I sniffled, then ducked my head to wipe my eyes against my shoulder. I wished we could have had the whole rest of this day together without me having to think about it ending again, but he’d asked, and for right now, hewasmy Daddy, so it wasn’t up to me anymore.
“I said only, only until tomorrow. When the event’s over? So you don’t have to worry about my car or… or anything like that. It’s already so nice of you to have paid for the room, but I know you’ve got work to get back to. And I’ll be fine. I just need to figure out how to get some gas, and then I’m sure I’ll make it back to—”
“Rene,” he suddenly interrupted, grabbing me by the arms and startling me so much that my mouth snapped closed and my heart… my heart…
My heart wouldnothope.
I didn’t like things that hurt.
“You’remine,” Edward growled, and thankfully, that was an easy one.
I nodded automatically. Of course I was his.
Then my eyes welled up again, because if it was just a role-play for him, why was he stillsayingthat? He was acting like… like…
Like I was mistaken. And suddenly, before I could stop it, my heart shot out a tendril of hope, so fragile and thin that it scared me to reach for it.
But some things were worth being scared for.
Some things, maybe, were even worth hurting for.
“Edward,” I started, suddenly feeling breathless and… andhopeful.
“No, it’sDaddy,” he growled before I could go on, his whole body vibrating with tension now, and his grip on me so tight that it almost hurt.
It didn’t, though. It was exactly what I needed. Strong enough to take that fragile hope inside me and hold it fast, secure enough to root it in place and give it a chance to start to grow.
“I am your Daddy,” Edward went on, “and this isnotending tomorrow. This isn’t endingever. Not unless you convince me that that’s what you really want.”
“I don’t,” I whispered. “I don’t want that.”
“I need to take care of you,” he went on, almost like he hadn’t even heard me. “I need to be with you. You are my perfect, precious boy, my beautiful dollbaby, my new forever. If you need something different, you tell me, but don’t—” His voice cracked, just for a moment, “—don’t just end it, because I will do whatever it takes to make this work. Anything, Rene. I’ll do anything. And I know it’s soon, but I know, Iknew, from the first time I saw you, that I—oomph.”
I surged forward—somehow breaking out of his grip because what was inside me was too big, too strong to contain—and threw my arms around him, shushinghim, for once, because I had to… Ihadto.
Ilovedhim.
And he was telling me, I wassurehe was, that he loved me right back.
That maybe he had right from the start.
“Just like Blair,” I said, finally breaking the kiss as my heart filled with wonder.
“No,” Daddy said. He brushed my hair back. Kissed my forehead. Took my hand and held it against his chest, right over his heart. “No, Rene. Just likeyou. Can’t you feel it? You’ve filled up my heart.”
All the empty places. The ones where nobody else would ever fit.
Ididfeel it, because I had those same kinds of places.
But now they were all filled with him.
24
Edward
“Would you mind if we…if we skipped breakfast?” Rene asked shyly, his hand still resting over my heart. “I know it’s the last day, and Sam’s expecting us, but…”
He looked up at me through his lashes, his eyes summer-sweet, and I was lost. Still reeling a bit from the shock of thinking I might have lost him, thinking he wanted to walk away, but also… buoyant inside. Because he hadn’t. He wouldn’t. We were clear on where we stood now.
