Page 121 of Homebound

The same girl I’ve barely spoken one word to tonight because my throat is so dry from the thought of getting down on one knee. I keep fiddling with the mood ring, making sure it’s still chained around my neck.

“No, Vi!” Dakota shouts, and I jerk my head on reflex to find her chasing after our stomping little girl. She picks up her squirming body, yanks a plastic cake knife out of her hands, and looks at her with warning eyes. “I told you not to touch that. What did we talk about?”

Damn.

I don’t think there’s anything hotter than the stern mom version of Dakota. Her voice takes on this raspy quality, and I can’t help but think this woman’s just what I need in a co-parent. I can already see Vi growing into a teenager and me wanting to give her everything, but Dakota will be a good balance for me.

She’s the no to my yes. The spice to my sweet.

She kisses Vi’s cheek and struts over to our group by the bar counter.

“What the hell is in this martini?” Alanna says with a glare at Willie. “I asked for black blue-cheese-stuffed olives. These are green olives sans blue cheese. Aren’t all bartenders supposed to know how to make martinis? Isn’t that like, a prerequisite?”

She holds up the martini glass in Willie’s face.

He glowers at her, and then yanks a bottle of Jägermeister off the counter. He dumps a shot into her martini, turning the whole drink black.

“There,” he shoots back, sliding it across the sticky counter. “Now they’re black olives. Have at it, Barbie.”

Alanna gapes at her drink. “Did you seriously just dump Jägermeister in my martini?”

“You bet your ass implants I did.”

“I do not have ass implants,” she grits out. “Only my tits are faux. My ass is au-natural and the result of a lot of pilates.”

Willie blatantly checks out her ass, pursing his lips. “I don’t know about that. Looks too good to be real. I’d say jury’s still out on the implants.”

Her face turns a violent shade of red. She glances at the drink, then at Willie, and back at the drink. Dakota snatches it from her grasp just as she’s about to hurl the entire drink at his face. “Stop that. You be nice. That’s Wyatt’s cousin, and he’s my man now, so you better get used to hanging around his people.”

That’ll never get old—her calling me her man.

She shoots a stern warning at Willie, but all he does is shrug. Alanna cuts him a glare. “I’d have a better shot getting along with a rattlesnake than I would this grizzly man. Seriously, when was the last time you got a haircut?”

Willie snaps his teeth at her in an audible click. “Careful there, Barbie. I like to bite.”

“I’d probably get rabies from your bite, Face Beard.” Alanna tosses her red hair over her shoulder, and without a word, struts away.

Willie doesn’t take his eyes off her as he watches her go. It’s only when some cowboy puts an arm around Alanna that he goes back to making drinks.

My mama walks by, trying to take Vienna, but she makes grabby hands toward Dakota, clearly wanting her. That was another reason the long-distance was hell. Vi cried every single time she had to say goodnight to Dakota, and then Dakota teared up, and it was a whole ordeal.

“I’ve got you, little devil,” Dakota says, hitching her up like a natural. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Mama!” she shrieks happily, nuzzling her chest. “Mama, I wan mo!”

We’re finally progressing from garbled words to garbled sentences. So much changes in a year. This time last year I was so focused on getting her to walk, and now I’m starting to have real conversations with my little girl. It blows my mind. She’s turning into her own person.

“Do you know where her water bottle is?” Dakota asks. “She’s thirsty.”

“I’ll get it,” my mama offers, tugging Vi’s cowgirl booties.

I thought I’d get used to this, watching Dakota with our little girl, but I never want to take having this woman in my life for granted. I pull them close into my chest, dropping a kiss to both their heads. “I love watching you with Vi. It makes me want to rip those pants off and make another baby with you.”

“Wyatt Patterson!” She mock gasps, covering Vienna’s tiny ears. “You can’t be saying naughty things to me like that in front of our daughter.”

Our daughter.

It gets me every time.