Bailey leans into me, her small arms coming around my neck. “I feel strange,” she mutters.
“Your body is aligning with mine. You’ll feel closer and closer to me every minute, Little one.” I tuck an arm under her bottom and stand, lifting her into the air. Her feet dangle far from the floor as I hold her against me at eye level.
She leans her cheek against my neck as I turn to exit Zack’s office and reenter the club. I walk fast along the wall until I reach the door that leads to the elevators. Seconds later, we’re alone again in the hallway.
“It was loud in there,” Bailey whispers.
I chuckle. “Yes, Baby girl. Very loud. I’ve been here waiting for you for four nights. That music was very strange to my ears.”
She leans back to look at me as I step into the elevator. “Waiting for me?”
“Yes, Little one. Fate chose you for me. You were always mine, the one I came to Earth to find. It was just a matter of time before you came to Club Zoom so I could claim you.”
Her brow furrows. “You think Fate is a real thing?”
“I know it is.” The doors open again, and I step out into my temporary apartment, holding my girl close. “For my people, it’s very obvious. The second you stepped into the club, I inhaled your scent and knew you were mine. For humans that sensation is so foreign that you’re struggling to grasp what you’re feeling. Over time, you will understand.”
I move to an armchair and sit, angling my Little girl so she’s seated sideways on my lap.
She lowers her gaze. “This chair is huge.”
I smile. “All of the furniture in this apartment is larger. I’m seven and a half feet tall.”
“Are all of you really that tall?”
I nod. “Yes, and our homes are proportionately larger than the ones on Earth.” I don’t tell her that she won’t be permitted to climb on the furniture without me. She’s not ready for that information.
I’ve often privately snickered at how overprotective my friends are with their Little girls. Now that I’ve found my own, I understand. She’s already so precious to me that I grasp the need to instill dozens of rules to keep her safe.
“Tell me about your father, Little one,” I encourage. I want to know everything about her. Now is a good time to start. The next few hours will be challenging as I introduce her to customs she will undoubtedly balk at.
She sighs. “My mother died when I was a baby, so it’s always been just the two of us. He’s very strict.”
“He won’t like finding out you went to Club Zoom, I guess.”
“No. He will lose his mind when I don’t answer his phone call in the morning. He’ll come to the dorm to look for me and probably wake up the entire building when he finds me gone.” She shudders.
“Dorm?”
“I’m a student at the university. I live in the dorm with three roommates. I’m sure they’re panicking right now.”
“What were you studying, Little one?”
“Education. I’m supposed to be a teacher. My father thought that was an acceptable degree for a proper young woman.”
I don’t like her mocking, singsongy tone. It suggests she’s been disgruntled with her father for a very long time.
“Is that not what you wanted, Baby girl? To be a teacher?”
She scrunches up her nose. “Not really. I don’t…like kids.” She whispers that last part.
That’s helpful. I haven’t told her that she’ll never have any.
She draws in a deep breath and lets it out. “Children are sticky and loud. I’ve never wanted my own let alone a room full of them all day.”
I laugh. “We won’t have children, Little one.”
Her eyes widen. “We won’t?”
