Playing All the Angles (32 page)

“Better than anything I could ever have hoped,” Eve answered with a smile. She rose, capturing Xandra as she ran by in a blur of red curls. She hoisted the little girl on her hip and called, “Who is ready to see Auntie Isabelle open her presents and cut the cake?”

“Me!” cried Xandra, a chorus of voices joining her.

“Then let’s get to it! And whoever finds the baby in the cake gets to name the newborn!”

“Oh God.” Isabelle laughed. “I guess I’ll be eating the whole thing.”

“Or you could just do as I do and let Marcus do all your baby naming.” Eve waved to the designer who had joined the group of fathers.

“We would certainly be fashionable.”

“Or you can beat Alora to her
I
.”

“No!” Isabelle giggled. “No vowel names for me.”

“Come on. Let’s get you all showered and loved up, shall we?”

Isabelle smiled widely. “I don’t think it’s possible for me to be loved any more than I already am.”

Eve hummed thoughtfully. “Excellent. I’m up for the challenge.”

The End

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Nicole Vlachos, my longtime partner in typewriter crime. LynDee Walker, thank you for holding my hand and cheering me on. Thank you Tabitha, Robyn, and Jonathan for sharing in all my excitement. Thank you to my Omnific Publishing family, especially my fantastic editor, Joannie Smith—you’ve made magic happen. Finally, thank you to my husband and son, who have made watching football, baseball, and a thousand TV shows about cars, pawn shops, and storage units feel like the most romantic things in the world.

About the Author

Nicole Lane has loved romance novels since she was old enough to sneak them from her grandmother’s well-stocked shelves. She grew up reading Judith Krantz, Danielle Steel, and Jackie Collins, sharing dog-eared paperbacks and giggling with girlfriends over all the more instructional passages. She is living her very own, uneventful, happily-ever-after in a sea of sweat socks and Matchbox cars in Dallas, Texas.

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