“Mmm. No takebacks, little girl.”
Before she knew it, his lips were on hers.
The kiss was long and passionate. His strong arms snaked around her and reeled her in close. His tongue lingered inside her mouth.
It took her breath away.
His right hand dipped lower and cupped her bottom.
“You take a bath, sweet girl, and then Daddy will get you dressed for the night. And we’ll have a good dinner.”
He patted her bum.
Annika squealed with delight and craned her neck up to kiss Matteo once again.
Her life was suddenly shaping up to be even better than Holly Golightly’s.
Chapter Eighteen
Downstairs, as Matteo walked into the kitchen, Jack asked him, “How’s she doing?”
Matteo walked past Kendrick, Ace, and Isaiah and to the sink located on the granite-topped island.
“I think today was a lot for her. But she had fun. She’s up there in the bath, watching a movie.”
He washed his hands, dried them, and grabbed an onion from a pile of veggies in the center of the island. Next, he got a board and knife and started chopping as he continued.
“There’s still something going on. I get that she’s overwhelmed with all the changes. Anyone would be. But there’s something else there. She’s not ready to share it yet.”
Ace finished chopping the tomatoes he’d been working on, dropped them in the large pot atop the stove, and then turned back around to face the others at the island. “You think she’s in some kind of trouble, Matteo?”
He nodded. “I do. But she’s not ready to talk about it yet.”
“Well,” Jack said, “when she is, she’s at the right place. Helping Littles in trouble is our specialty.”
The other guys eagerly voiced their agreement. The Daddy Guard took their mission seriously. And it wasn’t just because it was their job.
Matteo figured they would have found a way to do it even if they weren’t being paid handsomely for it. Now that the idea was in their heads, they couldn’t shake free of it.
They chatted while they prepared dinner. Every now and then, Matteo would hear Iris and Cami in the house doing something. About twenty minutes in, Lana came home from work and hugged and kissed Ace before going off to change and clean up.
Kendrick eventually turned the TV in the kitchen on so they could hear the news. The TV wasn’t very big, hanging under one of the cabinets, and the group listened more often than they watched it. Matteo often stopped to see more, though, if one of the stories involved the police.
Around Los Angeles, they often did.
And there were times he knew the officers featured. But the Department employed close to nine thousand officers. So, he didn’t know the vast majority of them. But between him and the other Guard members, there was often a connection somehow.
That was true that evening. Thankfully, it was good news for a change. Matteo stopped prepping the meal long enough to watch the feature on the annual “Shop With a Cop” program that would be happening soon during the Holidays.
“You ever miss that?” Isaiah asked to no one in particular.
“I did plenty of shopping today,” Matteo told him.
The group laughed.
“I know how that goes,” Jack said. “Little Iris can run me all over town, going in store after store, it seems.” He chuckled. “But I do love spoiling her.”
“Oh, I loved spoiling my cutie,” Matteo replied.
