Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
With everything up in the air between us, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to watch the last season Eilidh starred in. Curiosity piqued, I switched on the show and turned the volume up just a bit. Eilidh’s character Mikayla was the first on-screen.
My pulse picked up speed as I watched her. She was so the opposite of Mikayla that I marveled anyone would mistake her for her character. But she was a bloody great actor, and it made me sad for Eilidh that the joy of acting wasn’t enough to outweigh all the other shit that came with the job. Even knowing it wasn’t real, I still didn’t like it when she shared an on-screen kiss with Jasper Richmond. They had the kind of chemistry that people had gossiped about for years, about if they were a couple in real life.
I saw that Jasper had trash-talked Eilidh lately, though. I wasn’t sure if she was aware of it, but I wouldn’t bring it up. She was trying to avoid all that rubbish. He was a prick for doing that to her.
“Ae,” Millie said.
I looked down to find her eyes on the TV. “Is it Auntie Eilidh?”
She wriggled, and I helped her sit up so she could turn to look at the screen. She let out a sleepy giggle and pointed at the screen. “Ae!”
Holy crap, she was trying to say Eilidh’s name.
Pride filled me. “That’s right, wee yin. That’s Auntie Eilidh.”
Unfortunately, the giggles turned to crying as Millie grew distraught when her Auntie Eilidh didn’t come to her out of the TV screen. “Aw, hush, wee yin.” I switched off the TV and brought her up to press kisses against her gorgeous chubby cheeks. “That’s too confusing for you, eh, my wee darling.”
Eventually, my attention soothed her and her crying stopped. She snuggled back on my chest and I felt her breaths slow as she fell asleep. I could feel baby drool on my pec and chuckled to myself.
Life had certainly taken a strange turn.
Looking down at Millie, seeing her long, dark lashes fluttering, her lips moving in a moue, I felt such overwhelming fucking love, it almost cracked me in two.
Aye, life had taken a strange turn. Even stranger … I’d never been happier.
Twenty-Eight
EILIDH
This was deliberate.
It had to be.
A complete manipulation of my erogenous zones.
I let myself into Fyfe’s house this morning, expecting him to be feeding Millie all the while trying to get ready for work, as per usual.
Instead, the house was eerily quiet and I realized why when I rounded Fyfe’s large living room sofa to find him on it with Millie, looking like an ad to seduce women into getting pregnant!
Fyfe wore only his pajama trousers and his glasses. His thick hair was tousled and his head lolled back on the sofa as he slept. He didn’t snore, though Millie did, gently, her cheek smooshed to his chest. His naked, sculpted man chest.
I was instantly aroused in every way a woman could be aroused. Physically, emotionally, mentally.
How fucking dare he?
Even in my indignation, I had the presence of mind to pull out my phone to take a photo of hot father and sweet child. “Hullo, new phone wallpaper,” I muttered, tapping my screen to do just that. I slipped the phone into my back pocket just as Fyfe blinked sleepily behind his sexy black-framed glasses. I found myself drowning in his warm, dark eyes. “Eils?”
“What happened?” I whispered, my words a wee bit more clipped than usual. He’d totally thrown me with this. It wasn’t just that he was hot and I was attracted to him. Fyfe was reminding me that he was a good man. A great father who’d shown in just a few short weeks that he’d fallen in love with his daughter.
I didn’t think my heart was ready for that reminder.
He groaned, holding tight to Millie as he sat up. She made grumbly noises but didn’t wake. “What time is it?”
“Eight o’clock.”
“Oh, bloody hell. I’m late.”
“Let me take her.”
He nodded and gently eased her off his chest and into my arms. Millie stirred with the transfer but didn’t fully awaken. That wasn’t like her. Worried, I pressed a kiss to her forehead. She was a little warm.
“She has an ear infection.” Fyfe scrubbed his hands over his face, rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses. “Took her to Thurso earlier this morning. They said it’ll clear up on its own, but if it doesn’t by day three, to bring her back to the docs.”
“My poor Millie Billie,” I whispered, kissing her again before I gently set her in her cot. She remained deep in sleep. By the looks of things, neither she nor her father had much rest last night.
I turned to Fyfe and whatever I was about to say tumbled right off my tongue.