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There he was. The gentleman. Blending perfectly with the animal.
He was her beast.
And she would never get enough of him.
Epilogue
“She’s here, Daddy, she’s here.” Delilah was bouncing up and down as she stared out of the window, watching as Cassie parked her car in the driveway. As Cassie climbed out of the car, her long legs stretching out as her feet hit the blacktop, Delilah turned to look at Pres.
“I can see that.” He winked at her as she started racing for the door. “Hey,” he called out. “This isn’t your house, you’re not supposed to be the one welcoming people.”
It was Thanksgiving morning and the whole family was spending it at his parents’ house. Mostly because it was the biggest, but also because his mom and dad loved to entertain.
The whole place smelled of the turkey that his mom had gotten up to put in the oven at some stupid time in the morning. Cranberries were cooking in a pan on the stovetop, their ruby red skins splitting as they bubbled away. His mom had already put a Christmas playlist on — following a long discussion with his dad about when exactly it was acceptable to have Mariah's voice blasting out of the speakers.
His dad lost that argument. But he got a kiss out of it, so he looked happy enough.
Delilah opened the door, completely ignoring Pres' warning and Cassie walked inside, hugging her tightly.
“Look at you," Cassie said.” What a pretty dress."
“I'm Belle,” Delilah told her, doing a twirl in her golden dress, the metallic threads catching the light as she turned. “From Beauty and the Beast.”
“I can see that,” Cassie said, indulging her even though she’d seen Delilah’s outfit before. At Halloween, and then pretty much every day since, because he could barely prise his daughter out of it.
She'd insisted on wearing it for Thanksgiving, and Pres couldn't see any reason why that was a problem. He hadn't been able to give her ringlets the way she wanted, but she was beaming anyway.
Stepping back, Cassie's hands rested on her shoulders as she smiled at his little girl. And when she looked up, her eyes caught Pres'.
His eyes searched her face. Damn, she was beautiful.
“Everything okay with Gemma?” he asked. Cassie had called to say she’d be a little late, because Gemma was having contractions.
“Yep. Just a false alarm.”
“Another one?”
Cassie smiled. “I think she’s going for the trifecta.”
Gemma was pregnant with her third — and according to her last — baby. She was almost nine months now, and hating every moment of her last trimester. Cassie had stopped by to help her with some Thanksgiving preparations before coming to meet him here.
“You look good,” she murmured, walking over to hug him. He'd put on a pair of dress pants and a pale blue shirt. “Ooh, you smell good too.”
"So do you." His eyes glanced down at the knit brown dress she was wearing. It clung to her every curve, making his mouth dry and his body ache. She’d teamed it with some brown leather boots and was wearing her hair down, the way he loved it.
“Come with me,” Delilah urged impatiently, pulling at Cassie's hand. “I want to show you something.”
Cassie laughed, allowing Delilah to lead her away. Pres watched as they disappeared around the corner, their laughter echoing back to him.
Taking a deep breath, he walked over to the kitchen where his mom was stirring a pot of gravy.
“Hey, sweetheart,” she said, looking up at him. “Cassie get here okay?”
“Yeah. She'll be in in a minute to say hi. Delilah just dragged her off. I think she wants to show Cassie her Beauty and the Beast dance.”
“She has a dance already?”
“She has a dance for everything,” Pres said. “You know that.” She never walked when she could dance. Right now her dream job was to be a ballerina when she grew up. Or it was, until he’d told her she may have to move to a big city to work.
