Page 42 of Cowboy Needed

“You’re raising that little girl right,” Ellis told him. “Tacos are proof that there is a God and He loves us.”

“Or She does.” Zane said, face serious as a heart attack.

Ellis nodded with a single dip of his chin. “We all gotta find our way, man. We all gotta find our way.”

Ichabod focused on stirring the cocoa. His kidshad been raised to believe that they all had a path, and they could all find it on their own. Sometimes that could make problems, but Zane was not one to step away from those problems.

Zane nodded to Ellis. “We do. My dad, he was a Unitarian Universalist, and that’s how I was raised. That everyone has a path and that it’s valid.”

“I have no beef with that. As far as I’m concerned, as long as what you do doesn’t affect what I do or interfere with what I believe, then you’ve got the right to do it. You want to believe in whatever, then that’s between you and whatever you believe in. As long as you don’t tell me what I have to believe, I won’t tell you.”

Michael was watching them as if he was watching a tennis match, eyebrows drawn together, a frown on his lips, but to Zane’s credit, he just nodded.

“That’s fair. I can totally accept that as an answer.”

“Cool beans.” Ellis winked at him, sharing a little private moment over that win, and he felt his cheeks flush.

“Do you get along with your mom and dad?” Michael asked.

Looked like today was grill Ellis day.

“Yeah. Mom and I don’t talk as much. Dad and I talk on the phone a lot. They both went to spouse number three or four. So by the time they did that, I was kind of removed from the situation.”

“Wow. That’s a mind?—”

He glared at Zane.

“Fart.”

Ellis hooted. “It is. So what are we going to have with the hot chocolate?”

“Cookies?” Allie asked.

“Cake!” That was Chrissy.

“How about we have some lunch first?” A sugarrush was one thing, but sweets all day would see the three youngest winding up with tummy aches and more.

“Lunch.” Allie sounded utterly disgusted.

“Grilled cheese?”

She perked up. “I like those.”

“I know! Am I the best dad or what?” It was his turn to wink at Ellis.

“How about grilled cheese and tomato soup?” Ellis asked. “I can do that while your dad makes that hot choccie.”

“Hot choccie!” Chrissy threw her arms up in the air and started dancing. Soon enough, even Zane and Michael were in on it, and a conga line circled the kitchen island.

He glanced at Ellis, ready to roll his eyes, but then the man joined the line, chugging along behind Zane, shaking his ass.

Oh, God. If he’d only been in deep like tinged with heavy lust before now, he had a feeling he’d just fallen in love.

He was in so much trouble, and it had nothing to do with the kids and the sugar rush.

Chapter Thirteen

“So, how’s it going, Ellis?”