“No.” Danny’s voice was thick with emotion. “I couldn’t figure out how.”
Closing her eyes, Addison breathed deep, and the churning in Kylie’s stomach grew until she thought she might be sick.
And when her Mommy opened her eyes again, there was such grief in the beautiful green it knocked all the air from Kylie’s lungs. “Kylie, honey, I’m so sorry. I… I’m not your Mommy.”
Was this some weird practical joke? “What? Don’t be silly. Of course you are.”
“No, sweetheart, I’m not. I tried to tell you before, I’m not good for you. Or Daniel. You both deserve so much better.”
For a long moment, her brain couldn’t quite make sense of the words. But as they shifted into focus in her brain, panic tightened like a vice around her lungs. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Back in Bozeman, I realized I wasn’t being the Mommy you deserved because I was never meant to be a Mommy. I’m so sorry I didn’t put a stop to this sooner. We should have never?—”
Fury pushed through the shock and pain. Whipping around, Kylie jabbed a finger into Danny’s chest. “You did this! What did you say to her?”
“Nothing, Ky.” Her own hurt and anger reflected in his eyes as he shifted his gaze over her head. “But maybe she’s right. Maybe this is for the best.”
No. No, this couldn’t be happening. She finally had everything she wanted and they were both just going to take it from her without even giving her a say?
“It’s not for the best, and you know it!” Placing her hands on his chest, she shoved as hard as she could.
She hadn’t actually expected him to move. As often as they’d roughhoused before, he’d always managed to counter her moves so she didn’t actually hurt him.
But not this time.
Eyes wide, Danny stumbled back—straight into Chef Angel.
Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as Kylie watched the giant chocolate swan take flight. And then shatter into a thousand pieces as it crashed into the tile floor of the lobby.
Chaos erupted around them, dozens of Littles yelling and crying while a few of the service subs rushed forward to begin picking up the pieces. Chef Angel simply stood staring at his ruined creation alongside Danny and Addison.
“What is going on out here?”
The thundering voice of Rawhide’s owner rose over the din, effectively silencing everyone. And then his gaze latched on Kylie, his eyes narrowing as he looked from her to the shell-shocked Danny and horrified Addison.
His expression twisted into a grimace before he turned to Angel. “What do you need, Chef?”
“I’ve got it.” But Chef Angel’s usually jovial tones were clipped as he waved to Danny and Kylie. “If you could deal with… whatever this is, I’ll handle the cleanup.”
“Of course. Have Erika get you whatever you need.” Turning back to Kylie and Dan, Master Derek crooked a finger. “You two, with me. Addison?”
Whatever protests she might have made about no longer being their Mommy seemed to die on her tongue. Jaw firming, she nodded once in agreement.
“All right. Follow me.”
Danny
Oh, man. They were insomuch trouble.
Guilt twisted his stomach into a giant knot as he hurried to follow Master Derek’s long strides across the lobby to his office, Kylie scurrying along beside him.
He wasn’t even sure how it had happened. Usually when they were playing around, he could predict her moves and counter them pretty easily so neither of them got hurt. But she’d caught him off-guard this time and before he’d even known what was happening he’d been stumbling backward and then that damn swan had been airborne.
Honestly, if it had happened to anyone but him and if Chef Angel hadn’t looked so freaking devastated, it might have actually been kind of funny.
But it had happened to him, and it wasn’t funny at all.
And even though Addison claimed she wasn’t their Mommy anymore, his bottom cheeks still clenched at the furious set of her jaw as they made their way into Master Derek’s office.
