“Next time, win back your cash and some of hers.”
“I can only hope.”
Nick’s gaze shifted to Mitch. “I need to go back to the factory to pay the bills. Mind if the boys stay a few hours? They did most of their homework, but they still need to finish math.”
“No problem.” Mitch nudged the boys toward the kitchen table. “Crack open those books while I figure out what scrumptious meal to cook for your discerning palates.”
“I have a feeling our math homework will be tastier than dinner,” Brody predicted, unzipping his backpack.
“I’ll be back soon.” Nick ruffled the boys’ hair on his way out and waved to Jaye. “Good night.”
Brody thudded his workbook onto the table. “Are you eating dinner with us, Miss Davis?”
“Mitch isn’t a good cook, but he means well,” Carter informed her.
She caught the way Mitch rolled his eyes. “Actually, I promised to make dinner tonight.”
“Whoa, hold on.” Mitch held up one hand. “It’s bad enough you have to feed a goliath like me. I won’t ask you to feed three Blake men.”
“What are you making?” the boys asked in unison, extending their necks like two hungry birds in a nest.
“Well, I intended to feed Mitch liver and brussel sprouts. If you’d rather something different, I could make spaghetti and meatballs.”
“Yes, please!”
Mitch peered inside the refrigerator. “Funny, I don’t see any liver.”
“I’ll save the liver for Wednesday. You’re gonna love it.” She reached into the grocery bag she’d set on the counter before her run and tossed an onion to him. “If I can recruit your help, dinner will be ready in twenty-five minutes. Could you dice the onion?”
He pulled a knife out of the drawer. “Only if you promise not to make liver.”
“What can we do to help?” asked one of the boys.
“Finish your homework.” Mitch wagged the onion at them. “Work first. Fun later.”
Jaye shot him a quizzical look. “You definitely have the work bit down. What do you do for fun?”
He jabbed his thumb towards the boys. “Those two are my fun.”
“We play sports together. And video games.” An impish smile creased Carter’s face. “We know how to beat him.”
“I’m impressed.” Jaye pulled the ground beef from the refrigerator, stripped off the plastic wrap, and dumped the meat into a bowl. “Mitch looks tough to beat.”
“Yeah, but he can’t stand being tickled.”
“A big guy like him is ticklish?” Just to experiment, she jabbed her index finger into Mitch’s solid side.
He jumped and dropped the onion. Snatching the runaway vegetable before it toppled off the counter, Mitch arched his brow. “Keep your hands to yourself while I’ve got a knife in my hand. Unless you want me to cut my thumb while I dice onions.”
“A thousand pardons. I promise to refrain from tickling unless you decide to search me for injuries again.”
A bright red flush suffused his neck. He lowered his gaze and sliced off one end of the onion. “Sorry about pawing you like that.”
“No apology necessary.” She cracked an egg over the ground beef. The yolk puddled in the center like the bright spot blazing somewhere near her heart. “I kind-of like being worried about. That sort of thing doesn’t happen too much.”
“Get used to it,” he muttered, cutting the onion into small, precise squares.
“I don’t get this assignment.” Carter sighed. “Can you please help me, Mitch?”
“There’s one thing I have to do first.” He strode to the table and tickled the boy’s ribs. “This is what you get for telling Miss Davis how to beat me, you traitor.”
“Stop! Okay, okay!” Carter struggled to catch his breath. “I swear, Miss Davis, my big brother isn’t ticklish. I made up the whole thing.”
Mitch spread his hand on the boy’s narrow chest, a clear threat the tickling might not end. “Shouldn’t you say something else, too?”
“Oh, and he hates liver.”
“Atta boy.” Mitch rewarded Carter with a gruff pat of affection and shifted his attention to the worksheet. “What have we got here? Ah, polygons. Studying geometry teaches you how to think in three dimensions. You’re a smart kid, so you’ll conquer this in no time.”
The boy gazed upward with wide, grateful eyes. “I love you.”
Mitch cupped the back of the boy’s head. “I feel the same way ‘bout you, buddy.”
Brody reached over his homework to pat Mitch’s forearm. “If we finish our homework in time, could we play football after dinner? We don’t care if it’s cold outside.”
“Deal.”
The boys attacked their homework with vigor.
Jaye was tempted to mix the breadcrumbs into the meatballs with the same industriousness to thank Mitch for referring to her as a friend, rather than some pesky consultant. “Maybe when you men finish studying, you can help me figure out how to beat Veronica at poker,” she mused.
“That’s easy.” Brody pointed to his mouth with the tip of his pencil. “She chews on her bottom lip when she’s bluffing.”
“I had no idea. Thank you.” Jaye smiled at Mitch. “I like your family.”
He grinned in her direction.
She had to bite her lip to stop from admitting how much she was starting to like him, too.
Chapter Ten
“Dad, if we schedule another meeting next Saturday, our employees will have good reason to despise me. Nobody likes working on weekends.” Pressing the phone to her ear, Jaye sat on one of the lobby’s couches. “Let me see if I can get up there on Friday afternoon.”
“Don’t bother. I reserved the Biltmore Room at the Hilton for the entire day. They’ll provide the meals while you and your team get up to speed.”
“All day? That’s asking a lot. They’ve already put in forty hours during the week.”
His voice drilled through the phone. “They are well compensated for their time.”
Jaye massaged her forehead to ease her headache’s strengthening throb. Her father was used to getting his way, but his interference threatened to dismantle the goodwill she’d built with her team last weekend.
“This is the second weekend in a row we’re asking them to work.” She thought of the joy
