Except I hadn’t laughed like that with another adult in over a year, and the way she looked at me...
There was probably something wrong with me, but I couldn’t get over how angelic she’d looked in that hospital bed. My gaze was constantly drawn to her, drinking in the way her cheeks rounded when she grinned, how soft her hair looked in the artful braid around her head, how the green ring around her irises blended so seamlessly into the golden ring around the edges.
That wasn’t all, of course. It was how her voice was musical, even when she was serious. It was how delicate her wrists were as they tapered into her elegant fingers. It was the kindness in her gaze when she looked at my son, and the ease that had settled over her features when he read to her.
All of that was why I’d said yes when she’d asked me out.
I was crazy.
“Daddy?” Junior cracked open the door. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I murmured, picking myself up off the floor. I was drenched in sweat. Gross. “Just had a bit of a nightmare.”
“I figured,” he said, climbing into my bed.
The awful terror and guilt from my dream began to ebb. “You do?”
“I do! Miss Fischbacher taught me.”
Of course she did.
“All right, let me go wash my face, junior, and then I’ll be right back.”
“Okay!”
I didn’t bother turning on the hall light. With my shifter-enhanced vision, I could see just fine in the dark. I paused by Veronica’s room, listening intently. Good, I hadn’t woken her.
Although she’d been a rather colicky baby when she’d first come into my care, Veronica had proven to be an excellent sleeper once she got past her first round of teething. It had definitely been a lucky turn, because even with Natalie’s help,I’d been on the verge of going insane that first month before I’d gone out on my revenge mission that I’d thought would give me peace.
It didn’t.
I didn’t regret it, because I’d made sure the man who had been my beta and his gang couldn’t hurt anyone else.
I washed my face, then headed back to my room. Junior was propped up on a couple of my pillows, a flashlight in one hand and a book open in his lap.
“Oh, are you reading to me, buddy?”
“Yeah,” he said before reaching under the covers and pulling out one of his stuffed animals. “Hold this, please.”
I took it, then awaited further instructions. “What do you want me to do with it?”
He gave me a look like I’d just asked him something ridiculous. “Hold it,silly.” He patted the bed next to him. “Come on, lie down.”
“All right.”
Although my heart was still pounding and my stomach was definitely sinking, I was feeling better. And that only continued when Junior took my phone and played music on a low volume. It was classical music—not a banger, like “The Ride of the Valkyries”, which would be far too fraught to sleep to, but something relatively mellow and light with a lot of dainty harp chords.
Strangely enough, the sound of the harp reminded me of Giselle.The delicate curve of her neck, the broadness of her smile, those intense cheekbones of hers. The spark in her eyes whenever she was particularly pleased about something. I hadn’t known her long, yet it felt like I’d already observed so much.
“You comfy?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Awesome. Now, close your eyes and relax.”
“Miss Fischbacher really taught you all this?”
“She gave me the tips to get started. I googled a lot too.”
