Page 73 of Playing with Fire

“Happy birthday, Daddy.” Nikki ran toward me and wrapped her arms around my legs.

I picked her up in one arm before Alice made her way toward me and I repeated the motion, bringing them both up in my arms. “Thank you.”

“We made you a cake.” Alice beamed proudly.

I found Izzy’s gaze and she smirked. I swear she and her baked goods were going to be the death of me.

She shrugged. “Can’t have a birthday without cake.”

I could only pray dinner wasn’t loaded down with carbs as well.

“Thank you.” I looked at Nikki and then over to Alice. “I bet it’s delicious.”

“Can we have cake first?”

“I already told you two no.” Izzy jumped in. “We need to eat dinner first.”

The girls’ lips both turned down into pouts. “But…”

“Izzy’s right. Dinner first, no buts.”

“Fine.” They both sighed, and I fought a smirk as I set them back down.

They ran over to the table and took their seats as I closed the distance between Izzy and me, gripping her by the waist and pulling her against my body. She popped up on her toes and pressed a quick kiss against my lips. The girls giggled from the table and I smiled.

“Happy birthday, papa bear,” Izzy whispered.

I leaned down, my lips close to her ear. “Where’s my present?”

When she’d asked me last week what I wanted, I sent her sexy lingerie decked out with stockings and garters.

“Hmm.” Her breath skated across the skin of my neck. “I might be wearing it.”

My dick jumped, pressing against her belly. Her giggle did nothing to mitigate the situation. I closed my eyes and tried imagining five things that I found the opposite of her in sexy lingerie.

“Can we eat now?” Nikki asked from the table.

I swallowed down the groan that wanted to slip through my lips, took another deep breath, and turned us toward the table.

“Meatloaf?” I eyed the table set with plates and food.

“Yep.” Izzy took her chair. “Don’t worry, I made it without breadcrumbs this time, and there’s salad to go with it.”

“Thank you. You didn’t need to do all this.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s just dinner and cake. Not like I threw you a party or anything.”

“But I thought—” Alice started before Izzy narrowed her eyes at her. “Oh. Right.”

Great. I had a feeling I was getting a birthday party tomorrow. I wrapped my arm around Izzy and leaned over, pressing a kiss to her temple.

“You’re amazing and I love you.”

She turned her head slightly with a smirk. “Hopefully that’s still true after tomorrow.”

I stared into her eyes. “It will always be true. Forever.”

Epilogue

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