Page 35 of My Boyfriend's Possessive Daddy

“Sorry,” she says. “Might as well come in.”

“Thank you.”

I follow her into the kitchen and watch as she puts a kettle to boil on the stove. After that, she takes her time getting the service set up. The silence in the kitchen has a physical weight on us. It’s heavy. It’s so thick and oppressive, it’s almost suffocating. The kettle whistles as it boils, so Elodie pours out a pair of mugs then carries the whole service over to the table and sits down across from me. Sitting so close, I want to reach out and take her hand. I want to touch her. But I can tell she’s uncomfortable, so I don’t.

“Have you heard from Ben?” I ask just to break the silence.

“He’s sent me a few texts. I haven’t returned them.”

Her voice is crisp, and she refuses to look me in the eye. She’s clearly not comfortable, but it’s more than that. She looks … sad. That’s a feeling I know all too well. She takes a sip of her tea and sets her glass down. After a long moment, she finally looks up and meets my gaze. “What are you doing here, Ethan?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“There’s nothing left for us to talk about.”

“Maybe there isn’t,” I reply. “But I wouldn’t feel right if I walked away without telling you how I feel. When I’m done, if you still feel the same way, I understand.”

Her cheeks flush and her eyes glisten. It’s not difficult to see that this is just as hard for her as it is for me. She runs her fingertip around the rim of her mug, her lips trembling. The cacophony of thoughts and emotions crashing around inside my head makes it hard to think straight. It’s making it difficult to speak eloquently or to, as Melinda said, show her my more human side. Instead, I’m sitting here, looking at her blankly like an idiot.

I run my hands through my hair and give my head a small shake, trying to get my head straight, telling myself I don’t need to worry about speaking eloquently, so long as I speak sincerely. So long as I speak from the heart. Deciding that simply but honestly is the best way to go, I take a moment to gather my wits about me and speak.

“Elodie, I love you,” I state firmly.

She can’t hide the look of surprise on her face. Her mouth opens and closes as if she’s trying to speak, but no words come out, making her look as if she’s gasping for breath instead, so I take advantage of the silence to continue.

“I know we agreed that we were going to keep things simple and casual, what with you going back to LA at some point. But somewhere in the middle of all this, I fell in love with you,” I tell her. “I didn’t mean to. I tried to keep myself from feeling so deeply for you, but it’s one of those things I couldn’t stop, no matter how hard I tried. The simple truth is, I love you.”

“Ethan, we can’t … I mean…” her voice trails off and she takes a moment to gather herself before continuing. “Like I told you, the most important thing is your relationship with Ben?—”

“No, it’s not. You’re the most important thing to me, Elodie.”

“But he’s your son.”

“My relationship with Ben is what it’s going to be. I’ve tried to bridge that gap, but if he doesn’t want it, I can’t force it,” I tell her. “I can’t force it any more than he can force a relationship with you. He doesn’t want me in his life right now just like you don’t want him in yours. And I’m not going sit by and not live my life or not go after those things I want on the vague hope that maybe one day, he and I can repair things. That very well might be a long wait for a train that’s not going to come. Ever. And my relationship with Ben has no bearing on my relationship with you. They are two separate things.”

She’s silent for a moment but has a thoughtful look on her face. She’s hearing me out. That tells me she’s not as committed to ending things between us as I thought she might be. It’s a small crack in her armor. It suggests that maybe I have a chance here after all.

“Elodie, I’m not going to live my life waiting for something that might not ever come to pass. You’ve reminded me what it is to live. You’ve given me a renewed sense of life and passion I thought I lost a long time ago,” I tell her. “I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose you. I love you and I want you. You’re what’s most important to me right now. You matter to me more than I can even begin to say. The way I see it, you belong to me. And I belong to you. But if this is something you don’t want, just tell me and I’ll go.”

Her eyes shimmer with tears. Then without a word, she jumps to her feet and comes around the table, throwing herself into my arms. I pull her to me, feeling my heart swell so large, it feels like it’s going to burst. Elodie dots my face with kisses, the tears rolling down her face wetting my cheeks.

After a long moment, she pulls back and looks at me, her eyes filled with the purest glimmer of love I’ve ever seen. I recognize it because I know that same glimmer is shining in my eyes too.

“Does that mean you want to be with me?” I ask.

“Yes,” she says as her tears continue to fall. “I love you too, Ethan. With everything in me. And yes, I belong to you and you belong to me.”

I slip a long black box out of my pocket and hand it to her. She takes it from me in a trembling hand and looks at it for a moment before raising her eyes to me again.

“What is this?” she asks.

“I had it made for you. Open it.”

Her hands are shaking so hard, she opens it to find a choker made of crushed black velvet with a white gold heart set into it. Elodie takes it out of the box and looks at it adoringly.

“It’s beautiful,” she says.

Reaching out, I hit the hidden button that opens the heart to reveal the inscription. On one side, it reads, “Daddy’s Little Girl,” and the other says, “With All My Love ~ Ethan.” I help her put it on and she looks at her reflection in the silver teakettle, gingerly running the tips of her fingers over the heart.

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