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"Yes, and yes." A tiny smile curves Bella's lips upward as she glances over her shoulder at me.
Jenna Sterling laughs quietly.
"Of course you're encouraging her," Mac grumbles, coming into the frame. He doesn't seem pissed about it, though. If anything, he seems amused that his daughter is giving me hell. He may worry about her, but he doesn't want to change her. Thank fuck for that.
"Hi, Dad," she whispers, fidgeting.
"Hey, baby girl." He smiles at her and then turns his blue eyes on me. Unlike his daughter, Mac Sterling isn't cuddly and sweet. He's a man with a daughter to protect, and I'm a motherfucker with a cock. He made the rules clear before he sent her here. "Cormac."
"Mac," I say, inclining my head.
He narrows his eyes on me, looking between me and his daughter. I don't know what he sees or if it's just fatherly intuition, but he fucking knows. "Son of a bitch," he curses, scowling. "You and I had a fucking agreement, Carmichael."
"Things changed."
"Change them back," he growls. "I didn't send my daughter to you to keep your bed warm."
"That's not even what's happening," I growl.
"Daddy!" Bella gasps at the same time.
"Mac," Jenna says, placing a hand on her husband's arm.
"No? She's there a few weeks, tops. Your entire life is there."
"Maybe mine is too!" Bella cries, shocking everyone. Shocking me. Jesus, I hope she means it. "You chose for me when you decided to send me here, but you don't get to decide this for me too. I love you, but this is my life and my decision, not yours."
"Bella, baby girl," Mac says.
"No, daddy." She throws up a hand. "You didn't trust me to keep myself out of trouble. Trust me now. Cormac is agoodman. I know this because one of the best raised me."
"Jesus," Mac growls, scrubbing a hand down his face. His eyes come to me. For a long moment, he doesn't say anything. And then he curses. "You better take care of her or you'll be removing my goddamn boot from your ass."
"He'll have to remove mine first," Bella says sweetly.
"That's my girl," Jenna whispers.
Chapter Eight
Bella
Bella
"Hi,"Islasays,slippinginto Mom’s chair as she and my dad leave the room with our younger siblings to give us privacy.
"Hi," I whisper, reaching blindly for Cormac's hand. He grips mine, silently lacing our fingers together. "Um, this is Cormac."
She doesn't know about him yet. She only came in at the tail end of my conversation with the rest of the family. I was worried she wasn't going to come at all.
"I've heard a lot about you, Isla," Cormac says. "It's nice to see you."
Isla's gaze drifts to him, her eyes going wide as she takes him in. "Whoa," she says after a minute. "What did they feed you?"
I giggle, the knots in my stomach unraveling as Cormac chuckles. "I wondered the same thing!"
Isla cracks a smile.
"I'm sorry," we blurt at the same time.
