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I move to close the door to give her some privacy when she gasps.
“So what did Ophelia say to him?”
There’s silence for a long beat before Summer laughs. “Oh, hell yes! You, my friend, are a genius. What would I do without you and my beautiful goddaughter, hmm?”
She laughs again at whatever the response is before bidding the caller farewell.
I step into the room as she tosses the phone on the bed, her hand flying to her breast in surprise.
“Christ, you scared me. I didn’t realise I’d been on the phone as long as I was.”
I shrug, grinning. “I grew up with four sisters—and you—so I’m well aware that once a female starts into a conversation on the phone, time ceases to exist.”
Laughing, she reaches for a pillow and tosses it in my direction, but it falls short by more than a little bit. She huffs in exaggerated disgust when I deadpan. “Your aim is as bad as ever, I see.”
“You’re a wanker, Caden North. My aim is just fine. The pillow was a little heavy…”
She trails off, pressing her lips together until they’re almost white as she tries and fails miserably to hide her smile.
“Heavy, my foot, Bambi. Now, move your fabulous ass. We have a big day ahead!”
She nibbles her bottom lip between her teeth before pouting. “But I don’t want to shower alone.”
I shake my head, grinning as I drop my towel to close the distance between us. She squeals when I heft her over my shoulder.
“I suppose I can lift the sponge for you, Bam.”
Her bare ass gets a playful swat as I turn and march back towards the shower.
“After all, it might be tooheavy.”
* * *
SUMMER
The Great Hall at the Alexandra Palace is bursting at the seams. The atmosphere is electric, and from our viewpoint, Bella and I have the best seats in the house.
Off to the side of the stage, hidden in the wings, we will have a perfect view of Misdirection’s performance.
The massive curtains are currently closed as the backstage staff, alongside the event staff, set up everything for the show.
Caden and his bandmates are in hair and make-up backstage, so it’s just the two of us. I’ve missed her in the twenty-four hours since we were last together, and the knowledge that I’ve fallen head over heels for this little girl rocks me to my marrow.
“There’s Dad!”
Bella’s delighted cry pulls me from my thoughts, and I raise my head to lock eyes with—
Holy shamoly!
The five band members have clearly finished their prep and are making their way towards us, butshit, I only have eyes for CadenfuckingNorth.
He’s dressed in tight black distressed denim jeans that leave very damn little to the imagination. The material hugs his muscular thighs like it’s been sewn onto his body, and all I can think of is peeling itoffas soon as I possibly can.
Bella jumps from my lap and throws herself at her father, a simple act that makes my heart clench almost painfully in my chest.
His dark grey t-shirt, complete with a plethora of rips and tears, stretches as he embraces her. The leather jacket over the t-shirt is seriously sexy, and his feet are bare, as is his preferred style of performing.
When I’d first read that in an article, I’d laughed so hard, remembering how his mother, Clary, used to go mad at him for constantly losing his shoes when we were growing up. We never had any problem findingone. The issue was that he always ensured we’d never find the matching pair.
