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Joel Hayward
“Daddy?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Can we go to the beach tomorrow?”
“Absolutely. Right after I pick you up from school.” I pulled her covers up to her chin and dropped a kiss on her forehead.
She blinked sleepily and grinned. “I hope you fall off your surfboard again. I’ve never laughed so hard!”
I huffed a laugh and sat down on the edge of her bed. “Sometimes, you remind me a little too much of your uncle.”
I shouldn’t have brought him up, but I couldn’t help myself sometimes. She’d just spent the weekend with him, and that always left a mark.
“He’s awesome,” she said frankly. “After we had McDonald’s in his office, he and Javier showed me where they fight and work out, and I whooped Uncle Ellie’s butt!” She had to be talking about the studio in the basement. I knew they sparred there.
“That sounds fun,” I murmured. “You ready to get some sleep?”
“No, but I flippin’ have to, don’t I? Parents never listen to their kids.”
Lord, she was laying it on thick, my little smartass.
* * *
Iwoke up with a groggy start when someone banged on the door and yelled we had a briefing in the common room in two minutes.
“Fuck.” What was that, half an hour?
Elliott groaned and untangled himself from me, and he almost rolled right off the narrow bed. “Fuck me in the ass, that was barely a power nap.”
I chuckled and yawned. “Let’s revisit my fucking you in the ass soon.”
He smirked and pulled on a pair of jeans from his backpack. “The relief I’m ridin’ is strong enough that I might actually agree.”
Fucking score.
I was mostly teasing him. I did wanna top him at some point, but I preferred to bottom.
That was no joke about the relief, though. Fucking hell, it felt as if my lungs had grown in a matter of hours, allowing me to breathe easier.
Now we just needed Blake, and I’d be the happiest bastard on this earth.
I dumped my backpack on the bed and dug through it. We’d shopped on the go in Spain when we’d needed something. I stepped into a pair of jeans and unpacked one of the beaters still left in its packaging, then grabbed the black flannel shirt.
“Jesus.” Elliott snuck in and kissed me hard. “I’m gonna have to get back in shape. You’re too sexy.”
I smiled and kissed him too. This was fucking ridiculous. How the anger and hurt and betrayal had just vanished into thin air. Well—I’d redirected mine to Piper. But I couldn’t think about her now. I didn’twantto.
“Don’t change a damn thing.” I loved every inch of his body. He’d always been a little stockier than me, and that was how I wanted him. All strength and masculinity, scruff, silver mixing with the brown, those sexy eyes…
Focus.
We’d get to the fun shit later.
It wasn’t easy. Years of mourning and fuming, of missing him, suddenly replaced by relief and fucking giddiness, combined with the crippling pain of knowing my daughter was scared out of her mind somewhere. My head couldn’t be more fucked.
We finished getting ready, and we ducked into the bathrooms to take a quick leak before we made our way to the common room.
