Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 95756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 479(@200wpm)___ 383(@250wpm)___ 319(@300wpm)
“I, uh, guess I feel a bit dizzy, and I have a slight headache.”
“What? You’re ill?” he asked. “I’m coming home right now.”
“No, no, Duke, I’m fine.”
“You’re dizzy, and you have a headache. And Sav is concerned enough to say he’s staying home with you until I finish up. I’ll leave here as soon as I call my clients and cancel.”
“No, please, Duke, don’t,” she said tearfully. “I was trying to keep this from you so I didn’t interfere with your work.”
“Excuse me?” he asked in a dark voice. “You were keeping it from me? What are we talking about exactly?”
Oh shoot. She was in trouble.
“Okay, but first, I want you to promise that I’ll be able to sit comfortably on the plane ride.”
“Sunny,” he growled.
“Fine. I’ll tell you. It wasn’t just last night that I wasn’t able to sleep. The last week or so, I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night, things going over and over in my head. But I’ve always gotten back to sleep before morning. Only, it’s been getting worse and last night I didn’t sleep at all.”
“And you didn’t think to wake me? To tell me what these things keeping you up are? How the hell did I miss that you’ve not been getting enough sleep?”
“Well, I always fell back asleep before you woke up and concealer and foundation do wonders to hide my fatigue.”
He swore under his breath. Okay, now she knew he was really upset since Duke tried not to swear in front of her.
“Daddy? Am I in trouble?”
“Yes, baby girl, you definitely are.”
“Don’t come home, Daddy. I mean, I want you here, but I know you have a lot of work to do. I promise, I’ll be good and stay on the couch all day.”
There was a long moment of silence. “This is what is going to happen. Sav is going to stay with you. He was just going in to do some extra stuff that can wait. You’re going to eat the breakfast he makes you. Watch your cartoons. I’m going to call between each client to check on you. If anything changes, I’m coming straight home. I’ll be finished here around two. I’ll see you then.”
She gulped. “Okay, love you, Daddy.”
“Love you too, little one.”
Duke couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed that she was worrying herself to the point of exhaustion over something. As he stormed into the house, he was still beating himself up. He found Sav in the living room, a cartoon playing on the TV.
“Hey,” he said, sitting up. “You’re earlier than we thought.”
Duke just grunted. “Where’s Sunny?”
“Bathroom. I’m going to head out. Give you two some privacy.”
“Sav?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks, man.”
“You know I’d do anything for you,” Sav told him. “And her.”
Duke walked into their bedroom and through to the attached bathroom just as she was cleaning herself up.
“Daddy!” she squealed in surprise. “I’m on the toilet.”
He leaned a hip against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. But he didn’t move.
“Can I have some privacy?”
“Nope. No privacy for you.”
She wrinkled her forehead. “Why?”
“Because you kept something from me. And until I trust that you’ll tell me everything, you can expect me to be keeping a very close eye on you.”
Her shoulders slumped. He hated how sad and exhausted she looked. But she needed to know that he really wasn’t happy with her right now.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I didn’t want to worry you.” After cleaning up, she stood and reached down to pull her pants up. He moved, pulling them up for her, then he flushed the toilet while she washed her hands.
Her cheeks were a light pink as she avoided his gaze. Taking her hand in his, he led her out to the bedroom. Sitting on the side of the bed, he drew her onto his lap.
“Worry me?” he said in a low voice. “And you don’t think I’m concerned now?”
She wiggled on his lap.
“No, stay still and tell me what’s going on? Why haven’t you been sleeping?”
“It’s so silly. And I don’t want you to think I don’t want to go. I do. It’s the best Christmas present ever ,and I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful. And—”
“Okay, wait,” he said, interrupting her. “This has something to do with our trip?”
She nodded, peeking up at him hesitantly. “It’s just a bit scary. You know? That big plane trip. I’ve never been out of the country. What if I get claustrophobic on the plane? What if I lose you in London? There’s a lot of people there and I won’t know where to go or what to do. What if we get mugged? Lose our luggage? What if we get sick?”
“Okay . . . calm down, little rebel. Shh.” He held her tight and rocked her until her breathing slowed. He hated seeing her so worked up. “I want you to listen to me. Did all these things start to seem worse as you lost more sleep?”