Page 46 of Bound By Her Shocking Secret

She swallowed the regret already forming and pushed it back down. She’d chosen this.

She shook her head. ‘No regrets.’

When Mia woke up she was disorientated, and her body felt achy but in a pleasant way. She shot up as soon as the events of last night came back to her in glorious Technicolor, a mixture of cold horror and heat rushing through her.

The sun was already high outside, and Lexi wasn’t in her cot, which only compounded Mia’s sense of disorientation. And then she heard it: the sound of Lexi’s mostly unintelligible babble. Maybe Odile had come in and got her? Although Mia didn’t think the young woman would feel that familiar yet...

Which left only one other possibility...one that Mia couldn’t quite imagine.

She got up and washed her face, tried not to notice the faint stubble burn along her jaw. She threw on underwear and a pair of cut-off jeans, and a sleeveless shirt that tied at her waist.

When she arrived on the kitchen/dining level, nothing could have prepared her for the sight before her. Daniel was sitting at the table and Lexi was in a highchair. She wore a pretty floral romper suit and her hair was held back with a clip.

‘Baba!’ Lexi declared loudly, while banging a plastic spoon up and down on the table of the highchair.

Mia could see a spray of various foodstuffs in an almost perfect arc around the chair. They hadn’t seen her yet as she was hidden by a wooden pillar.

Daniel shook his head. ‘No, that’s you.’ He pointed to himself.‘Papa—c’est moi.’

Lexi pursed her lips, as if she was trying very hard, and then said, ‘Abba!’

Daniel shook his head again. ‘Non, cherie, that’s a Swedish pop group. It’sPapa.’

Mia felt a rush of conflicting emotions. Relief. Pride. Concern. Protectiveness.Vulnerability.

Still too raw after last night. She’d almost thought it might have been a lurid dream, but the aches in her body were too real—especially the ache between her legs. And she felt emotional to see the two dark heads so close together. Lexi was her father’s daughter. Of that there could be no doubt.

Then Lexi spotted her. ‘Mama!’

Daniel looked around. Mia’s heart skipped a beat. She moved forward, trying to appear blasé. Nonchalant. As if what had happened last night and what was happening right now wasn’t as earth-shattering or significant as it was.

‘She’ll say it when you’re least expecting it. That’s how she likes to roll. She takes her own time.’

Mia picked Lexi up out of the highchair, kissing her and making her giggle. She finally looked at Daniel and took in the fact that he was wearing jeans again, and a grey T-shirt that made his eyes look steely. She felt breathless when she recalled all too easily how he’d taken off his jeans with such efficiency last night...

‘You should have woken me,’ she said. She couldn’t believe she’d slept through Daniel taking Lexi this morning.

He sat back. His jaw was clean-shaven. He looked as if he’d had twelve hours’ uninterrupted sleep when she felt far too crumpled and raw.

‘Actually, Odile heard Lexi chattering to herself. She asked me if she should go in and get her, so you could sleep, and I told her I’d do it.’

So Odile had noticed that Mia had been all but rendered unconscious by this man this morning. Brilliant.

‘I will admit that Odile changed her nappy, so I can’t claim that.’

Once again Mia felt it strange to acknowledge that she was no longer on her own with Lexi. ‘That was sweet of her.’

‘I told her she could take the day off because we’d be going out.’

‘We are?’

Daniel nodded. ‘If you like. There’s a waterfall not too far from here. Gabriela is happy to make up a picnic.’

Mia felt unaccountably resistant to the idea, while at the same time knowing she was being ridiculous. If Daniel wanted to spend time with Lexi, that was a good thing. But after sleeping with him she felt as if the whole situation was morphing out of her control faster than she could try to control it.

At a total loss as to know what alternative she had, and feeling as if she was stepping off a ledge into very unknown territory, all she could do was nod and say, ‘I’ll change Lexi into something more suitable.’

‘I insist,’ Odile said. ‘I’ve had the whole day off and I’d be more than happy to babysit Lexi. That’s why I’m here, after all. And I’m going to put her cot in my room so you can get a decent night’s sleep.’

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