Total pages in book: 56
Estimated words: 53081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 265(@200wpm)___ 212(@250wpm)___ 177(@300wpm)
She turned around and glared at him. “You tricked me.”
“No, Little Fish. I swear.”
“I’m a job. You were hired to…to-to-to… I don’t even know what you were hired to do, but you lured me into your bed.”
He needed to remain calm and help her see that wasn’t the case. “Isla, I did not manipulate you. Yes, I was assigned to protect you from an unknown enemy, but that fact is irrelevant. You’re my Little girl. That just happened.”
She glanced around and then shuffled backward toward a door she likely suspected was the bathroom. In her confusion and frustration, she probably didn’t remember which door led to the master bath. “What about Sadie and the other women? How did they end up in relationships with your teammates? That’s not believable, Caesar.” Her voice shook.
“To be honest, none of us understand it any better than you do, Isla. Kingsley is some kind of all-knowing matchmaker. That’s our best guess.”
“That’s crazy. All of you are crazy.”
She hadn’t even met over half of his makeshift family, but he couldn’t blame her for what she was feeling. If he were in her shoes, he’d be just as skeptical—perhaps more so from being burned badly by Mindy. “Sit down and talk to me, please.”
She shook her head, her thick brown hair flying around. “I need to get out of here. I need space to think.” She turned around and yanked open the door behind her. It did not lead to the bathroom.
Isla gasped and froze on the threshold. “What is this?” she asked, her voice trembling.
“It’s a playroom.”
She took a tentative step forward, keeping her clothes cradled in her arms. “Whose room is it?”
“Yours.”
She jerked her head around to shoot daggers at him. “Mine? It can’t be mine. We just met.”
“The furniture has been there since I moved into this apartment. All of my teammates are Daddies. We knew it. Kingsley knew it. He also knew we wouldn’t be satisfied in a vanilla relationship and that when we finally met our special Little girl, we would move her in and be glad we already had the basics of a room started.”
“Basics!” Her voice rose an octave. “This room is not basics, Caesar. It’s a Little girl’s underwater heaven.”
At least her words indicated she liked what he’d done. “I know. I started it right away when I met you.”
“That was three days ago. No one could have put up this under-the-sea wallpaper and arranged all these additional matching blue accessories in three days.”
“Sure, they could. I did.” He took a tentative step closer to her. “I ordered everything from town. Someone picked it up for me, and I hung the wallpaper after work last night.”
“Did you sleep?” she asked in a shrill voice.
“Not much. I wanted it to be special when you saw it for the first time. I’m sorry it happened while you’re so upset.” He was truly sorry. This wasn’t how he’d intended for her to see the room. He knew she’d gotten confused, thinking this was the bathroom while she’d been so clouded with mistrust.
She took another tentative step farther into the room. It was a good sign. Also, her shoulders lowered an inch. “Why did you do this?” she murmured.
“Because I knew you were mine the moment I met you. It doesn’t matter that I was assigned to protect you, but it does make me feel even more fierce about ensuring your safety. It would kill me if anything happened to you, Isla.”
She had her back to him, but her grip on her clothes loosened. “I don’t know what to believe.”
Suddenly, an idea came to him. “Did someone in your past hurt you, Little Fish?”
She sniffled. Bingo.
He took another step toward her. Only a foot separated them now. “Remember how skeptical I felt when you told me about your treasure hunt? I was burned in the past, too. Mindy did a number on me. I haven’t trusted easily since then. But then I met you, and I knew I needed to suspend my mistrust of people and let you into my heart. I believe everything you’ve told me about your grandfather and the map you have. I’m going to help you look for it. Do you know why?”
She shook her head but didn’t turn around.
“Because you’re passionate about it. It doesn’t matter if we find anything or not. What matters is that we’re going to have fun looking. Together. We share a love of diving, and I bet we have dozens of other things in common. Plus, I bet you’ve been looking for a Daddy for many years, and I’ve been looking for my special Little girl. We found each other. Now, we have the rest of our lives in front of us, and I, for one, can’t imagine spending a single day of it without you.”