Page 209 of Let Me In

“You’re quiet today.”

“You look warm like this.”

“You like sitting on Daddy’s lap, don’t you?”

I go redder with each word. EspeciallyDaddy.

But I don’t look away.

I just finish chewing. And when he reaches for another piece of toast, I stop him.

“Wait.”

His hand pauses.

I pick up a small piece of bacon with my fingers. Turn in his lap, just enough to hold it up.

His brows lift.

“You feeding me now?” he rumbles, head tilting slightly, a slow grin tugging at his mouth as his eyes darken just enough to make my breath catch.

“Just one,” I say.

He leans in, slow.

His lips brush my fingertips as he takes it, and the look he gives me after nearly knocks the air from my lungs.

“Careful, little one,” he murmurs. “You’re playing with fire.”

I grin—shy, but there.

And settle back against his chest like that was all I ever needed to do.

I don’t move for a while.

Not even when he finishes feeding me. Not when he eats what’s left with one hand, his other still wrapped securely around my waist.

We just… stay.

His chin rests against my shoulder. His breath is warm at my neck. And even though the food is gone and the tea’s cooling in the mugs, neither of us says a word about getting up.

Because this?

This is more than breakfast.

It’s a kind of belonging I don’t know how to hold with words.

So I hold it with my body instead.

With the way I curl into him.

With the way I let my head rest beneath his jaw.

With the way I breathe slower when he strokes his palm along my hip in slow, quiet circles.

“You’re everything,” he says softly.

Like it’s just for me.

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