He'd just flipped off the stove when Carina asked, “Do you like seafood, Daddy?”
“I do,” he answered and turned to see her stick a treat into her mouth.
“Look, Daddy, I’m eating a giraffe,” she mumbled before opening her mouth to show him the partially chewed cracker. “It’s seefood now. Get it?”
Carina laughed and inhaled some of the crumbs. To his horror, she coughed and choked. Marcus raced to her side and pried her mouth open to scoop what remained out. He tore the lid off her sippy cup and held the juice to her lips. “Drink, Carina.”
Shaking, she followed his directions and automatically swallowed the ruby liquid. To his relief, the juice washed the last of the crumbs down her throat. She slumped against the back of her chair. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“Of course, Little girl. No talking with your mouth full,” he warned, trying not to show her how shaken up he was as well. Marcus forced himself to breathe slower. Years in combat with people who would have loved to shish kebab him and an animal cracker almost gave him a heart attack.
“We don’t like giraffes anymore.” Mischief nodded in Carina’s arms, agreeing with her completely.
“No more giraffes. Maybe we'll give them another chance on a different day. And we don’t tell jokes and eat at the same time.” he suggested casually as he snapped the lid on the juice and settled in the seat next to her.
“Take another sip for Daddy. Good girl,” he praised her as she drank deeply.
“How about a bite of eggs?” He placed a small amount on his fork and held it to her lips.
Tentatively, she opened her mouth. He guessed she was afraid of choking again. To his delight, her expression changed from one of fear to appreciation. When she started to comment, Marcus reminded her, “No talking with food in your mouth.”
She swallowed dramatically before opening her mouth to show him it was empty. Then, Carina reached for the fork to have another taste. “Those are really good.”
Marcus held the utensil away and reminded her, “Daddy will feed you.”
“Fine,” she said and pouted until he collected another portion.
Marcus gave her time between bites and ate a couple himself when she insisted. Carina hadn’t asked him a lot of questions about what vampire life and needs were. With each moment thatpassed, the urgency grew inside him to turn her into a being who could be his Little for many years to come. He would need to have that discussion with her soon.
Not now. Today was for being Little.
Chapter
Fifteen
After driving to the hospital and entering her office on autopilot on Monday morning, Carina dropped into her chair with a sigh of disbelief. She definitely didn’t want to be here. Marcus had offered to take her to work, but she’d turned him down. Walking out the door had taken all her willpower.
She wanted to hang out with her Daddy. Sure, he had stuff to do too. Marcus had told her she could leave her job at the hospital and stay with him, but how long would he want her with him? She needed to pay for her car and apartment if Marcus changed his mind. He’d hinted they’d be together long term but hadn’t shared any details.
Do vampires even get married?Carina laughed aloud when the question popped into her head.
Carina glanced around self-consciously. People turned to identify who was amused on Monday morning. Well, the cubicle walls blocked most of her view. Only the tops of heads rotated her way over the cubicle walls. Carina hated being stuck in a box without privacy or sound blocking. Thank goodness most people wore headphones to listen to their music.
Hers were noise-cancelling ones. Carina always had problems concentrating on complicated billing snafus when her neighbors spoke on their phones or, worse, leaned over the cubicle dividers to chat. She’d talked to her boss a couple of times about working from home, but he was a “butts in seats” kind of leader. Not that she ever saw him during the week. His office was on a completely different floor.
The morning drifted by slowly. When her regular lunchtime finally showed on her laptop, Carina bolted out of her chair. She grabbed her lunch from her desk and headed for the employee break room.
Choosing an isolated table, Carina opened the paper sack to check out what Marcus had packed for her lunch. An image of Marcus bloomed in her mind, making her smile.Damn, he’s good-looking.
“I wish I could read your mind,” a familiar voice commented.
Carina raised her head to meet the young woman’s gaze. She didn’t share her thoughts. “Hi, Elizabeth. Did you have a good weekend?”
Thankfully, her friend let her off the hook and didn’t ask any prying questions. “I did. It was quiet. I should have gone to Nightfall with you, but I didn’t want to stand in line that long to get in. The crowd even drew the media’s attention. There were reports on the six and ten o’clock news.”
“There were a lot of people. I was glad I got in early. They reached capacity early and were only letting more in as a few left.”
“Did a lot of the crowd stay until closing time? Did you?”
