Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
He chuckled. “All of your toenails are painted a different color,” he noted.
She giggled, which sounded really nice after the last several stressful minutes. “One of the girls at work paints nails. She does my toes for me when we aren’t busy.”
“They’re cute, Bumblebee, and they make me feel even more confident that you like bold colors.”
She nodded. “I love colors. All the colors. Do you have crayons?”
Thank God. “Of course. What kind of self-respecting Daddy doesn’t have crayons?”
She narrowed her gaze. “The big box with all the colors?”
Terry set her on her feet again and tapped her nose. “Bumblebee, I even have the box with all the skin tones. And…I have colored pencils. I know how you like those sometimes.”
Her eyes widened and she gave him a huge smile. “Did you get coloring books too?”
“Yep. Lots of them. Maybe you could color me a picture while I cook dinner?”
She clapped her hands together. “I’d love that. If it’s good, will you hang it on the fridge?”
“I’m certain it will be the prettiest picture ever colored, and I’d be honored to hang it on the fridge, Little one.” Relief flooded him as she seemed to soften to the idea of having a nursery. For a few minutes there, he’d been seriously concerned about his choice to share this space with her so early in their relationship.
She gave him a hug and then released him to pad across the room. She passed the changing table quickly, but turned to look back over her shoulder. He could see her face as she reconsidered the stack of diapers and wipe containers. This time, her expression remained neutral instead of completely closed down as she had been when they first discussed it. With time, he suspected that Kiki would adjust eagerly to being very Little.
Watching her walk away, he adored her slight waddle due to the light padding between her thighs. He knew he’d love to take care of her completely. Promising himself to take things slow with her, Terry decided to introduce her to new things gradually and encourage her to experiment in the safe space.
Aiming for the shelves, Kiki focused on the book selection before fingering a few toys and finally choosing a coloring book. “Maybe I could take it in the kitchen so I can be near you, Daddy?”
“I think that’s a great idea.” He’d much rather be able to keep a close eye on her than have her back in this nursery alone where he couldn’t know for sure if she was panicking. “Crayons or colored pencils this time?” he asked as he stood.
“Crayons for this coloring book. It’s not as intricate,” she confirmed.
After grabbing two giant boxes of crayons from the shelf, he took her hand and led her back through the master bedroom, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. He set everything on the table, pulled out a chair, and lifted her into it.
She giggled. “Daddy, I can get onto chairs all by myself, you know.”
“Yep. I’m sure you can, but when you’re home, you’ll let Daddy do things for you.” He kissed her temple and tapped the coloring book. “You color me a picture while I finish up dinner. After dinner, we’ll go over the rules.”
“Did you make mac and cheese, Daddy?”
“I sure did, just as I promised. It’s in the oven. The vegetables are too. I roasted them.”
“Oh! That sounds yummy. Did you get cupcakes too?” The look on her face was eager and priceless.
“I sure did, but now that I know you had cupcakes this afternoon, maybe we should hold on to these until tomorrow. Little girls don’t need two cupcakes in one day.”
She gave a slight sigh but didn’t argue. Instead, she redirected her attention to the giant box of multicolored crayons, opened the book to the first page, and picked a color.
“Are you the type who likes to color the pages in order?”
She glanced at him with wide eyes as if he’d asked the craziest question on earth. “Of course, Daddy. If you skip around the book, you might hurt the feelings of the pages you missed.”
He worked hard not to chuckle. After all, she was serious. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings. “I’ll remember that.” He was grinning as he headed to the cabinet to pull down plates.
Kiki hummed softly to herself while she colored. It was impossible to take his eyes off her for very long at a time. He needed to look at her to reassure himself she was really here. She was in his home. She was coloring at his kitchen table. He’d finally found her, and she was perfect.
It didn’t take long at all for him to have dinner ready and on the table. “Let’s put the colors away while we eat, Bumblebee. You can take them back out afterward and finish.”