“Not today. You don’t want to wear out your welcome.”
Livie’s brows scrunched together. “What does that mean, Mommy? How can you wear a welcome outside?”
Kendall chuckled. She loved the minds of children. “It means you don’t want Tyler to get tired of you always being at his house.”
“I don’t want Tyler to get tired of me.”
“Exactly. So, you can visit him on another day.”
“What’d I miss?” Cooper said, returning to the table.
Livie started crying.
“Hey now, what are those tears for, Princess?” He lifted her out of her chair and onto his lap. “Talk to me, sweetheart.”
“I don’t want you to get tired of me always being at your house, Daddy.”
“Why would you think that? I’ll never get tired of you being at my house or anywhere I am.” He lifted his eyes to Kendall, his expression confused.
“She wanted to go play with Tyler, and I told her she didn’t want to wear out her welcome. She asked what that meant, and I told her that it meant she didn’t want Tyler to get tired of her.”
He gave her an amused smile over Livie’s head, then said, “Look at me, Princess.” When Livie did, he brushed the tears on her cheeks away with his thumbs. “It’s not the same thing as always being at Tyler’s house. I’m your daddy. Daddies never get tired of their little girls. Never, ever. You can be at my house as much as you and your mommy want to be here. And when you go back home, I’ll come see you sometimes at your house. I hope you won’t get tired of me.”
Livie’s eyes widened. “No, Daddy. I’m not tired of you.” She threw her arms around his neck. “I love you, Daddy.”
“And I love you, my beautiful girl. Let’s finish our breakfast, then how about we go do some batting practice?”
“Yes!” Livie screamed.
If it was possible for a heart to melt, Kendall’s would have on the spot. It wasn’t the first time she’d thought how amazing it was that Livie had won the Daddy Lottery. Where did that leave her, though? Was there a chance of a future with him? Or did he only want a fling? She couldn’t bring herself to ask because his answers might not be ones she wanted to hear.
“Okay, Princess,” Cooper said. “You need to get dressed so we can go hit some balls.”
“I want to wear my Braves shirt, Mommy.”
“Okay, let’s go find it.”
Batting practice turned out to be at a sports complex, and Kendall settled on a bench to watch Cooper coach Livie onhitting balls. She knew Livie was good at hitting balls for her age, but with Cooper’s coaching, she was getting even better. A group of tween boys had gathered to watch her.
“She’s better than you, Stephen,” one of them said.
“Nuh-uh. No girl’s better than me.”
Kendall smiled as they wandered off, still arguing who hit a ball the best, Stephen or Livie. When she’d found out she was having a girl, she’d never imagined her daughter would be a tomboy and love baseball.
“You bat now, Daddy,” Livie said, stepping out of the batter’s cage.
Cooper had said he played ball in high school and before his kidnapping had wanted to one day play for the Braves. That had to mean he was good, and Kendall watched with interest as he tested a few bats before selecting one.
He proved how good he was as he hit every ball the machine threw at him, all of them bouncing off the net. Some of those would’ve been home runs in a ballpark. She was impressed.
“Daddy! You’re the best! You should play for the Braves, and I could come watch you,” Livie exclaimed, excitement in her voice. She raced to the cage wires. “Mommy, did you see Daddy bat? He’s so good.”
“I did, and he is.” She lifted her eyes to his, and the grin on his face widened.
“Guess I still got it,” he said.
He sure did have it, in spades. And she didn’t mean just his batting skills. Everything about him called to something deep inside her. It wasn’t just his hotness—because he was definitely that—but his innate goodness. She was falling for him, and that scared her. She’d never had a broken heart before, but with him, it could happen.