Ours.
Not hers.
Not Todd’s.
Not theirs.
Ours.
Later, I’d tell Daisy it was only because the nurse thought I was the father, and I didn’t feel like explaining while Daisy looked as white as a sheet.
“Sounds much better than a ketchup sandwich,” Teddy said with a laugh, and then finally gave up on the tried-and-true distraction technique. “All right, Mama, why don’t you look at your handsome dad for a minute here for me, okay?”
Dad.This time, it was only Daisy’s gaze that cut me off. Afraid. Borderline panicked. I no longer gave a shit about correcting the nurse. All I cared about was caring for Daisy.
“You’re good, Daze. You’re doing real good.”
Pink seeped back into her cheeks like sunshine breaking through the clouds, and in the corner of my eye, I saw the nurse tie a band around her arm and then clean her skin with an alcohol swab. Daisy’s fingers tightened on mine.
“That’s it. Nice deep breaths,” I said, my voice suddenly morphing into a different beast. A lower, huskier beast. And I couldn’t control it. Not the way she was looking at me.Not the way she obeyed my command.
Her lips parted, their color a shade of hungry red as she let out a slow exhale.
The moment the needle punctured her skin, she whimpered and tensed, a wash of moisture coating her eyes.
“That’s it. It’s almost done. You’re almost there,” I kept talking, watching her visibly relax to the cadence of my voice. “Almost done, Daze. You’re doing so good. Just keep breathing for me.”
Air loosened from her lips.
“There you go. Deep breath in,” I cooed, watching her nostrils flare as they pulled in oxygen. “Deep breath out.”
God, she obeyed so well…and it simultaneously stiffened my dick and absolutely gutted me.
There was another reason I didn’t date a lot. I had…preferences. Ones that took time and consideration for a partner to understand who wasn’t already exposed to that brand of intimacy. I wasn’t ared-room-of-painDom, but I liked to give orders. I liked to be in control. And it felt very different from the kind of man I was outside of the bedroom.Chivalrous in the streets, commanding in the sheets.It was easier to find like-minded partners at a kink club or website than it was to date and hope it wouldn’t turn the woman off.
It was also easier to have that be the reason than to admit the only woman I wanted to date in the last four years was already dating my best friend.
“All done,” Teddy announced cheerfully, the needle and vial clanking back on the tray, and a piece of gauze pressed to the crook of Daisy’s elbow. “You did great, Daisy, and so did you, Dad.”
My eyes still locked with Daisy’s, and neither of us attempted to correct her.
“Just give me one minute to get this going, and then we’ll do your ultrasound.”
It wasn’t until the door clicked shut that Daisy stirred and untangled her fingers from mine, knotting them back in her lap. “Sorry if I hurt you.”
I shifted my stance a little wider to accommodate my cock. She hurt me all right, just not my hand.
“No hurt at all.”
For the rest of the appointment, both Nurse Teddy and Dr. MacDonald referred to me as the baby’s father.
For the rest of the appointment, neither Daisy nor I corrected them.
“Here, let me—”
“I got it.” I shifted the takeout bags to my left hand, my right one colliding with Daisy’s as we both reached to open the Murphy door. “I got it, Daze.”
She sighed and pulled her hand back. Whether it was because she really wanted to let me open it or because she didn’t want to prolong our contact, I wasn’t sure. As soon as it opened, a knock rapped on the shop door.
