A few hours later, Cassie scooted out of the bed and went to the bathroom. She came back and flung herself against my side as she cuddled under the covers. “You’re so warm, Daddy.”
I locked my arms around her and held her tightly. “And you’re so cold from getting out of the warm blankets.”
She nodded against my shoulder. “Yeah, I didn’t want to, but I had to pee, and you didn’t put another diaper on me last night.”
I slipped my hand down to her bottom and cupped her cheek. “I’m sorry, sweet girl. You went right to sleep, and I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“That’s okay.” She looked up at me and smirked. “But good thing I noticed before I just peed or we would’ve had a mess to clean up right now.”
I kissed her forehead and rocked her in my arms. “Don’t ever worry about making a mess. I’ll always clean it up. But you make a good point, and from now on, I promise to always make sure you’re properly prepared for bed so you don’t have to worry about waking up and going out in the cold air.”
She sighed and looked away from me. “That’ll be really nice on the nights we’re together. I’ll just have to be careful on the nights when we’re not together.”
I wasn’t gonna get a better segue, so I cleared my throat and went for it. “I know I prefer the nights that we sleep together. Do you?”
She nodded against me. “They’re my best nights because I always have you to cuddle with. I never get cold or scared or lonely. And now, I won’t even have to get up to go potty.”
“Well, you know you’re welcome to stay here every night. Like…you can just always plan to sleep here and use your apartment for your candle business.”
She was quiet for a moment and then propped herself up on her elbow. “Like, move with you? Full-time?”
I shrugged and held her gaze. “Yeah, if you’re ready for that. If you need more time, then we can just call it sleeping here, and someday you can call it living here.” I grinned, knowing that was just semantics. “All I know is I sleep better when you’re in my arms, and I never want you to be cold or scared or lonely again.”
“And I could keep my apartment for my candles?” She cocked her head as if thinking about that. “That’s not a bad idea. I don’t really have space for me anyways.”
I laughed at that. “That’s an understatement. We can barely walk in there.”
“If I don’t need to have a bed there, I can bring in more tables and make a shipping station for all the completed candles to get packed up.”
“That sounds like a great idea to me.” I leaned forward and kissed her, not pulling away until we were both breathless. “But like I said, you don’t have to decide right now. You can take it slow. Spend some time thinking about it.”
“I already thought about it, Daddy.” Her expression was serious, and I feared she was gonna tell me she wasn’t ready.
“All right, what have you decided?”
“I’m ready. I want to sleep with you every single night.” She stretched out her arms and legs wide. “And you’ve got the biggest bed in the whole world.”
I curled around her and held her tightly. “As usual, you always know how to make your Daddy so happy.”
She kissed my chest and then dragged her teeth along it. “Did I make you happy this morning when I woke up from a sexy dream and wanted to keep it going?”
I chuckled. “Is that what happened? Because yes, that made me very happy.”
“Then come here because I want to do it again.” She slid down a bit and kissed my nipple, then continued lower. “Right this minute.”
My girl knew what she wanted and when.
I certainly wasn’t going to stop her. “Take what you want, sweet girl. I’m all yours.”
Epilogue
Cassie
I felt bad quitting my job at the store, but Amanda understood. Now that I could check having my candles in a brick-and-mortar store, I felt like a real business owner.
Amanda had been ordering two cases a week for the past few months, and she knew I was barely keeping up. Briana and Devyn had become my part-time assistants and really saved my butt when a local magazine listed Cassie’s Candles as the best gift for the lady in your life, and my sales went berserk.
“I’m back,” I called out to Briana when I walked into the apartment.
