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“I’ll beg for her.”
He appraises me, piercing me in the way he always does, like he’s staring at my soul, not my face. “You’ll do whatever it takes for my little girl, won’t you?”
I dip my hat. “Yes, sir, but she’s not so little anymore.”
“Some part of them will always stay little. You’ll see,” he says, creaking back in the stool. His eyes seem to fill with memories. “You’ll always be her daddy, no matter how old she gets, but instead of asking you to tuck her into bed, she’ll ask you if she can stay on the family phone plan because it’s a better rate.”
I groan a chuckle. “I can’t even imagine Vi having a cell phone right now.”
“You best believe it. They grow up too damn fast.” He tosses back the beer. “One minute, you’re holding them, trying to keep them from falling off the petting zoo pony. And the next, they’re giving you a heart attack on the back of a bull, and you’re feeling all kinds of proud. But you also know she’s gonna put you in the ground early from all the worryin’ you have to hide from her ’cause, at the end of the day, her dreams are more important than yours.”
A wave of chills rattles my body, and my eyes burn.
“Well, fuck,” I sniff like a man. “Thanks for that. I’m gonna cry now.”
Willie clears his throat. “Me too, and I don’t even like kids.”
Colt salutes us with his empty bottle, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Welcome to fatherhood, gents. It’s the worst best thing that’ll ever happen to you. The only person who can make me cry on this Earth is my little girl.”
Love isn’t a big enough word to encompass what I feel for my daughter, and I don’t want her to grow up too fast. Every day, she seems to change, learning new words, discovering new things, falling, standing, getting back up.
I want her to always need me, but I guess one day, she won’t. Even then, I hope she always knows she can come to me for anything, because she might not always need me, but I’ll always need my little girl.
I swallow. “So, the worrying never goes away?”
“Never. You just learn to deal with it, and then eventually you get to share that worry with the person she chooses to spend her life with.” His brown eyes spear me, and he waits, holding onto whatever words he’s going to say next just long enough to get my heart racing. “That gonna be you, Wyatt?”
He doesn’t bullshit me, so I don’t hesitate. “Yes, sir. I’ve always been hers.”
He gives me a long appraising look and seems to come to some internal decision before giving me a hard nod. “Good man. Now enough with the ‘sir.’”
“No can do. My mama would kill me.” I wink at him on my way out. “Once a gentleman, always a gentleman, sir.”
40
“NAMA”
DAKOTA
One lazy Sunday morning, a tiny squeal stirs me awake.
I roll over to face Wyatt, who’s snoring peacefully in my ear with his heavy arm draped around my chest. He doesn’t stir, so he must be exhausted after the four rounds of sex last night.
This man can go all night.
All I want to do is have sex with him in every position imaginable. I’ve never had a hard time having an orgasm, but normally if I don’t have one, it’s because I’m too lazy to tell the guy what I want in bed since I’m not into whatever’s happening.
One of the best things about sleeping with a man I’ve known for years is I don’t have to pretend with him. If something isn’t working, we talk it out, which means every time keeps getting better and better.
My phone buzzes on my nightstand, and irritation flares in my chest when I see the message on the screen.
Boone
I still need my jacket. I’m going to have to show up at your place if you don’t text me back (;
Me
Don’t even think about it. I’ll give it to you at the Granite Falls rodeo.
