Page 91 of The Daddy’s Girl

He shoots me a sultry smirk as he waits for me to cross the space toward the bed. We joked earlier, but he might actually be the death of me.

I have on the same large T-shirt from earlier as I crawl in next to him. This is dangerous, this sudden comfort we have with each other. How am I supposed to get into bed every night from now on without him in it waiting for me?

The beauty of being with Matis now is that I’ve had my entire life to get to know him. I’m not trying to learn his personality and his quirks while also letting him see mine. We know everything about each other. I have stared into his eyes a thousand times already.

Once I’m under the covers next to him, he settles deeper into the pillows and pulls me onto his chest. This is probably when a normal couple would talk about their families or biggest dreams and aspirations, but we don’t need to do that.

So instead, we lie in silence. His hand strokes my back softly, and I breathe in the familiar scent of his skin and rich cologne.

“If you had told me a month ago that we’d be lying here like this, I would have told you that you were out of your mind,” he says with his lips against my head.

I chuckle, squeezing him tighter. Matis has no idea how long I’ve wanted this, and I am not about to divulge that information. I don’t want him seeing me as some lovestruck girl. This means so much more to me than that.

“When did things change for you?” I ask cautiously, slightly worried about what the answer might be.

“I don’t know,” he mumbles. “The night you watched me in the voyeur room, maybe.”

“I still can’t believe you said my name,” I reply with a laugh.

“That makes two of us.”

For a while, we’re quiet and I’m grateful he doesn’t return the question to me. I can’t bring myself to lie to him, but I also can’t admit that I’ve been dreaming about this since I was…well, too young to be thinking about this.

“What am I going to do with you, Trouble?” he murmurs.

I pull back and look up into his eyes. “I have some ideas.”

He grins down at me, and I scoot in closer to press my lips against his. It’s still unbelievable to me that I can do this. That he’s here. That he’s mine. Even for a moment.

If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up. I have someone who makes me better, who knows me, who gets me. The soft stroke of his fingers on my back and his heartbeat in my ear eventually lull me to sleep.

Rule #26: Normal is a fallacy.

Matis

“What…the…fuck?”

My eyes open with a jolt when Julian’s angry growl disrupts the peaceful silence of my sleep. Amelia, the heavy sleeper that she is, doesn’t even budge.

Instead, I’m left to bear the brunt of my godson’s wrath-filled glare alone. His gaze is bouncing back and forth between my face and the sweet girl currently taking up the space in my arms, her face pressed against my naked chest.

So much for keeping this a secret.

I let out a sigh of annoyance as I scrub my hands over my eyes. I don’t know what time it is, but I do know Amelia and I were up until an ungodly hour doing ungodly things. It feels as if I just fell asleep.

“Give me a minute, Julian,” I groan.

“A minute?” he snaps. “Get the fuck away from my sister now.”

Amelia stirs, so I hold up a finger to my lips to silence her brother. She needs her rest. She gets cranky and easily overwhelmed when she doesn’t get enough sleep.

There’s a gnawing ball of anxiety currently growing in the pit of my stomach. This is my nightmare and has been my biggest fear since the whole thing started only a few days ago.

And yet…what’s done is done. Now he knows.

Which means it’s only a matter of time before Ronan knows.

Surrendering to my fate, I ease myself out from under Amelia. She lets out a whimpering sound as if she misses the comfort of my chest, but she stays asleep, hugging my pillow to her body.