Once again, Matteo’s heart broke. His little sweetie didn’t realize just how gorgeous she was.
Daddy would teach her. In time, she’d see it.
“That’s what I do!” Lana told her. “I work on the special effects side.”
“Really?” Annika asked. The excitement radiating off her was palpable.
“Yeah. Want me to give you a studio tour sometime?” Lana asked.
“Please!”
“There are always openings doing something around the lot,” Lana said.
It seemed as if Annika’s excitement suddenly faded. Matteo wanted to know why.
“Oh,” she grumbled. “I couldn’t do that.” She lifted her head and sounded as if she was trying to act casually. “But thank you for the offer, Lana.”
Matteo wondered what that was about and considered asking but decided now wasn’t the time. So, he filed his questions away for later.
There was clearly a mystery with his babygirl and he aimed to get to the bottom of it.
Right now, though, it was more important that she eat something.
“Dinner is just about ready,” he said.
“It smells good,” she said, noting that the aroma had drifted out the open patio doors and to the deck. “But first I have to know: how did you find Ollie?”
“Well,” Matteo said, “I was about to go look for him when Harrison and Stryker happened to drop by just to check in on things. They have some pretty cool tech, including the delivery drone.”
Stryker had moved to a docking station that was plugged into an outlet on the house’s outside wall. He hit a button and the drone zipped to it and landed itself.
“Anyway,” Matteo continued, “I told them where I was about to go and Stryker had the idea just to send the drone out, use its camera, and search for it. He was in the space behind Grauman’s and the Dolby and all that.”
“Ollie, I’m so glad to have you back!” she exclaimed as she hugged him tightly.
Matteo loved how happy his girl was.
He loved it even more when she threw her arms aroundhimand squeezed tightly.
“You were going to look for him! Just for me!” she said.
It sounded as if she might be crying. A moment later, his suspicion was confirmed when he felt tears soaking through the black t-shirt he wore.
He held her close. Resting his chin on top of her head, he said, “Of course. Ollie’s important to you, so he’s important to me.”
The others on the patio slipped through the back door, into the house, seemingly wanting to give them some privacy.
Matteo was grateful. He took the opportunity to keep her close against him. He lost track of time, but he figured it was about a full three minutes when they finally separated.
“Come on, honey. Bring Ollie and let’s go to the table. It’s time to eat!”
When Little Annika reached out and took his hand, holding it as they walked into the house, the big, strong, hardened ex-cop Matteo nearly melted into a puddle.
Damn. The little cutie sure had his heart. Already.
Chapter Thirteen
Annika felt like a pig, but she couldn’t stop eating. “These chicken fingers are amazing!”
