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I couldn’t imagine the kind of mark that left on someone’s heart and soul.
“You still planning on proposing to Raleigh?” Slater asked me out of the blue.
I nodded. “At some point, yeah. I was going to ask her yesterday, but some shit happened.”
Slater made a sound in the back of his throat. “Everything okay?”
I shrugged. “As good as it can be,” I admitted. There were just some things in this world that would never get better. Rhonda and her relationship with Raleigh were one of those things. “Just family shit. I’m taking care of it.”
Slater nodded. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
I just nodded, my eyes straying to Raleigh for a moment. She was laughing at something Tawney was saying while helping Alex build his sandcastle. I smiled and moved my eyes further along the beach, relaxing even further now that I knew she was okay and happy.
And being this relaxed again was making me tired as hell.
Fuck, I needed a nap.
* * *
Raleigh
“So,anything you want to tell me about you and Colwyn?” Tawney asked me as Alex made his way out into the water with a friend.
My cheeks reddened. I hugged my knees to my chest and rested my chin on them, staring out at the ocean. I loved it out here. The ocean was so strong, so deep, so deadly, and yet, it was still so peaceful.
It reminded me a lot of Colwyn.
“Like what?” I asked her.
She laughed. “Don’t play dumb with me, girl. Slater has been fangirling over the two of you for the past couple of weeks now. So, I knowsomethinghas changed.”
My cheeks flushed. “I came onto him. He’s my daddy now.”
Tawney wrapped me in a side hug. “Oh, Raleigh, I’m so happy for you,” she gushed.
This was what I loved about Tawney. There wasn’t a judgmental bone in her body. She had been sweet with me from day freaking one. She didn’t bat an eye that I needed a man to take care of me. She didn’t care that I regressed to an age younger than her own son. She just always went with the flow, tending to my needs if Colwyn was working and she happened to be here with me.
She literally was the best woman I’d ever known.
“You two are absolutely perfect for each other,” she told me after a moment. “You know that, right? That man has only ever had eyes for you. You practically live together, for God’s sake. Not to mention, he’d do anything in the world just to see you smile. You’re basically his beginning and his end. Anyone with working eyeballs can see that, Raleigh.”
I smiled. “I love him,” I whispered.
She squeezed her arm around me. “I know you, do. And he loves you just as much, if not more. It took you a while to get on the same level he is, but I have no doubt that now that he’s finally got you all to himself, he’s never letting you go.”
My soul warmed. I loved that more than anything. I never wanted Colwyn to let me go. I wanted him to own me. I wanted him to be my daddy forever. I didn’t trust anyone else in the world like I trusted him.
The first day he met me, I was regressing. My boyfriend at the time had been a douchebag. And Colwyn just stepped in wearing those red shorts and no shirt, a pair of dark shades on his eyes. And he just got me set up, took care of me, and we’d been like that since then.
There was never any question about our dynamic. He always knew what I needed without me ever saying a word. It was like we were soul mates or something.
And to be honest, I’d always been on that level with Colwyn. I had always just been too afraid to speak up about how I felt. I didn’t want to destroy what we had and lose him if he didn’t feel the same way. But the first day I slipped up and called him Daddy and he hadn’t even flinched, I got brave. I continued calling him that until I eventually got up the nerve to come onto him, letting him know how badly I wanted him.
It had been the best decision I’d made yet—even better than opening Sizzle Sweets.
“Come on,” Tawney said. I glanced up at her. Alex was impatiently bouncing on the balls of his feet. Tawney was standing up. I’d obviously been zoned out and had missed something. “We’re going to get food. Alex is hungry, and I know Colwyn might take you over his knees if you don’t eat, too.”
My cheeks flushed. I’d never been spanked by him before. Colwyn didn’t like dishing out punishments to me; he and I were both afraid of triggering something from my past. But I hated his disapproval. That was punishment enough for me.
