Daddy in Disguise (Crescent Cove 7)

“Nope. No renegging.”

I twisted my wet towel. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

“Dad, I don’t need you to carry me.”

“Indulge me.” He hooked Dani onto his hip, her long legs dangling even with Gideon’s height. “Say thank you to Macy.”

“Thanks for watching me. Even if I don’t need a babysitter.”

I tried to hide my smile. I understood how it was to want to be grown up before your time. I’d been the same to try to make things easier on my mom. “You’re welcome.”

“I’ll see you later.”

I rushed ahead of them to open the door. “Right.”

Dani waved at me then at Trick, who’d reappeared to wind around my ankles. “

Bye Trick.”

With one more smile over his shoulder, Gideon disappeared down the hallway to stairs.

I looked down at my cat. She was obviously contemplating a trip after them. Before she could dash, I scooped her up and closed the door. “We are taking a nap.”

Trick’s green eyes were unreadable, but she seemed amenable. Five minutes later, were were all piled in my bed—Isis had joined the party now that the enemies had left the field. I’d traded my robe for an old Garfield nightshirt and blinked out before my head hit the pillow.

Ten minutes later, Rylee was shaking my shoulder. At least it felt like it. “There better be blood or fire involved.”

“What?” Rylee hopped on my bed.

“Why are you waking me up?” I pulled the pillow over my head. It was so hard for me to actually sleep, but the fact that I’d blinked out half a second after Gideon left did not bear scrutiny.

Nope. Not at all.

“Uh, you have a date?”

“So.” I lifted the pillow to look at my bedside clock. “I have two hours. Go away.”

“Nope. I’m here to girlify you.”

“I’ve been dressing myself for a long time. I’m good.”

She smacked my ass. “Nope. We’re going to go with something a little more impressive than a rude T-shirt and yoga pants.”

I sat up with a groan. “I have a nice ass. Yoga pants work.”

“Jeans work better.”

“Jeans are binding.” I yawned and pushed my tangled hair out of my face. Sleeping while it was wet was never a good idea.

Rylee put her hands on her hips. “I have more work to do than I thought.”

“Gee, thanks.”

She grabbed her ocean-liner of a purse off the end of the bed. “Let’s get to work.”

“God, kill me.”

“Nope, we’re going to kill Gideon instead.”