He pointed across the room to the small counter in the kitchenette area where a tray was piled high with covered plates. “I thought we could eat here, snuggle under the covers, and watch a movie together.”
“You’d do that for me? I thought you didn’t like television,” she said as she released her legs and slowly uncurled her body.
He smiled. “Normally I don’t. But for my mate, I’m willing to try new things. But you need to strip first.”
She blinked and stared at him. “I have to be naked to eat dinner?”
He chuckled as he lifted her from his lap to stand in front of him. “No, I just want you to be more comfortable. Do you want to wear your sleepshirt or one of my shirts?”
Lily pointed at the shirt he was wearing. “Can I wear that one, Papa?”
His face muscles growing sore from all the smiling he’d been doing, Sailor stripped the shirt over his head and held it out to her. “Go get changed while I set up dinner.”
“Yes, Sir,” Lily said, taking the shirt and skipping into the bedroom.
Sailor sat for a moment longer, amazed that things had changed so drastically between them in such a short time. He knew there would be challenges to face as they learned more about one another, but he didn’t care.
Though he’d never been one for communicating, he would learn for her. He would learn to do anything for her. He just hoped his best would be enough to keep her happy.
CHAPTER 10
“Do you want your sandwich in triangles or squares, little flower?”
“Squares, please,” she answered, hearing the sadness in her own voice.
They’d barely left the bed except to eat and shower, and while she was hardly tired of being with her mate, she really needed to get out, meet some of the other residents of Bratburg, and become a part of the unique community.
She also needed to make at least some kind of attempt to find something she could pass along to Ian to pacify the governor. Time was running out, and she hoped that before it did she could figure out how to keep her job while indulging her Little side and learning how to live with her mate.
The afternoon after their mating, Sailor had brought back a box of food, but still they’d been living on sandwiches for the past three days. She hoped that now that they were mated and the bonds between them were growing, they might also return to the dining hall for an occasional meal. Sandwiches were all right but eating them for three meals a day, every day, was getting boring.
“I thought you loved triangle sandwiches.”
She took a deep breath and released a sigh that came from her toes. “Triangles are fancy food, and I’m not feeling fancy today. I’m feeling as plain and sad as a piece of copy paper. Square sandwiches, please, Papa.”
She watched as he turned back to the counter and cut the sandwich. He then reached up into the cupboard and pulled out a tiny umbrella that he’d found somewhere. He opened the small umbrella and stuck it in one of the sandwiches. Then he reached into the small refrigerator and added two of the fruit kabobs she’d put together when they’d prepped food for the week yesterday.
When he set the plate in front of her, she stared at it for a moment before looking up at him as her eyes filled with tears. “You cut my sandwich wrong. And put an umbrella on it.”
He grabbed a tissue from the box on the counter. Wiping her face dry, he held the tissue to her nose. “Blow.”
She wrinkled her nose at him but blew into the tissue anyway. “Gross,” she said as he wiped her nose before balling up the tissue. Without a word, he tossed it toward the trashcan across the room, missing by half a foot.
Watching him act as a Daddy did more to cheer her up than the fancy-cut lunch plate he’d set before her. Giggles burst forward, filling the silence of the apartment.
She wasn’t sure if she should run and hide or not when he turned to stare at her, so she tensed and waited. She’d been walking on eggshells for the past two days, waiting for him to put the wall back between them. When he began to chuckle as he picked up the tissue and placed it into the can, she took a deep breath and relaxed.
He returned to the counter to finish fixing his lunch before moving to the chair opposite hers. His plate had three sandwiches that were cut in rectangular halves, not in four triangles like hers.
“Thank you,” she whispered as she picked up the first triangle.
“You’re welcome,” he said, picking up a half sandwich. “Maybe now you’ll tell me why you’re too sad for triangles.”
She thought about it for three seconds, but knew she needed to put that conversation off as long as possible. Instead she looked out the window where the sun was shining, and everything looked so pretty.
“Papa, could we please go to the playground today?”
Sailor looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “I think that’s a good idea. I also want to take you on a tour of the grounds and introduce you to everyone. I’ve been told the Littles are not happy with me for keeping you all to myself for so long. They can’t wait to meet you.”
