Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45314 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45314 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Valerie took a step in that direction, watching him as he jogged toward his SUV. Damn, he was fine. Her perfect fantasy Daddy. She was drawn to him like a magnet.
“Maybe you should ask him out when he comes by your house later,” Tatiana suggested.
Valerie flinched and then spun around, not realizing she’d gotten so mesmerized that she had flattened her palms to the glass door and blocked out the rest of the world. She fingered the front of her sweater. “Oh, goodness. I couldn’t do that.”
“Why not? Are you single?”
“Yes, but…”
Tatiana grinned. “You’re obviously smitten by him, and he seemed pretty interested in you too. He barely took his gaze off you the entire time. I felt like I was intruding,” she teased.
Valerie swallowed. “Really?”
Tatiana nodded. “Definitely. You’re a strong independent woman. Ask him out. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe he’s married, or maybe he already has a Little girl, or maybe he’s not even a D—” She slapped a hand over her mouth, mortified beyond belief at what she’d just disclosed. Her heated face changed to on fire.
Tatiana just smiled and stepped closer. “Don’t worry. I know how you feel. I’ve done the same thing several times lately. I accidentally called Maniac Daddy in front of our new employee Buzz the other day. I was so mortified I thought I would die on the spot.”
Valerie lowered her hand. “I wondered if he was your Daddy. I didn’t want to ask, but that’s probably why I let it slip out.”
Tatiana giggled. “We Littles recognize each other, and we have to stick together. Now, promise me you’ll take a chance and ask him out. And please come back in soon to see the sketch and tell me how it went.” She clapped her hands together. “I love it when a Little finds her Daddy. It’s the sweetest thing ever.”
“Seems like we’re getting ahead of ourselves,” Valerie pointed out. “Maybe he’s not even a Daddy.”
“I don’t know. I get that vibe from him. I’ve known him a while. He’s got that something special that makes me suspect.”
Valerie needed to step outside and inhale the cool air before she collapsed. The last hour had been the most eventful hour she’d had in months. She needed to regroup and think through everything that had happened.
Or hide. Maybe she needed to hide in her house and pretend not to be home when Grayson came to the door later.
Tatiana opened the door for her. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yep. Sure. Thank you.” Valerie fled as quickly as she could, hurrying down the sidewalk without looking back.
Chapter Two
The next few hours dragged by like molasses for Grayson. He couldn’t concentrate on anything except the fact that later today he would get to see Valerie again. What an unexpected treat it had been running into her at Maniac Tats. He’d been rather shocked, actually. Of all places, he hadn’t expected the timid woman to be contemplating a tattoo.
His thoughts ran rampant. He pictured himself going in with her, holding her hand while she got inked. Maybe she would squeeze his fingers so hard it hurt. Maybe she would look him in the eyes and call him Daddy.
He shook the absurd thought from his head. It had been like this all day. Scenarios kept running through his mind. They always started out innocent and normal. They always ended with her calling him Daddy.
He had no way of being certain Valerie was even Little, but he suspected. After all, she often greeted him at the door with her hair pulled back in low pigtails. She had the cutest sparkly rainbow tennis shoes. And she nearly always had on a different pair of cupcake earrings.
She was the most adorable Little girl he’d ever seen, and yet she had trouble looking him in the eyes, and she often stumbled over her words. It was possible he was totally reading her wrong.
The truth was that Grayson had been thinking about her for months. He loved that he got to see her at least three times a week. He even told himself she ordered so many individual things on purpose so he’d have to come back over and over.
He didn’t mind, but he also hadn’t ever wanted to push his luck and risk alienating her. He was on the clock doing his job every time he saw her. It would have been totally inappropriate for him to hit on her or ask her out. She deserved for her driver to drop things off and leave.
However, for the last few weeks, it had been growing increasingly difficult to keep his feelings to himself. He wished she would give him a sign. Any sign. Something that would make him not feel like a jerk for suggesting she take a chance on him.