“You were brilliant. Did you hear you're now rated third for most points?” Wide-eyed, she pulled away. “Ever.”
Pride bloomed in my chest. Hell, having Lottie so proud of me was right on up there with finally heading to the playoffs. “I did. It's pretty awesome.”
She nodded, her eyes bright, her expression serious. “I was thinking this would open up new sponsorship deals. I'll start doing some research. Maybe you should tell Dad that I can have my phone out over dinner so I can do that.”
Eddie's snort drew my attention to him. “How about wait till after dinner when we're back in the suite?”
I dotted a quick kiss on Lottie's cheek and stood, loving it when Eddie got into dad mode like this. He had the whole loveable stern vibe going on. When I'd first witnessed it, I was introduced to a whole new side of him.
I liked it a lot. Loved he was so caring and open with his daughter.
“But Dad, if I'm going to be Pearce's agent one day, we need to talk through these things in real time.” I bit my lip when she rolled her eyes at her dad.
“Ten going on twenty-five,” Eddie grumbled, his gaze connecting with mine. “I blame you.”
I laughed. “Me? What did I do?”
In response, he quirked a dark brow. I followed the movement, working hard to remind myself that panting after the man was all levels of wrong. While I didn't care he was over ten years older than me, he’d mentioned once that he didn't understand how relationships lasted with age gaps. Wasn’t that a fun conversation to be a part of! Talk about crushed.
But more significantly, he was in a relationship. That was the biggest punch to the gut.
When he'd told me a couple of years ago that he'd met someone, I'd been devastated. When he'd told me he was dating a man, I could have cried.
I wanted to be the man he dated, fell for, become a family for Lottie with. Instead, he'd settled on Wankface Wayne, a realtor who was a sleaze, but apparently, Eddie didn't see that side to him.
“Okay,” I finally admitted, happily squeezing Lottie's hand when she placed her palm in mine. “I may have encouraged her a little.”
“That's right. Pearce did, Daddy, ’cause that’s what you do when you love someone. You encourage them and want them to be happy and follow their dreams.”
My heart filled. I loved this girl—and her manipulative ways—just like I loved her father. A quick glance at Eddie, and I froze. How he looked at me and Lottie was enough to take my breath away.
“And that includes using my phone during dinner and then Pearce coming back to the hotel with us so we can talk about it more.” She paused a beat. “And I think we'll need cocktails.”
I snorted, and Eddie rubbed a hand over his face.
“Dinner. No phone till dessert,” he said. “And Pearce might want to go and celebrate with his friends tonight after dinner.”
“We're his friends. He can celebrate with us,” Lottie said, an edge of defiance in her voice.
“You are definitely my friends,” I said, stopping Eddie from saying more. “Dinner, then hanging with my two favorite people seems like the perfect way to celebrate making the playoffs to me.”
Lottie's grin was victorious. Making eye contact with Eddie, I shrugged.
“You spoil her.” There wasn’t an ounce of accusation in his tone.
“Because she's awesome and is going to make a kick-ass agent one day.”
He studied me for a beat. “You sure you don't have plans after?” His smile lost some of its shine before he said, “Tony’s here. If you have plans…”
Surprise sparked to life in my chest. We rarely discussed my personal life—aka my sex life—me deliberately keeping my cards close to my chest. It had slipped out about a year back that I'd hooked up with Tony, though.
“No, not at all. We don't see each other very often,” I clarified.
Eddie nodded and then slowly smirked. “You sure?”
“Gee, Dad. He said he loves us and wants to hang out.”
Loud laughter burst free. While I had absolutely not said those words, she definitely wasn't wrong. Ignoring the heat in my cheeks, I focused on Eddie. “You heard the girl. Give me thirty.”
