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But then Nova looked up at him and smiled before taking his arm and turning toward the tables. “Thank you for thinking of me. I totally would have.”
Linc bit his own tongue on the “That’s what Daddies are for” he wanted to say.
An hour later,Linc had walked her back to her apartment. It’s not that an afternoon of building snowmen and drinking hot cocoa had solved any of her problems, but it had made them seem less like the end of the world. It didn’t hurt that he’d carried all her outdoor gear in one hand and held her hand with the other.
“Well, thanks for this.” Nova shrugged once they’d reached her door, trying to bury the ridiculous hope that he would kiss her. He’d done more than enough, and she shouldn’t look a gift Linc in the mouth. Plus, she was still a bit haunted by the last time he’d kissed her, and she didn’t want to rile up the anxiety he’d soothed so well. “It was really nice.”
“You’re very welcome,” he told her with one of those easy smiles.
What had happened in the intervening thirteen years that he’d settled down so much? He’d always been charming but now he was quieter, steadier, and that spoke to her cautious heart in a way she wished it wouldn’t.
“But we’re not done yet.”
“We’re not?”
“I don’t think so, no. You’ve got to be sweaty under all those layers—I sure am. Plus, all I’ve seen you eat today is some cocoa that was half marshmallows, and a couple cookies. That’s a fine snack once in a while, but it’s definitely not healthy, and with how hard you work, you need more than that. So giving you a bath and feeding you dinner are on the agenda.”
“No,” she blurted, and took a step back, dropping his hand.
It had been one thing to go on a playdate with Lincoln Donall, it would be another to let him take care of her that way. That was for realsies Daddy stuff. She’d let him see her in her underwear but she wasn’t ready for the multiple layers of vulnerability having him bathe her would be.
How sure was she that he’d changed, anyway? It was so hard to imagine the smart-assed punk transforming into the kind of responsible and nurturing and consistent Daddy Nova craved even if he’d done a pretty great job today.
Maybe he could do this for a few hours, a few days at the outside, but she couldn’t imagine he’d changed so much as to be able to be a Daddy full-time, which was what she wanted. No, she couldn’t be entirely Little while she was working, but she probably needed the caretaking and the gentle reminders to eat, drink, use the bathroom, and sleep even more when she was at her laptop. Hyperfocus could be a gift, but it could also be a curse.
“You—”can’twas on the tip of her tongue, but she’d never met a Dom who liked to be told what they could and couldn’t do. It would probably just make him more insistent, and she’d crumble because the truth was she wanted to give in. “You should go to the Snow Squall dinner. That’s the singles mixer tonight. You’re here to meet a single woman. That starts in twenty minutes. And you need to shower first. You said so yourself. So you should go.”
Linc gave her a stern look that had her swallowing hard. If he insisted, there was no way she’d be able to say no. She was still lingering in Little space and even though she was so mixed up about how she felt about Linc, she’d give in because Littles weren’t known for their willpower.
His square jaw tightened, and Nova’s heart skipped.
“Fine,” he said, not looking like it was fine at all, and the Little part of her had to agree. “At least let me set your things down inside.”
“I can do it,” she said tightly, trying to smile even though her foolish heart was cracking. “You shouldn’t be late. Women like punctual men.”
Linc frowned and set the hand she’d been holding on his hip. “If that’s what you want.”
It was not, but it would be the height of folly to ask him to stay. It would be akin to asking him to please use her heart like a doormat. And even when she was Little, Nova wasn’t entirely irrational.
“Mm-hmm,” she said, and held out her hand to take her things.
After a beat, he relinquished them with another tic of his jaw. “Please eat something that isn’t ninety percent sugar for dinner.”
“Okay,” she agreed.
“And I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Nova made a noncommittal noise, because was that really wise on her part? Probably not. She should spend more time thinking of women to set Linc up with and less time doing things that would make her fall hard for him.
“Tomorrow,” he told her, his expression darkening, and she was compelled to agree with a whispered “okay”.
At last he turned and left, and Nova let herself into her apartment, leaned her back against the closed door, slid down to the floor and started to cry.
Chapter 7
The Snow Squall dinner last night had been… a disaster was putting it mildly.
There had been a lot of physically attractive women there, and despite putting on his best jeans and button-up shirt and the black shoes he’d borrowed from Owen, Linc hadn’t made a good impression on any of them. Probably because he couldn’t get his mind off Nova.
