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“On layaway.”
“Yes,” he grinned.
My heart filled.
He continued, “I’ve purchased you but can’t afford to bring you home yet. I’m making payments in the form of dates and getting to know you and when I’ve paid up completely, I get to take you home.”
His smiles came more often and much easier. It changed his face in a way I wanted to keep to myself but knew the world needed that beauty. “How much have you paid so far? I think I’ve just been marked down.”
He laughed and turned his attention to his daughter who’s bottom now rested on my thighs.
I rubbed a gentle circle over her tiny back. “She’s so sweet,” I whispered, tears misting my eyes.
I missed Brayleigh.
Missed her like a phantom limb.
Ares
I watched her mood shift and sway over the hours we spent with Sia. She seemed to enjoy Sia. And missed her daughter. The longing shadowed her face like a black cloud.
Even when I put Sia down for the night in the crib beside my bed, she hovered beside me, laying a gentle pat to Sia’s rump before leaving her to sleep.
I led Hope to my door. Staring down into her beautiful face, I watched her mood shift once more. A kaleidoscope of emotions. Life and color. Ever shifting. I could lose myself in her.
“Are you going to kiss me?” She whispered.
“One day soon, I’m going to kiss you until you can’t stand.”
“Pshaw,” she joked. “It’ll take more than a kiss to bring me to my knees.”
“Challenge excepted.”
“When?” she retorted.
She was impatient.
And I was terrified I’d somehow break her.
I traced her beautiful face with my eyes. “When I think you’re ready to go to your knees.”
Her mouth dropped open, but she recovered quickly. “So… it’s going to be like 0-100?”
I thought for a moment. These were unchartered waters for me. The longer I held off, the greater opportunity she would have to change her mind.
And she should change her mind.
“I don’t know if I’m good for you. And you’re too good to be played with.” I smiled to take the edge off my words. “We’re doing all the getting to know you stuff before I take you to bed. Give you time to think things through. Make a good decision.” I paused. “It’ll be like 50-100.”
She snorted. “But what if you don’t like how I look naked? What if I’m a disappointment?”
“Won’t happen.”
“What if I don’t like the way you kiss?”
I laughed and drew her closer. I was playing with fire. I literally ran from her place not a week ago.
Despite the warnings screaming in my brain, my hands lifted to her hair, and I lost myself in rivers of gold. I drew the strands through my fingers, the silken threads gliding over my fingers, across my palms.
