Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45455 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
“Yes, Sir.” She handed him his phone. “I’ll call Daddy back on my phone.”
“Okay. You call me if you need me, okay?”
She nodded.
Lark gave her a hug. “You can call me too, Kiki. Or any of us. We all love you. You’re one of the family now.”
Kiki swallowed back her emotions and nodded again. “Thank you.”
As soon as she saw them both out and shut and locked the door, she rushed across the room to pull her phone out of her purse. There were a lot of missed calls and texts. Oops.
Her fingers were shaking as she hit facetime to call her Daddy back.
He answered immediately. His brow was furrowed and his hair was a mess from running his fingers through it. He also looked tired. Really tired. Like he’d been up all night. She knew that was her fault. “Hey, Bumblebee.”
She headed back to her room and climbed up on her bed to sit against the headboard, mostly because she needed Spike to comfort her. When she reached over to grab him, he glared at her as if to say “I told you so.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you more about my job, Kiki. I’ve been so wrapped up in working on our relationship that I haven’t taken the time to go into specifics.”
She pursed her lips, keeping the phone in front of her face, being brave.
“I didn’t lie to you, Bumblebee. I am an accountant. But I don’t work for the public sector. I work for a department of the government.”
She frowned.
“That isn’t something I tell many people, Little one. You need to keep it to yourself. Most of the time my job is as boring as you would think. I prepare taxes and work on audits for people, but they are all government employees. They’re often under more scrutiny than the average citizen, and sometimes I get called in to handle a problem. That’s what happened yesterday.”
“Oh.” She felt her cheeks heating. “Why didn’t you call me?” He’d taken the time to prepare meals. Surely he could have taken the time to call her.
“I knew you had a busy schedule at work yesterday, and I didn’t want to disturb you. I figured you might be disappointed when I told you I was leaving and it would have upset your day. But more important, I had intended to land before you got home. I would have called you as soon as you stepped in the door, but my plane was delayed and circled the airport in Chicago for a long time. By the time I was able to call, you never answered me.”
“Oh,” she repeated. She couldn’t help but glance downward.
“I’m so sorry, Bumblebee. This is my fault. I realize now that I should have stopped by the salon instead of just leaving town. Poor judgment on my part.”
A tear escaped to run down her cheek, and she looked back at him as she swiped it away. “I’m sorry too, Daddy. I should have trusted you.”
He smiled at her. “I’m not mad at you, Kiki. I know our relationship took off at warp speed and we moved from barely knowing each other to living together in days. It’s understandable that you would be suspicious and have doubts considering the way I handled things.”
She swiped at more tears, relief flooding her. Sadness and regret too. Her lip trembled as she cried.
“Don’t cry, Bumblebee. You’ll make Daddy cry.”
Her voice shook as she spoke. “You were up all night.”
“Yeah. I was really worried.”
“It was mean of me to jump to conclusions. I was scared and kind of angry.” She drew in a breath. “Mostly I was sad because I’ve fallen in love with you, and I panicked that you weren’t the man I’m in love with.”
His eyes went wide, and then he smiled. “I love you too, Kiki. So much. You’re the most important person in my life. I promise I will never leave town without finding you first and giving you a kiss in the future. Please don’t cry, Bumblebee.”
She tried to sniffle and stop the tears, but it was too hard. When she reached toward the nightstand to get a tissue, her gaze landed on Spike, and she winced.
“What’s wrong?”
Kiki turned her attention back to Daddy. “Spike is mad at me.”
He chuckled.
“He wouldn’t talk to me last night. He didn’t think I should have come back to the apartment. He was giving me the silent treatment.”
“Well, I suspect he heard me on the phone with my boss or even muttering to myself as I packed. He probably knew more than you did.”
She picked him up and hugged him to her chest, kissing him all over his face, when what she really wanted to do was hug and kiss her Daddy. “I’m sorry, Daddy,” she whispered.
“It’s okay, Kiki. I love you. Now, I want you to go back to the house, take a shower, get dressed, and eat the breakfast I left you. Take one of the lunches with you, Bumblebee. Drive carefully.” He lifted a brow.