Page 16 of A Hunter Turned
The hand reluctantly retracted and Jamie’s eyes flicked to Cady’s dad. His visage was stern, his words scolding, but his eyes… reluctant amusement, pride, love. That look told Jamie more than words ever could, just how much this man loved his daughter. The big burly alpha was completely and utterly wrapped around the finger of this tiny slip of a girl and Jamie’s heart melted. God, she was such a sap.
Clearing her throat, Jamie turned her attention back to Cady and opened her mouth to show the girl her teeth.
The look of disappointment was obvious and Jamie chuckled. Her fangs were a little pointier than what she had had when she was a human, but retracted, they weren’t anything anyone would notice unless they knew what they were looking for. Grinning widely, she let the fangs extend to their full length and Cady gasped, her fingers once more heading for Jamie’s mouth.
Pulling her head back, Jamie closed her lips over her teeth and shook her head with the warning, “They’re sharp.”
Cady’s eyes lifted from Jamie’s mouth and her face suddenly scrunched. “What happened to your eyebrows?”
Jamie had momentarily forgotten the mess she’d made on her face and her cheeks heated once more with embarrassment. With a self-deprecating grimace, she confided, “A make-up tutorial gone wrong.”
Big gray eyes, that Jamie realized were the same color as Archer’s, widened and lit with excitement. “Can I do your make-up?”
That actually sounded like fun and since she didn’t have anything better to do, Jamie nodded before remembering that it wasn’t only up to her. Turning her head to quickly glance at Archer she added, “If it’s okay with your dad.”
Over the next hour, Jamie introduced Cady to some of her favorite music, being careful to pick songs with relatively child-friendly lyrics, while Cady applied make-up to Jamie’s face. Archer had to have been bored out of his mind and Jamie was tempted to tell him that Cady would be fine with her if he needed to go tend to alpha business. She’d held her tongue, however. The last time they’d spoken about Cady, he’d growled that his daughter didn’t know that Jamie was a vampire and that he had no intention of changing that fact. Obviously, he’d reconsidered, but that didn’t mean he was suddenly of a mind to leave the girl alone in a vampire’s care.
“Go like this,” Cady said, demonstrating what she wanted Jamie to do by shaping her mouth into an exaggerated pucker. Jamie obliged and a deep red lipstick that she had bought on a whim but had never actually worn was dragged over her lower lip.
“Okay. Smoosh them.”
Pressing her lips together, Jamie did as she was bid and then asked, “How do I look?”
Little hands cupped her cheeks. “Beautiful,” was breathed before Cady turned to look at her dad. “Isn’t she beautiful, Daddy?”
“She is. You did an amazing job, princess.”
Those warm hands were still on Jamie’s face and she had to swallow down the lump of emotion that had formed in her throat. She’d never given much thought to children in her human life but she’d always kind of assumed that she’d one day have some. Becoming a vampire had taken that option off the table since the Turned couldn’t procreate, and while she didn’t regret her choice considering the circumstances she’d been facing at the time, knowing that this was something she’d never have was suddenly a bitter pill to swallow. This time spent with Cady was what she had always imagined having a daughter would be like – playing with make-up, dress-up tea parties with fancy hats, mother-daughter fun.
Her eyes welled and Jamie blinked rapidly to clear the unexpected tears before she smeared her mascara and ruined Cady’s efforts. Pasting a grin on her face, she suggested, “It would be a shame to waste all your excellent skills. Should we go find a party?”
Cady giggled. “It’s Tuesday. No one has a party on a Tuesday.”
Playing along, Jamie gave the girl a considering look and tapped a finger on her bottom lip. “Hm. What would you suggest then? What’s fun to do on a Tuesday night for two gorgeous single ladies?”
Cady jumped up and down excitedly, the wings on her back quivering and leaving a ring of glitter on the floor. “Let’s dance!”
Standing, Jamie took Cady’s hand. “What a great idea.”
∞∞∞
Archer sat back and watched as his daughter, and the vampire that occupied far too many of his thoughts of late, bounced happily around the living room to an assortment of upbeat songs. He was smiling, feeling happy and relaxed just watching the two of them together. There weren’t many women he knew of that would allow a four-year-old to use their face as a canvas and not once request to see what was being done in a mirror. Nor had Jamie urged the child away from the more vivid colors.
As such, the vampire was currently sporting a deep, dark forest green eyeshadow up to her crookedly penciled in eyebrows. Her cheeks were round apples of vivid pink complete with a coating of glitter, and her lips were painted a bold red.
He hadn’t lied, however, when he had agreed with Cady that Jamie was beautiful. He had already found her incredibly attractive, but her kindness to his daughter, the way she had looked at his little girl like Cady hung the moon… It made his chest ache with longing for things he couldn’t have.
Little fingers latched onto his hand, shaking him from his musings as Cady tugged. “Come on, Daddy. Come dance with us.”
Archer shot his daughter a mock look of horror. “Alpha’s don’t dance.”
Bouncing up and down with excitement, Cady continued to tug. “We’ll teach you!”
Glancing at Jamie, who was watching them with an expression that clearly stated she was attempting not to laugh and failing, Archer let himself be dragged to his feet. “I’ve got moves,” he said winking at his daughter before launching into an impersonation of John Travolta inSaturday Night Fever.
Jamie barked a laugh, bending over in hilarity while his daughter continued to jump around waving her arms in the air with a beautiful smile on her face.
Archer couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun. Enjoying watching Cady and Jamie laugh together, he’d switched things up specifically to amuse them and did the Macarena, threw in some Electric Slide, launched into the Funky Chicken, and busted out some Gangnam Style before they’d all collapsed together on the floor trying to catch their breaths between chuckles.
