Page 20 of Lesson In Honesty
In truth, it was a damn good idea.
The minx might freak out at first, but what they were proposing was partly right up her alley, and the other part… well, it would get her out of her shell.
He waited until Callie finished, rubbing his lower lip thoughtfully when she blinked up at him, the slightest tension in her shoulders. “I think Sierra is very lucky to have friends who’ve thought about her this way. And I,” he said slowly, slanting a glance at Elias, “am fortunate to have friends who understand what it is to worry about the woman you love.”
Eli tipped his head in reply.
“I’m up for it if you can convince Sierra.”
“Really?” Callie clasped her hands together and bounced. “Yay!”
“Ifyou can convince her,” Liam repeated. “Give it your best shot, Callie; you have my consent. Just don’t get upset if she shoots you down.”
Her smile was coy. “She won’t. I has ways and means, y’know. Daddy Vander says I’mspecial‘cause I cans wrap two Daddies around my little finger at the same time.”
Eli’s mouth twitched, suppressing a smile. “Liam, if you’re done here, why don’t you come with us? I’d hate for Sierra to feel ambushed if she’s having a good time in the Nursery.”
That was a good point, Liam mused. She’d been apprehensive about spending the day with Violet; throw in Elias turning up unexpectedly, even with Callie in tow, and it might upset her internal balance a little too much.
He looked around with a critiquing eye, assessing the overall first impression the clientele would get when they walked in. Clean, organized, with a flow between the furniture that gravitated them toward the bar, or toward the double doors leading to the restaurant.
Once the music started and the lights dimmed slightly, the atmosphere created would be warm, welcoming, and conducive to making new friends, new partnerships, and a lot of good conversation.
Returning his phone to his pocket, Liam eagerly accepted the chance to see Sierra at least an hour earlier than he’d anticipated. “This’ll wait until tomorrow. I want to watch Callie’s finger wrapping skills.”
When she giggled delightedly and bounced toward the exit like a baby bunny on crack, he fell into step beside Elias, automatically sizing his boss up with the calm, cool instinct of one Alpha male weighing up a competitor.
But there was no tension, no competition to be had, so they walked out of the bar together in no great hurry. Eli asked a few questions about the way Liam was setting up, complimenting him on his work, seemingly pleased with how the social hub of the club had come together.
Next stop: the Nursery.
Sierra
A smile was etched permanently on her face.
Even as her cheeks ached, Sierra didn’t think she could stop smiling because she was sofreaking happy. Her hand swiped through the castle of sand she’d created, smoothing it all out again, and she began to rebuild with fervor.
She loved the texture of the damp sand between her fingers, against her palms as she rolled it into balls. Flattening them out a bit, even though the edges cracked, she pretended they were little cupcakes, tapping more sand on the top for frosting, and sprinkling dashes of drier sand over them for decoration.
The sandbox was definitely one of her favorite areas in the Nursery. The water station was fun, but kinda lonely with no one to splash. She’d spent two whole hours just coloring, tongue between her teeth as she concentrated on choosing just the right colors and the finality of the thick black lines on the pages.
She would’ve been content spending the whole day in the playhouse taking up a whole corner of the huge room, playing with the variety of new stuffies and dolls, but Violet had insisted she explore other enjoyable activities.
It was becoming clear Sierra wasn’t a baby Little. The one attempt Violet made at trying out diapers and bottle feeding went down like a lead balloon; hard, fast, with disastrousconsequences. Baby talk didn’t feel right to Sierra, either—it reminded her too much of Wyatt’s attitude sometimes, like she was stupid.
They’d discovered, however, that nap time and snackies were better received if Violet treated her like an older child, more five to eight years old, and she responded more positively to requests and demands.
Although, Liam was right, partially.
It seemed she was capable of being a brat.
Growing bored of shaping sand, Sierra huffed a frustrated breath and perused the rest of the elongated building with all its areas. Violet sat with Mistresses Ericka and Felicity in the Parent Zone, one eye permanently glued to her charge’s head—or so it felt like to Sierra.
The Mistress wasn’t as bad as she’d assumed. Firm, yes. Funny, again yes, although Sierra tried hard not to react. Aside from the attempted diaper episode and the ensuing temper tantrum, they were actually getting along quite well.
Distance was good though, especially when she felt outnumbered by dominant strangers three-to-one. Now she just had to decide whether she wanted to throw herself into the ball pit, try her hand at fingerpainting, or really take the plunge and go play on the jungle gym.
She heard low laughter, ignoring it as she tuned out the women and focused on squishing each of her sand balls with gleeful destruction.