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She shook her head, tears streaming down her face.
“Everything is all right now,” he soothed. “I’m home. I’ll take care of you.”
It was so damn hard to hold himself back. To stop from reaching for her and pulling her into his embrace. But it was better if she came to him.
“Come on, baby girl. Come to Daddy. I need to hold you. You know you’re always safe in Daddy’s arms.”
That worked. She shuffled toward him on her hands and knees. Christ. She was killing him. But he forced himself not to let his own fear show.
Right now, she needed him to be calm. April was always so full of laughter and life. She was always smiling and dancing. She lived a life mostly free from worry.
And that was because that’s how he liked her to live. He would take on every burden he could, just to keep her smiling and dancing. He’d fight every battle he had to in order to stop the darkness of the world from touching her.
Of course, that wasn’t always possible. There were some things he couldn’t fight.
Like what happened today.
But he swore right then that nothing like this would ever touch her again. Because she wasn’t ever leaving the house without him.
No. Fucking. Way.
Okay, so there was a part of him that knew that wouldn’t be possible. However, in that moment, he didn’t give a fuck.
He’d come so close to losing her. And that couldn’t happen again.
She stopped about a foot in front of him and he slid around onto his butt, crossing his legs. She often liked to curl up in his lap. He was a big guy. A whole foot taller than her five-foot-four. And he weighed a good eighty pounds more than she did.
“Come on, my baby. Let me hold you. Please. I really need to feel you. When I think of how close I came to losing you today . . .” He had to pause as his voice started to crack. “I really need to hold you, baby girl.”
She suddenly threw herself at him and he caught her, settling her on his lap and holding her as tight as he dared.
She let out a sob and he rocked her back and forth. She -
But he’d been the lucky bastard she’d set her sights on. The fact that she was a Little had just been icing on the fucking cake. Finally, he had someone he could fuss over and protect. Care for and cherish. Discipline and play with.
Yeah, she was the whole fucking package and not a day went by that he wasn’t grateful that her car had broken down in his town.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, stop that now.” He put his hand on the back of her head, holding her to him. “You don’t need to apologize, baby.”
“I was s-supposed to stay h-home,” she told him. “But one of my c-customers paid for e-expedited shipping. I had to get the p-package to the post office.”
Ahh. So that’s what had happened. She’d worked so hard to make her business successful. And it was really taking off. However, while she loved the creative side and she was amazing at it, her organizational skills were seriously lacking. Admin wasn’t something she could seem to keep on top of.
“I just w-went to the store for some more p-potato chips.”
“More potato chips? Baby, there were three bags in the pantry when I left. Why would you need more?”
“Umm.” She stiffened in his arms.
“What did you eat for dinner last night?” he asked sternly.
“Umm . . . well . . .”
He stood with her in his arms and sat on the edge of the bed with her on his lap, facing him. Grasping her chin, he tilted her face back.
“Baby girl, what did you eat for dinner last night?”
