She sighed. Sometimes it was hard to have a daddy who was so observant. Which is how she found herself sitting at the kitchen counter while Daddy spooned oatmeal into her mouth. Of course, he blew on each spoonful to make sure it wasn’t too hot and occasionally he’d make choo-choo noises so that was fun.
When she was full, he wiped her face and hands gently. Then he kissed the tip of her nose. “My beautiful girl. Go brush your teeth. We’re going for a ride out to the ranch.”
Disappointment filled her. “You have to work?” She loved going to visit her friends at Sanctuary, but she thought she had him to herself today.
“Nope.”
“Then why are we going to the ranch?”
“Taking you to see my place.”
This was unexpected. She’d asked him why he hadn’t shown her his place when he’d brought her out to the ranch the other times and he’d told her it was having a few renovations.
“The renovations are finished?” she asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on her toes.
He grinned at her. “Pretty much. Come on, baby girl. Let’s go.”
* * *
She looked up at the house with a growing sense of wonder. Jed parked and came around the front of the truck to lift her down. He was always doing stuff like that. Lifting her in and out of his truck, doing up her seatbelt. He treated her like she was precious. And she loved it.
“Daddy, it’s amazing.”
“You like it?”
She’d seen the other cabins at Sanctuary and they were nice. But this, this wasn’t nice. It was magnificent. Constructed with logs, it had a huge, wide porch along the front. Complete with two rocking chairs that she knew she would make good use of.
“I love it. It’s so beautiful.”
“I saved up a lot of money over the years. Never had anything important to spend it on. Until now.”
She smiled up at him.
“Didn’t want to use the old bastard’s money on this,” he added. “Although I have decided what I’m going to use it for.”
“You have?”
“Yeah. Gonna donate it to charity. Specifically, charities that help impoverished children and women who have been abused.”
She blinked as she felt tears well. “I think that’s an amazing idea.”
He kissed her gently. “Come on, baby. Let me show you the inside.”
It was just as magnificent as the outside. Large country kitchen with brand new appliances. A huge stone fireplace. And the big picturesque windows showcased the beauty of the landscape outside.
“Oh, it’s amazing,” she told him.
He gave her a soft smile. He did that much more now. Smiled. Laughed.
“This isn’t even the best of it. Come upstairs. I have something up there for you.”
“For me?”
“Yeah, baby girl. For you.” He held her hand as he led her up the wide, gleaming stairs. He pointed to doors as they passed them. Master suite. Spare bedroom. Then there was a door at the end. He opened it and she walked into the room, her jaw dropping in wonder.
Dark carpet on the floor, covered in a pale green rug. Large window that looked out at the mountains beyond. A sleigh daybed with a pale green bedspread that matched the rug on the floor. In one corner there was a large, white armchair with a green throw over it.
The walls were all painted off-white except for the one the bed rested against. It had a mural of a castle resting on a clifftop. A princess with short dark hair stood at the foot of the castle and above her, looming over her, protecting her was a glorious dragon. It took her breath away. She walked closer.
“You did this?”
“Figured your dragon could always be watching over you. Even when he’s not with you.” He winked at her.
She smiled back. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe you did this. Is it really all for me?”
“Wouldn’t get a mural of a castle, princess and dragon painted on the wall if it was for anyone else.”
He strode over to the armchair and picked up the stuffed dragon sitting there. “Also got this for you, baby girl.”
She reached out and grasped hold. She hadn’t had a stuffed toy in years, but he was soft and shiny and best of all, Daddy had given him to her.
He moved in behind her, pulling her back against his tummy and hugging her tight. “You like?”
“Like?” She stared around. “No, I don’t like it. I love it. It’s magical. Amazing.”
“I wanted you to have a special place in your new home. Somewhere you could nestle in.”
“My. . .my new home?” Did that mean what she thought it did? She turned in his arm to gape at him. “Does that mean you’re asking me to move in with you?”
His grinned. “Shit, no. Not asking, baby girl. Not gonna take the risk of you saying no.”
“I would never say no,” she whispered.
“So it’s a yes?”
Hell yes. “It’s a yes.”
He picked her up and twirled her around in the air with a whoop. She giggled and held onto his shoulders with her free arm, holding tight to both of her dragons. He kissed her and she melted into him. Hmm, maybe it would be a good idea for him to show her that master suite.
He drew back and looked down at stuffed toy in her arm. “So, what are you going to name him?”
She looked down at the slightly goofy looking, green dragon.
“I think I’ll name him Prince Charming.”
He threw his head back and burst into laughter.
Epilogue
She poked her tongue between her lips as she laid out the foundation for her pirate ship.
A plate was set down on the coffee table by her elbow, but she didn’t look up. Had to get this just right. . .
“Sugar, time for a snack,” Jed’s deep rumble reached her.
She flicked her gaze over to the sandwich that he’d used a cookie cutter to cut into star shapes. He was always doing stuff like this. And she really got a kick out of this big, gruff guy cutting her sandwiches into shapes.
She wrinkled her nose as she noticed the whole wheat bread. “Daddy, the bread has seeds in it.”
“I know. It’s healthy for you.”
She heaved a big sigh.
“Do we need to have a chat about your health again, little girl?” That rumble had grown deeper.
Nope. They did not need to have that chat again. Mostly because that chat ended up with her over his knee getting her bottom warmed. She snatched up one of the stars and took a bite. Ham, cheese and mayo. Yum. Although she wouldn’t tell Daddy that.
After he’d moved her into his house at Sanctuary, which hadn’t been that long after he’d shown her his house at Sanctuary, he’d taken her to Doc to get a check-up.
What Doc lacked in bedside manners, he made up for in thoroughness. And he’d been none too pleased by her weight, her blood test results or the fact she hadn’t been to a dentist in years.
Neither had Jed. Which had resulted in a trip to the dentist, where she’d had to sit on the chair with a hot bottom, because she had vehemently protested visiting the dentist, and in such a way that Jed had made use of her bad girl paddle once more. A bad girl paddle that now hung on the wall of her special Little girl bedroom. Which she loved. Her room that is. The paddle, not so much. Nor did she particularly like the naps Jed made her take daily. But she had to admit between the diet plan that Doc had created for her in order for her to slowly build up her health and all the rest she was getting, plus all this care and attention from Jed, she felt amazing.
Now, if she could just get rid of that paddle. . .
She’d lived here with Jed for six weeks now. She worked when he did, and when he was home, she spent a lot of time as Little Daisy. It was amazing to not have to worry about everything, not to make all the decisions. It was like she was getting a second chance at a childhood. Only this time, she had the world’s best daddy and the sexiest hunk imaginable, who gave her amazing
orgasms.
Yep. Life was sweet.
Mostly.
Jed had gone away for work three times since everything went down. Each time had been hard. She wasn’t sure it would ever get easier. But at least at Sanctuary, she was protected. She had people checking on her and not just Ellie, Charlie and Abby. Kent came regularly too. As did Macca.
And, to her surprise, Bain.
“I’m good, Daddy,” she replied after swallowing her mouthful. “Yum. You’re the best daddy ever.”
He rolled his eyes, but she saw the happiness fill his face. He looked down at her pirate ship. “Who knew when I bought this huge coffee table it would get filled with Legos.”
She looked happily down at the masterpiece she was creating. It was a huge coffee table and most of it was taken up by her castle, pirate ship and dragons. Since he was the one who kept buying it for her, she knew he wasn’t really complaining.
She leaned forward to get a piece of Lego and felt her short skirt hitch up. Jed had a rule about no panties in the house. He also liked to dress her in short skirts and dresses. She had to be careful when people were around not to bend over.
But when Jed was around, well, that was a whole other story.
She felt him sit on the sofa behind her before his hand ran up her thigh to cup her bottom. “Damn, that’s a fucking nice sight.”
She sighed happily as he pushed his hand between her legs to cup her pussy. Her clit started throbbing in reaction and then her phone rang.
Her tummy tightened. She knew that ringtone. And this brought her to the one lingering problem in her life. Her sister.
Jed sighed. His hand left her thigh and she jumped up to grab her phone. There was nothing like a conversation with Sylvie to pull her straight out of Little headspace.
“Hello? Sylvie?” Answering her sister’s phone call shouldn’t give her this feeling of dread.
She saw Jed cut his eyes to her. The skin around his mouth tightened. She knew how he felt about her family. He wasn’t impressed that Bradley hardly ever replied to her emails and that Sylvie only contacted her when she wanted something.
“Daisy? Hi!” Sylvie said cheerfully. All right, so she wasn’t starting off with some sob story, that was different. She relaxed slightly and realized her fingers were aching from holding onto her phone too tightly.
“Hey, Sylvie, how are you?” Maybe she was just calling to see how Daisy was. She hadn’t actually told Sylvie any of the stuff that had happened with her stalker. Although she had sent her a text with her new address and telling her why she’d moved.
She hadn’t heard anything back until now. Which still had the power to hurt her. But not as much as it once had. She’d found her place in life. She wasn’t lost or alone anymore. She had Jed, but she also had everyone here. She’d made friends, built a life that wasn’t centered around her brother and sister or what happened ten years ago.
“Good. Sort of.”
Uh-oh.
“I got your message saying you’re living with Jed. That’s awesome.”
“Yeah,” she said dreamily as she smiled over at Jed. “It is awesome.” This house was perfect. It was a home. But then anywhere with Jed would be home.
His eyes warmed. Although he didn’t lose that watchfulness.
“Must be saving you some money in rent and stuff then, right?”
Actually, she hadn’t had a conversation with Jed yet about money. Or what she was going to contribute to their household. Mostly because she was too chickenshit to bring it up. He wouldn’t be happy to know there was something she wouldn’t bring up with him about so she was going to have to talk about it soon.
But the times she’d tried to pay her way told her that there was the possibility he wouldn’t be receptive to that.
“I don’t know, why?” she asked.
Jed’s gaze narrowed and he grew tense.
“It’s just, Max asked me to go to Hawaii with him on vacation. Hawaii! How amazing is that? He’s wonderful.”
“Who’s Max?” she asked, this being the first she’d heard of him.
“He’s my boyfriend, of course,” Sylvie replied, sounding annoyed as though she was supposed to know that despite the fact Sylvie rarely told her anything. “You would love him.”
Right.
“How long you been dating him?” she asked.
“Three weeks. But it’s like I’ve known him forever,” Sylvie said defensively.
“Three weeks and he’s asking you to go to Hawaii with him? Max moves fast.”
“Don’t be snippy, Daisy,” Sylvie snapped.
She wasn’t aware she was being snippy.
“So, can you lend me the money?”
“To go to Hawaii?” Daisy squeaked. Before she could say anything more, her phone was snatched from her hand.
“Hello, Sylvie? This is Jed.”
She lunged for the phone but he swung away.
“Yes, that’s right. No, your sister can’t come to the phone.”
She glared up at him. “Jed! Give me the phone back!”
“One minute, Sylvie.” His only reply was to put his hand over the receiver then stare down at her calmly. “No.”
No? No!
She glared up at him. He pointed to the couch behind her. “Sit back down. Your sister and I are overdue for a chat and I don’t want to be interrupted.”
“She’s my sister. It’s my phone. I want it back.”
“No. Sit down.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“It became my business when you became mine. She’s your family, which means she’s mine too. Or is that not how this works?”
She chewed her lip. Damn it. He had her there.
“I wasn’t finished talking to her.”
“Your conversation wasn’t going anywhere good. I see something that’s going to cause you pain or stress, it’s my job to intervene. So, sit your bottom down and stay there or you can listen while standing in the corner and afterwards you’ll be sitting on a very red bottom.”
Ooh, he was infuriating sometimes! But she sat. She also crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at him to let him know she didn’t appreciate his dictatorial behavior.
Damn man just looked amused. “Sorry about that, Sylvie. What’s this about Hawaii? No, she can’t come to the phone. I’m part of Daisy’s life now. That means I’m part of yours. So, tell me about Hawaii.”
She bit her lip. Sylvie didn’t stand a chance when Jed used that voice.
“Uh-huh. How long you known this guy? You run a check on him? No? What’s his last name?”
She knew that soon after he ended this call, Jed would have one of the guys run a check on Max.
“And you called your sister to tell her you were going?”
He was silent for a moment. She squirmed, feeling embarrassed and ashamed. Jed knew that her sister only called her when she wanted something. She blinked back tears.
“That the only reason you call? To ask your sister to fund a vacation with a guy you met three weeks ago?”
She winced, wondering what Sylvie would say to that.
“You got a job, right?” Jed asked. “Then you need to save up if you want to do things like that, right?”
More silence as Jed obviously listened to what Sylvie had to say.
“And your sister works hard for her money. You’re an adult. She raised you from a kid, she’s always gonna love you. Always gonna want you in her life, but it ain’t up to her to bankroll your life. Especially for stupid shit like this.”
Oh, crap.
“You got a real problem; you can call me. You want to call just to chat about your life or ask advice or shit like that, call your sister. You need money for something important, we’ll figure out if we can help you. Together. But your days of calling and your sister sending you money because you think you need shit you don’t are over. Time to take responsibility for your own life, doll.”
Her mouth was open as she stared at him. Sh
e could not believe he was saying that to her sister. Fuck, Sylvie would be having a conniption.
“You think anyone ever paid your sister’s way? She’s worked hard all her life to take care of you and your brother, too hard. Like I said, we’re always here. But you want to go to Hawaii, you find your own way there.”
He ended the call and placed her phone up on the top of the bookcase that flanked the television. It rang. He ignored it.
“I cannot believe you did that.” She stood up. “That was taking things too far. Even for you. She’s my sister.”
“She uses you.”
She winced. Ouch. “She loves me.”
He nodded and some of that hurt eased. “I’m sure she does. But she’s gotten used to coming to you when she needs something and that has to change. You got a lot in you to give, but I’ve got to make sure you don’t give so much there’s nothing left for you.” He sat and pulled her onto his lap.
He rubbed his hand up and down her back. “I’m gonna do what I have to in order to take care of you. Including when it comes to your family. No one hurts my baby girl.”
She melted against him. “I love you, dragon.”
He leaned in and kissed her. “I love you too, sugar.”
* * *
Ellie took one look around Aunt Rose’s house before following Bear out the door. He locked it and pocketed the key.
“I think Aunt Rose is still watching us. That she brought Daisy here for Jed.”
Bear cut her a look but didn’t say anything. He just took her hand and led her around the back.
“The security system is a good idea. And boy, these lights are pretty,” she said, following behind him with a frown of surprise. “Bear? What’s going on? Where are we going?”
He wasn’t the biggest talker, but he was being a little odd. He walked into the middle of the yard, where you could see the trees twinkling around and to her surprise, he stopped and dropped to one knee.
Her heart thumped.
“Ellie. I know I don’t always know what to say or how to say it, but I think you know by now how special you are. That you mean everything to me. I can’t imagine life without you and I don’t ever want to. What I want is for you to be mine in every way, so will you marry me, baby girl?” He reached into his pocket and drew out a ring. She couldn’t see much beyond the fact it was a big diamond that glinted under the lights. She didn’t really care what it looked like, though. All she knew was her big, gentle Bear was asking her to be his. Totally his.
Daddy’s Lost Love Page 21
