Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 170878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Those acts were even better in real life than in my wildest fantasies, if that was to be believed.
And engaging in those acts resulted in me being where I was now. In bed. With Beau. In view of Clara, who up until that moment had only seen me and her father either barely speaking or weirdly dancing around each other. The shock it must’ve been to her system had guilt flooding mine.
My instinct was to move, go back in time, preferably. To make more adult decisions to protect this little girl.
As if reading my mind, Beau’s arm tightened around me, stopping me from moving. His body lurched forward, leaning over to lift Clara into bed with us.
I quickly moved to accommodate her; my heart melted when she snuggled into my arms without hesitation. As though we did that every morning. As if it wasn’t a huge change to her world, her routine.
Clara was easy with affection to those she trusted and loved. Something I’d marveled at, how she’d curl up with me on the couch, hold my hand, kiss Beau unprompted.
Though I wasn’t surprised, given my short, intimate relationship with Beau, he was freely affectionate with me. He hadn’t kept his hands off me since I’d initiated contact on the sofa.
“Hannah is going to be sleeping in my bed from now on. Do you know what that means?” Beau ran his fingers through his daughter’s messy hair.
My breath caught at him stating it so plainly, casually. As if it were going to be this way forever.
“Fuck, I love you, Hannah.”
He’d told me he loved me last night. I had not imagined that. He loved me and he was telling his daughter I’d be sleeping there, in his bed, in his room from now on.
I could not deal with such intense feelings a minute after waking up.
Clara looked up at me. “It means you guys are … kissing!” she exclaimed with glee. “Is Daddy your boyfriend now?”
I pursed my lips to hide my smile at her joy, my gaze darting to Beau.
I waited for it to come, for that harshness to change his features, the shuttering of his expressive eyes. Regret. But it didn’t. His eyes danced with warmth that filled me from the inside out.
“Yes, it means Hannah is my girlfriend,” He spoke so matter-of-factly, like he was telling her the sky was blue. As if he didn’t just drop a meteor onto my world.
When Clara glanced at me, I expected a grin. She frowned instead, and my heart sunk. This wasn’t what she wanted. Of course, it wasn’t. She’d already had so much turmoil, uncertainty in her short life. More change would scare her.
“But you’ll still look after me, right?” she clarified. “Not look after Daddy?”
I smothered a chuckle at the somber way she was saying it. “You think a girlfriend is someone who takes care of their boyfriend?”
She nodded, her bottom lip wobbling.
“Who the fuck told you that shit?” Beau snarled.
All of his carefree morning softness was instantaneously replaced with the familiar alpha-male short temper. It used to grate on my skin like razor blades. Now that I was tucked safely in bed with him, it only served to send delicious tendrils of warmth between my thighs.
“Bobbie from the playground,” Clara replied, not perturbed by her father’s ire. “He wanted me to be his girlfriend, and that meant I had to take care of him, share my snacks.”
“Bobbie is getting a fucking talking to,” Beau snapped, eyes like fire. Like he was plotting the demise of a five-year-old.
“What did you say to Bobbie?” I asked, giving Beau a shake of my head.
“I told him no.” Clara threaded her fingers through mine. “I don’t need to take care of a boy. I’ve got too much going on. And I have the best snacks. I’ll share them if I want to, not because some boy tells me to.”
The warmth in my lower body spread throughout me. Utterly different to how I’d felt in bed with Beau alone, but so wonderful it made me want to burst into tears. I was so proud of who Clara was, so infinitely lucky that I got to know her, got to hold her hand in bed and listen to her.
But I could not burst into tears right then.
“You go, girlfriend.” I held out my knuckles, which she bumped against hers. “And to answer your question.” I pulled her in tighter. “I absolutely will still be taking care of you.”
That was not something Beau and I had explored at length last night. We’d established that I’d stay here, in his bed, apparently. That we’d be having sex. But would he still be paying me? What about the bomb he’d dropped about his ex-wife dying? How and when would Clara learn about that? Yeah, that needed a little more straightening out.