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“Bed. Close the door.”
She let out the longest, most dramatic sigh he’d ever heard, looking so disgruntled and put out that he huffed out a laugh.
“I guess I’ll just die from dehydration and lack of movement,” she muttered. “And boredom. So much boredom.”
“You’ll be fine.” He folded his arms over his chest, his brow lifting.
“There’s that spanky brow.” She smiled broadly at him.
“Go.” He dropped his head forward, watching her through his brows. She rolled her eyes, and his hand twitched. Sassy little girl. “You woke up begging for a spanking, didn’t you?”
“Nope!” She slammed the door shut, her squeal muffled behind it.
Shaking his head, Jett hurried back to the kitchen, ripping the waffle maker open. How was it somehow burntandraw? How was that even possible? Shouldn’t it be one or the other?
He scrubbed his hands over his face, knowing he’d smeared batter all through his beard. This was a total clusterfuck. Who did he think he was, making fucking waffles?
Scraping the goopy mess into the trashcan and cleaning the spilled batter off the side, he took a deep breath. Waffles were obviously not happening this morning. He looked around, his mind racing. What else could he do?
He pulled open the pantry door, scanning the contents. Nutella. There were strawberries in the fridge. Nutellastrawberries for breakfast? But would that make him the worst Daddy in the world, giving his little essentially candy first thing in the morning?
At the moment, he didn’t know if he cared. He rationalized it by telling himself it was a special occasion, and he was technically giving her fruit. It was just that the fruit was covered in chocolate.
Whatever. It would do. He’d just have to make the rest of the day perfect.
two
. . .
Abbie sat criss-cross applesauce on the bed, staring down at Ottie. “What’s Daddy up to?” she asked the stuffed toy. “He’s being suspicious.” Ottie’s black, beady eyes stared blankly at her, and she nodded. “I agree. Weshouldsnoop.”
After making sure the door was still shut and that she couldn't hear Jett's approaching footsteps on the other side, she raced into the closet, still clutching Ottie in her hand. Dropping to her knees, she crawled around, shoving boxes, shoes, and clothes aside. She paused, grabbing the pack of colored pencils she thought she’d lost.
“So that’s where those went,” she mumbled before tossing them over her shoulder and diving back into her surprise treasure hunt. She didn’t know what she was looking for, but she’d learned the closet was Jett’s favorite hiding spot.
When she first moved in, she’d accidentally discovered Jett’sspecial boxin the back of the closet and found a new set of paints inside. They were super expensive paints, too. Paints she would’veneverbought for herself, but he’d wanted to give her a housewarming gift. It had been really sweet, so she’d put it backwhere she’d found it and pretended to be excited. But she was a terrible liar, so he knew immediately.
She sat back on her knees and twisted her lips to the side. “Big guy learned his lesson,” she muttered grumpily. How unfair was that? It was just plain rude for him to hide a surprise from her.
She knew snooping was bad, like super bad and that she’d probably end up over Daddy’s knee, but she really,reallywanted to know how much chocolate he got her. And if his gift was better than the one she’d gotten him. If it was…she didn’t know what she’d do. Lie and say his gift hadn’t come in yet, and order something ten times better. Yeah, that was a solid plan.
Crawling from the closet, she scanned the bedroom. Where else could he have hidden a gift?
Under the bed!
Duh. Why hadn’t she looked there first?
She crawled forward and dropped her cheek to the wooden floor as she peered underneath. She scanned everything, finding mostly junk. How had so much of her stuff ended up under here? It was like a graveyard of abandoned projects and dust bunnies.
Doubt began creeping in. Maybe he hadn’t gotten her anything. It wasn’t like he was obligated to. They’d just celebrated their first Christmas, and he’d totally spoiled her. It would be selfish to want anything more.
As she pressed her hands flat on the floor to push herself up, something caught her eye. It was too small to be a gift and wasn’t wrapped or in a gift bag, but something inside her screamed that this was it. This was the thing Jett got her. Her gaze slid to the bedroom door before looking back at it.
She really shouldn’t…
It was a small jewelry box, and her heart raced. Was that…no. It couldn’t be. Could it?
Abbie’s heart raced as she moved forward, laying flat on the floor and reaching out. Why would he put it here? Maybe because he thought she wouldn’t look here. Well, that plan backfired on him. But putting jewelry under the bed felt like a bad idea. Like a mistake waiting to happen. Anyone could’ve stumbled across it, not just her.
