My pep talk did nothing to convince Willow to talk. She just slowly shook her head back and forth. “Okay then, let’s change the subject. All this shit is too heavy for someone your age.” With a wink, I added, “Your real age and then the age you act like.”
I then swept up her long, dark hair. Twisting it around, I wrapped the hair tie around it. “There. How’s that?”
Willow turned around on the bench. When she was facing the mirror, she turned her head left and right. “It looks good. Will you put the ribbons in now?”
“Man, you’re a bossy thing?” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.
She laughed. “Maybe.”
Although it pained me greatly, I tied the ribbons around her bun. I had to admit that she looked cute as hell. Her outfit had transformed her into a ballerina. Whether or not she had any talent for it was yet to be seen.
“Okay, that’s enough mirror time. Let’s get you to Miss Alex,” I said.
She reluctantly turned from admiring her reflection and met me at the door. When she tugged on my hand, I bent down to her level. She surprised the hell out of me by standing on her tiptoes to bestow a kiss on my cheek. “Thank you, Deacon.”
“You’re welcome.”
Cocking her head at me, Willow appeared thoughtful.“Maybe soon I’ll be ready to call you daddy.”
Her statement caused me momentarily to stagger back. Where the hell had that come from? Did I even want the kid to call me daddy? I’d sure as hell have to be more of a father to deserve for her to call me one. I couldn’t deny her words caused an ache to burn through my chest. Somehow I finally found the words to respond.
“I’d like that a lot.”
Willow smiled before bounding out the door. When we got back into the gym, I noticed two or three of the guys standing stock still outside of the boxing ring. Instead of their attention being trained on Bishop, they stared off to the side. It only took me a moment to figure out who they were staring at.
I opened my mouth to tell them to put their tongues back in their mouths, but I never got the chance. Instead, my eyes zeroed in on what they were looking at. Outfitted in her own skin-tight leotard, tights, and skirt, Alex was bent over, ass in the air, with her palms pressed to the mat. I could have never imagined something as simple as stretching could be so fucking sexy.
Oblivious to all the stares, she rose up and then brought her arm over her head. As she leaned into the stretch, her ass swished provocatively. When she finished with one arm, she moved on to the next one. And then she pulled a move that proved my undoing. She stretched her leg out next to her head.
“Fucking hell,” one of the guys muttered.
“Why are you gus staring at Miss Alex?” Willow demanded, bringing me out of my fantasy of how many positions I could put the very limber Alex in.
Willow’s words startled Alex. Her leg dropped down, and then she whirled around. When she saw all the men standing around, her face flushed.
Trying to ease her embarrassment, I shouted, “Go on. Show’s over. Go back to work or whatever the hell you were supposed to be doing!”
As the men scrambled, Willow raced over to Alex who was now cowering in the corner. When I reached them, Alex shook her head. “I don’t think this is going to work.”
“Look, I can promise you what happened was just a one-time thing. There’s never any women down here, so naturally they had to gawk when they saw one.”
Alex’s cheeks were still red. “I’m not comfortable…I can’t focus if I have to worry about being ogled.”
“What’s ogled?” Willow asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” I snapped.
“I’m sorry. I just can’t,” Alex lamented.
“You mean I’m not going to get ballet lessons?” Willow asked in a small voice.
Before she could throw a fit, I held up my hands. “Just give me a minute to think of a solution, okay?”
Both Willow and Alex crossed their arms over their chests and stared expectantly at me. “The basement,” I blurted.
“What?” Alex asked.
“I can set you up in the basement.”
