“Everyone ready for the next challenge?” Ivy asked.

Faces went as serious as a gathering of professional poker players. All attention turned to the small takeout container Walker placed in the middle of the table before passing around five clean spoons.

Carter had been the one who had heard about the spicy challenge and decided he wanted to do it for family night. Walker agreed to help organize if Carter went along with a few key changes to make it a little more tender-taste-bud friendly.

Instead of eating a ghost-pepper-or-higher level chip that would’ve been all about pain and no fun, Walker found increasingly spicy options to offer his children. The bonus part was most of them involved potential meals for the family to enjoy in the future.

Possibly with the heat turned down a little, but who knew how this was going to end?

“So other than the little snowy excursion, everybody okay after eating Uncle Luke’s chili?”

“Why’s it called chili when it’s supposed to be hot?” Harper balanced her elbows on the table as she peered into the new takeout container and took a deep sniff. “This one smells good.”

“You think all of them smell good.” Carter frowned at his littlest sister. “Is your mouth not on fire?”

“Nope.” Harper stuck her spoon in the container then glanced at Walker. “Oops. Sorry, Daddy. I’ll wait.”

His heart still gave a leap every time he was called daddy.

Walker chuckled. “Looks as if Harper’s hungry. This is lamb korma that JP, the cook at Silver Stone, made for us.”

Everyone scooped a bit on their spoon. As usual, Chloe was the most cautious, mostly dipping her spoon into the sauce and leaving the meat alone. Ivy took a teeny bit, but Walker knew what he was getting into and scooped up a nice big chunk.

Carter, who wanted nothing better than to imitate Walker, took a heaping spoonful as well.

Walker debated saying something, but the spirit of the game meant he had to keep his mouth shut, and it wasn’t as if a little spice would hurt the kid.

It was Chloe’s turn. She checked to make sure everybody was armed with a loaded spoon before starting the countdown. “Three, two, one—”

Spoons slipped into mouths, licked clean in an instant, then laid on the table with a crash as per the preestablished rules.

Then the entertainment began.