Page 20 of One Last Time

She didn’t even need to ask, really.

“Yeah, baby, of course. Come here.”

“Yay,” Lynn crowed before she sped across his office. He couldn’t even hear the pattering of her feet; that’s how quiet she was. “Thanks, Daddy.”

“Always,” he told her.

His arms were already open to pull his oldest daughter into his lap. Her sisters were probably still sleeping soundly in their bed. He swore from the time Lynn learned to talk and walk, and they could no longer contain her to a crib because she became big enough to move into a toddler bed. His girl constantly came to look for him at night. More than once, she crawled into bed between her mother and father.

“You know,” Andino told her, resting his chin on the top of her head while he situated the book in front of them, so he could see it well enough to read, “someday, you might have to read yourself a book—what will you do then?”

“Why wouldn’t you read it for me?”

“Well, you’d be able to read it yourself.”

“But I like it when you read it, Daddy.”

Andino grinned, and then kissed Lynn on the top of her curly head. Hell, he would read her books over video chat when she was away in college if that’s what she wanted, but he figured they had time to work all that out. “Daddy will always read to you whenever you ask, I promise.”

Tipping her head back so she could stare up at him, Lynn smiled sweetly. “I know.”

There were a lot of things people just assumed about Andino based on appearance or what they thought they knew. He was fine with letting them think he was a cold asshole with a heart of stone—it was the ones he loved the most who knew exactly what was truly in Andino’s heart and how much he adored them.

Including his little girls.

Resting his cheek along his daughter’s head, he started reading the story about the little duck who had somehow managed to get lost from the pond.

Very quietly, he heard Lynn whisper, “I love you, Daddy.”

“Love you, too, baby.”

Before his kids came along, he never gave the topic of children much thought at all. That was, until he met and married Haven. Then, the only thing on his mind had been starting a life with her—which just happened to include kids.

Their family felt full.

Still, not yet complete.

He loved it anyway.

He loved it either way.

Andino knew how lucky he was.

After he’d finished Lynn’s book, he let his daughter stay tucked on his lap. He even grabbed the afghan blanket his wife left on the back of his office chair as decoration to cover her up with while they scrolled through a couple of her favorite shows on his desktop. Despite the fact he had a guest coming and it was late, none of that mattered much to him.

Someday, his girls would be older. Spending time with him like this might not be the cool thing to do, and so he would always take advantage when he got the chance.

“Late night with your daddy, principessa Lynn?”

At the sound of her grandfather’s voice coming from the doorway, Lynn poked her head up out of the blanket to look over the edge of the desk. Andino grinned at his father, too. Giovanni didn’t seem to mind the extra guest. His dad still tried to make time to come over once a week so that the two of them could sit down and … well, do anything. Mostly talk.

After all these years—and Andino being a grown ass man—and his father still made time for him that was only his. Had they spoiled him? Oh, yes. He thought it might have made him a better man and father in the end, though.

Andino patted Lynn on her head, saying, “She was just heading to bed, weren’t you, bambina?”

Big eyes looked up at him.

He got the pouty lip, too.