Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
She sighed. It was going to be hard to eat dinner with her mind repeatedly wandering to the contents of that drawer.
Chapter Eight
Dinner was eye-opening for Juniper. She’d never had a large family. Growing up, it had always been her and her mom or her and her dad. The only time she’d been around a lot of people had been summers at Danger Bluff, but that hadn’t really counted. She’d usually eaten in the back of the kitchen with Sammi.
This table was surrounded by six burly men, each of whom could make any woman swoon, and four women. She finally met Caesar and Kestrel. It was apparently a growing family, and there were two more spots to fill at the table.
It was hard to deny that their mysterious benefactor, Baldwin Kingsley, had an uncanny matchmaking ability. How did he do that, and would he do so two more times? Phoenix and Caesar were the only two single men of the group, and Juniper sometimes caught them staring longingly as the other Daddies filled plates and snuggled with their Littles.
She felt bad for them, but if Kingsley was as good as he seemed to be, maybe they would both meet the perfect woman for them soon.
Juniper shifted her attention from the bustling table to her own Daddy. He was watching her closely with a constant smile on his face. He also doted on her even more than he had last night.
It was taco night, and he’d patiently filled her plate for her, never appearing the least bit put out that she’d wanted one flour tortilla and one hard corn shell. She’d also been specific about what should go in each so they wouldn’t taste the same.
He chuckled as he finally set her plate in front of her. “Are you sure that’s the right amount of sour cream on the chicken taco? Do you have enough green sauce on the beef one?” he teased.
“Daddy…”
He grabbed her chin and kissed her. “You have no idea how much I love the sound of that, Little girl.”
She grinned at him and squirmed in her seat because he was still holding her chin and her attention. His gaze didn’t move for a long time.
Could she fall in love with a man in two days? Because that’s what she thought was happening.
“I could’ve fixed my own tacos,” she murmured.
“Nope. Daddy’s job. Now, can you lean over the plate, or would you like me to get you a bib?”
She glanced at the other girls. Two of them were wearing bibs over their pretty dresses. Was she ready for that? “I’ll be careful, Daddy.”
“Okay, Juni. And just so we’re clear, it’s okay if you spill. That’s what the laundry room is for.” He reached toward the middle of the table and grabbed one of the four sippy cups someone had prepared.
She took it from him with shaky hands. “I’ve never used a sippy cup,” she whispered.
“It’s a night for new things.” He winked at her and then turned to fix his own plate.
She shivered, wondering what new things he was going to introduce to her. She was certainly nervous about returning to his apartment. The playroom was so pretty, but could she be as Little as he obviously intended her to be?
Juniper ate her food while she watched the interesting dynamic around her. It seemed they had a system of passing around some sort of metal spoon and taking turns updating everyone about their day.
Sadie must have caught Juniper staring at the spoon with curiosity because she snagged it from her Daddy just as he was about to speak. “No one told Juniper about the talking spoon game.”
“Oh, is that what that is?” Juniper asked.
Rocco chuckled and carefully extricated the spoon from Sadie. “Sort of. It all started on our first night when we all sat down to dinner and inadvertently found ourselves taking turns speaking as we passed the serving fork for the spaghetti. It was really just a coincidence, but we joked about it, and it became a nightly ritual. On nights like tonight, when there isn’t one focal dish, we use this metal spoon as our talking stick. We’re a growing family, so it’s a good thing we have a system. By the way, welcome to the family. We’re so glad you’re here, and I want to assure you that all of us will do everything in our power to keep you safe.”
Juniper choked up at his sincerity. In many ways, she was so fortunate. She’d come here by accident, hadn’t she? She thought back on how she’d made this decision. A few weeks ago, she’d started getting spam emails from Danger Bluff. She hadn’t thought much about it. She got spam emails from all kinds of places. But she’d known this place, and the repeat emails had constantly reminded her that she’d loved visiting this resort. Was it possible Kingsley had targeted her until he got her attention, so it seemed like she’d made the choice to come here on her own?