Page 45 of Intimately Faithful

“Don’t you dare, Daniel Murphy! Not when I’ve shown you my intentions. I will be ripping your hair out if you do. See how she likes you bald.”

“I think she’ll cope,” He went on flippantly, holding back his grin when he took a seat and lifted Misha out of the carry seat. She attacked the bottle with gusto just like her mama did with a pepperoni pizza.

Moving like an apparition she was hovering over his shoulder in seconds.

A red headed demon with eyes of emeralds and threats, he had to bite back his grin.

Her heat and scent assaulted his nose and it took the reincarnated strength of Samson himself for Danny not to push his head into the side of her neck and inhale like a junkie.

He wasn’t telling lies when he’d told her she was worse than drugs.

If he allowed himself, he could easily lose all sense of decency and fall into her sweetness all over again. He’d all but forgotten the reason that had brought her here—the danger included, and they’d fallen into a weird little domestic dynamic that both pleased and horrified him.

He couldn’t hold onto his anger for what happened between them. It was redundant. Going through the twelve steps meant he’d cast aside any emotion that didn’t bring positivity to his life. And now he had the full picture of what happened back then, he understood she’d been in a difficult situation.

Did he want to go back in time and do damage to her shit of a father?Always.

He would always wonder how he would have handled the situation had Aoife brought it to him. Holding it against her wasn’t in him.

She’d punished herself enough already and the last thing he wanted was to see her unhappy.

Selfless acts shouldn’t be held against a person who tried to save her father’s life.

If he had a grudge, then he was no better than the father who emotionally blackmailed her.

The way she looked at him … almost with adoration stars dancing in her green eyes caused molten lava to travel through his intestines. Danny swallowed and managed to keep both hands on the contented bundle drinking her milk.

She hadn’t been shy in telling him she wanted him …themback.

He had no idea how it would affect his position in the church if he allowed himself to fall, because he had more than his own selfish needs to consider. He was a big part of the community, and though he was settled in Armado Springs, his job with the church meant he could be moved without much notice—not only to a new church, but a new country if the need arose for it. And on accepting this position he’d made it clear if they needed him somewhere else he’d be happy to go.

Having a woman with a baby in that equation would have to be considered in his every decision.

It was no secret that Misha had wound him around her tiny finger. It was also true that she loved giving him her gummy smiles more than anyone else.

Aoife was a package deal now, and he didn’t even know if he was father material.

He liked kids well enough, but when he’d accepted God into his life and reaffirmed his faith, he’d dropped the idea of ever being a father, and he’d been fine about it.

A man with his addictive predilections meant he would always teeter towards self-destruction if not kept in check, he wouldn’t wish that on a wife or his children.

Now, his ginger haired girl, with her varying freckles and seductive eyes had him thinking all kinds of crazy thoughts.

“Someone is thinking hard,” she said, walking her fingers along his shoulder, she ruffled his hair. “Penny for them?”

“How did you meet Misha’s father?”

Aoife visibly bristled and stepped back from him. Danny stopped her by grabbing her wrist. It was her turn to gasp and her cheeks to heat. Call him a rogue, because he used her reaction to him against her by running his thumb against her pulse. “I still haven’t told you everything, Danny.”

He snorted. “Color me shocked. That much I guessed. You don’t owe me anything, but I’m always here to listen. I just wanted to know if you were in love with her father.”

“Gracious, no. I’ve loved only one boy me whole life and he’s being difficult at the moment, talking about dating other women and making me steaming mad, so he is.”

Fire and devastating need which wouldn’t stop its clanging inside his head, burned through him and he had to drop her hand, or he might have put the baby down and thrown her mammy on the table and fucked them both back to a decade ago, when life was simpler.

“You always were a brat,” he said with a fond smile as she sidled up to him and slung an arm around his shoulders.

Affection and friendship came easy for her.

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