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I rolled my eyes at her. “I smile all the time.”
She poked me in my side. “You know what I mean.”
“All right,” I said, warding her off. “I do know what you mean. And Peyton does make me happy and smile. I asked her to go to the Wright Christmas party with me.”
Annie shrieked with excitement.
“Shh!” I hissed.
We both fell silent and listened to the back bedrooms in anticipation. Aly was a light sleeper on a good night. She had never really been a great sleeper. I remembered the early years when she wouldn’t sleep anywhere but in my bed. It was still hard to get her to fall asleep in her own room. We’d been working on it a lot.
I breathed out in relief. “I don’t think we woke her.”
“Sorry. I got carried away. I’m just excited for you.”
“I think I realized that when you insisted I go on this date tonight and all but pushed me out the door.”
“Sometimes, you need the kick in the ass to get going.”
I drained the rest of my beer. “Suuure.”
“What? You do. Remember that time—”
But she didn’t get to finish her sentence because we both heard shuffling down the hallway.
“Daddy,” a small voice called.
Annie and I both groaned softly. She had woken Aly up. Shit.
“I can do it,” Annie said.
But I was already on my feet, waving her off. “Aly Cat, I’m here.”
Aly was standing in the hallway with her eyes half-closed. She yawned wide and then blinked when she saw me. “Daddy, I heard voices.”
“It’s okay. It was just me and Aunt Annie in the living room.”
“Oh. Okay. Would you tuck me in?”
“Of course.”
I picked her up and carried her back into her room. The space was decorated with moons and stars. They glowed brightly despite the late hour. I deposited her into her bed and tucked the moon covers up to her chin.
“There you are.” I stroked her hair back from her face. “Did you have a fun time with Aunt Annie tonight?”
“Yes,” she said with another big yawn. “I had mac and cheese for dinner, and she let me have ice cream.”
I laughed. “That sounds like you were spoiled.”
She gave me a sleepy grin that made me melt. “I missed you tonight.”
My heart constricted. This girl. This beautiful, magnificent girl. My whole world. God, I loved her.
“I missed you, too, sweetheart.” I kissed the top of her head. “Now, go back to sleep. I’ll be here in the morning. Maybe we can have waffles before I go to work.”
“Promise?” she breathed.
“Promise.”
I kissed her again and then snuck out of the room, carefully closing the door behind me.
Annie grimaced when she saw me. “Sorry again.”
I shrugged and went into the kitchen for another beer. “It’s fine. She wasn’t really awake. If she had been, she would have fought me to sleep in my bed, but she went right back to sleep.”
“Well, that’s good at least.” Annie got to her feet and stretched. “I’m glad you had a good night, and I’m glad it’s Peyton. I’ve always loved her. So do Mom and Dad.”
“Yeah,” I said, remembering the first time I’d brought Peyton home. She’d cast a spell on my whole family. A spell that she had cast on me, too. “When I’m with her, it feels like the entire world stops.”
“I love that,” she said, giving me a hug and heading out.
I stayed up later than I should have, knowing Aly would be up at the crack of dawn, requesting waffles. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the date. I’d never been able to get Peyton out of my system. And tonight, I could still feel her working through me. I couldn’t wait until I could see her again. Especially for a night when I didn’t have to rush home.
Fuck, those thoughts wouldn’t leave me alone either. I carried them with me into the shower as my hand remembered all the ways I’d intimately known her body. And I fell back into bed, sated but not satisfied, wanting Peyton even more than before.13Peyton“Yes, Bebe! That was excellent,” I said in rehearsal. “Grab some water, and then we’ll run through the whole thing one more time.”
The Nutcracker had gone off without a hitch the weekend after my date with Isaac. After our opening-weekend success, the seats in the new Buddy Holly Hall were completely sold out. People were driving in from all over Texas to come see our production.
And in true Peyton fashion, I was trying to up the ante for the next round of performances this weekend. Which meant a lot of time in the studio and pushing all of the dancers to try to reach their potential.
Katelyn hurried back out into the studio space first. “Don’t you think the understudies should go through it once, too?”
“You and Jake have been practicing it behind the leads the entire time.”
