Page 122 of Pack Choice
“Sounds just like me,” I say and he chuckles.
“You know what, it does.” I punch him on the arm and pull back to look up at him. “I’d like to meet her, properly, if you’d introduce us.” He swallows. “Don’t dismiss it out of hand. Don’t stop me before I’ve even had a chance.”
“Molly, I …. I don’t want to introduce you if you’re not going to be around for long. She’s already been let down by too many people in her life. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“You don’t have to introduce me as your girlfriend, Colt. You can introduce me as your assistant.”
He scrubs his finger through his beard, and I tug on it with my fingers. “I like it a little longer,” I purr.
“You don’t think I look like a tramp?”
“More like a pirate.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “You have a thing for pirates.”
“All girls do, Alpha.”
He shakes his head at me. “Come on then. Come and meet the mini tornado.”
32
Molly
I can seewhat he means when we step back outside. Harper is turning cartwheels on the lawn and when she stops, she scowls at River and he claps obligingly, elbowing Ford who does the same.
“Is her mommy in the picture?” I ask, trying my best to be a grown up and swallow down any jealousy I may feel stirring inside me.
“No,” his face turns steely, “she had her for a year. Then decided she couldn’t cope any more and handed her into care.”
“Didn’t she contact you?”
“No, in the end it was her sister who did. She thought I ought to know that my child was in a foster home. I went and found her immediately.”
“That’s why …” He drags his eyes away from his daughter to peer down at me. “The charity.”
“Yes, they were looking after her.”
“I bet she was so pleased when you came for her.”
Colt snorts. “Let’s just say the first few years were rough. She had to get used to me and I had to get used to her. If I hadn’t found Sissy, I don’t know how we would have coped.”
“She’s your nanny?” I say, feeling my cheeks burn when I consider my earlier thoughts.
“More like family now.” He takes my hand and we walk onto the lawn. “Harper, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Harper comes skipping up to her daddy, lifting her arms so that he’ll pick her up. He balances her on his arm, and she rests her little head against his broad shoulder, sucking on her thumb again. I think my womb actually combusts and my ovaries melt.
“Hi Harper,” I say, “I’m Molly. I work for your dad.”
“In the city?” she asks with a mouth full of thumb.
“In the city.”
She looks at me, mouth bobbing as she sucks. “You’re very pretty. You look like a princess.”
“So do you. I love your pigtails.”
“Daddy says, I’m the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world.”
