the kids. That had been good enough for me, but I wanted the four of us together under one roof.

“Really?” she asked, her voice cracking as she stared up at me.

“Really, princess.”

She scanned the room, taking it all in, and turned back to me with a bright smile. “This is awesome.”

“You like it?”

“Of course she likes it. She’s a nerd!” Mari teased from the other side of the room.

I cupped Lily’s face. “I love you. This is what I want for the four of us. What do you say?”

Her entire face lit up. “That I’m going to kick your butt!”

I grinned and watched her walk over to one of the arcade cabinets with Liam. They played together while she taught him all her best moves. Rosie cuddled against my neck, and I gave her a kiss on the forehead.

“Love you, sweet girl. You and your mama.”

“Daddy!” Rosie cried, and for once, I didn’t correct her.

Seth might be her biological father, but I was the one here every day, drying her tears and holding her until she fell asleep. I’d be the father Rosie needed. Rosie and Liam might not biologically be my kids, but that didn’t matter one bit. They were mine, and so was Lily, and I couldn’t wait to live together as a happy little family.

“Get over here and play me in this!” Lily called.

I grinned and handed Rosie off to Mari. I watched in awe as my dream gamer girl kicked my ass in Street Fighter. Again. And I couldn’t have been happier.