Page 53 of Collision of Winters
“Of course, baby. I’m just gonna grab our beverages.”
I whipped my head around and smiled so widely as he went over to the kitchen.
“You called me baby,” I said.
He glanced over at me, and maybe he smiled because I smiled.
“I fear I’m going to suffocate you with terms of endearment,” he admitted. “I want to keep you in my pocket all day. Hell, I almost couldn’t leave the bed earlier because it meant replacing me with a pillow.”
I slapped my hands over my face and fell back against the couch. He was saying all the right things! Every damn word, I loved.
“If I get any happier, I might explode,” I groaned.
“Good to know. We’ll throw out your presents.” He could be so silly. He came back just in time as I sat up again, and he’d brought coffee and a soda. He must’ve hidden the soda somewhere. “Only because it’s your birthday,” he said pointedly.
I stuck out my tongue at him. “Soda is awesome.”
“Soda is packed with sugar.” He sat down and sipped his coffee. “You better believe I’ll fight to negotiate that off the table unless it’s a special occasion.”
I snickered, too happy to care right now. He wanted what was best for me, and he had always cared about health stuff. Dad was the same.
“Is diet okay?” I wondered.
He flicked me a glance and offered me my utensils. “I thought you didn’t like diet soda.”
I scrunched my nose and started cutting into my steak. “It’s not my favorite, but Sprite Zero is good.”
“You can drink however many of those you want,” he replied. “We’ll discuss the rest, okay? We’ll compromise. As sad as it is, Daddies don’t set all the rules. But they do have the right to pinch someone’s tongue if it comes out again.”
Oops!
Duly noted.
I took a big sip of my Coke, and it was so good. Ice-cold and perfect.
“Let me help you.” Daddy took my utensils again and cut my steak for me.
I smiled and drank some more.
He loved this, didn’t he? It was easy to focus on how he was making my dreams come true, but he was going through a significant change with me. All these little Daddy-isms were coming out. Cutting my steak, watching my sugar intake, being protective and caregiving—last night, he’d made sure I brushed my teeth. Stuff like that.
Before long, we were both scarfing down our meals, and since Daddy had cut my steak for me, I could use one hand to open gifts.
This was so exciting!
“This steak is soooo gooood,” I said with my mouth full. And the green beans? Spectacular! “What’re your favorite breakfasts, Daddy?”
He smiled and handed me the smallest gift. “Few things top a good steak. When I’m home, I rarely eat breakfast at all. On the weekends, I sweet-talk Yaya into making me a sandwich if Quin and I work out together in the morning. That’s it.”
Damn. I would die if I didn’t eat breakfast. Literally die.
I unwrapped the first gift and lit up like whoa when I saw a few packs of Pokémon cards.
“Yay! Thank you so much.” I was about to open the first pack when Daddy told me I could do that in the car later. And that confused me. “Are we in a rush? Wait—everything is still okay with Chris, right?”
Because that’d been the last thing that’d made yesterday one of the best days ever. Before Wade and I had gone to bed, Dad had reached out to let us know that Chris and his coworkers were en route to go home. Apparently, details couldn’t be discussed,and we had no confirmation about the “case” being over, but…I assumed so…? I hadn’t personally been on the phone with them; Wade had handled it.
“Yes, everything is fine,” Daddy assured. “I just happen to know that Declan is letting a new litter of Husky pups out into the courtyard at ten, and I’m thinking you’ll want to be there.”
