My man grinned widely. “Well, alrighty then. I guess that’s one way to shut him up. And I doubt he will mention it to me because we’ve only spoken to each other twice in the past five years.”

Wait. What?

“I’m sorry if that had anything to do with me,” I said, my heart hurting at the rift in his family.

Axel cupped my face and rubbed my bottom lip with his thumb. “Hey, don’t you apologize. You have never done one thing wrong, Blaire. It was all him, and I won’t allow him to say anything negative to you ever again.”

“He apologized to me and said he wants to meet Carrie.”

Axel frowned and said, “He didn’t even meet her?”

“Well, no. Your mom and Oliver came up first while he just stood down at the end of our row wearing his scowly face. Your mom kept asking me questions. Then she saw Carrie’s eyes and pretty much knew. Then your dad noticed Carrie’s jersey. He came over being all judgy, and then Beau dragged him up the stairs and almost choked him to death. Cam and I ran up the stairs to try and prevent any bloodshed.”

He pulled me to him and kissed me again. “I’m sorry you had to deal with him. I’ll speak with him and set him straight. And I’ll find out from Oliver what he said since you won’t tell me.”

“Just let it go, Ax. Beau already scared the shit out of him. Please.”

“We’ll see. I guess we need to go collect our kid,” he said with a grin as we watched her running around on the sidelines, having a blast with the other kids. He called for her, and she sprinted back in our direction.

“Oh, did you still want her to come over tomorrow night? I mentioned it to her, and she was really excited.”

He gave me that panty-dropping smile and said, “Yes! I’m excited, too.”

“I know this is all new to you, so if you want, I can come stay and sleep in her room. I mean, if you’re uncomfortable keeping her overnight by yourself.”

He frowned. “You don’t trust me with our daughter?”

I rubbed my hand through the scruff on his jaw. “No, Ax. That’s not it at all. I just wanted to make sure you feel comfortable keeping her all night by yourself.”

A small smile crested his lips. “I think I can handle it, unless you think she would freak out in the middle of the night or something? I just want to spend time with my daughter and get to know her one-on-one.”

That warmed my heart. “No, she won’t freak out. She loves sleepovers. She stays at Beau and Cam’s house all the time.”

“Did you tell her about her new room?”