Kiss Me Goodnight (Love, Daddy 4)

He takes a long breath and holds onto it until he closes his eyes for a moment and lets it go, slowly releasing the tension.

“I’m not sure. But the one thing I do know is this: I would have never let you go. Kiss goodnight or not, you belonged to me, and we were destined to be together.”

“Twenty years later, we would still be celebrating your birthday and our other anniversary. Scratching lottery tickets and wondering who was going to make the first move.”

“Let’s just say, I would have pressed the issue sooner or later. It was just perfect how it began. How every day I wake up and wonder how a fuck like me got so lucky. To be allowed to kiss you goodnight every night...wake up next to you, fucking miracle, babygirl. You are my miracle. You are still my sweet, little girl.”

I flatten my hand on his chest tapping it lightly over his heart. “And you are my Daddy.” I push up and give him a peck on the nose then add, “I think, maybe, I’ll adopt a hedgehog. Maybe start that hedgehog rescue. People are idiots, right? They get a pet then think they are disposable. We have the space, the money...I can build a giant habitat. Give them a better life. Offer anyone who wants to rehome one free transport to get them here somehow, and I’ll take it from there. Is that stupid?” I scrunch up my face wondering if I’m being a child.

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day, Lamb. Tomorrow, we will start planning. A website, an enclosure. Whatever you need. We can convert the old barn.”

My cheeks warm and he never fails to astonish me.

“Thank you, Daddy. I love you more than the sky loves the sea.”

His lips are on my forehead, then he looks down into my face. Those eyes that look like polished turquoise taking my breath away.

He rubs a finger down my nose then presses it to my lips. “You are my world babygirl. My fucking world.”

With that, we are up, and he picks out a new dress for me and helps me change. We hold hands and are on our way out into the night. Even now, twenty years into our marriage, every night Ace comes to me, puts his hands on my cheeks, and I know exactly what’s coming.

Kiss me goodnight, he says, and I know all is right with the world.

H I S R U L E S

Chapter One

Rueger

“I KNOW WHAT you want,” Lexi half shouts as she approaches me, pointing her order pad in my direction with a smile that lights up my very soul.

You have no fucking idea what I want. If you did, you’d be probably be running.

But I’d be chasing you.

Moe’s is busier than usual today, but even when it’s quiet, it’s loud. Customers shout orders, counter workers shout right back.

I nod and watch the pencil slip from behind her ear to between her fingers, flicking a loose tendril of hair so that it glints in the sunlight. She scribbles down my usual order before spinning on her heel, and without another word, she’s heading toward the kitchen.

The shouting is part of the shtick here.

Moe’s Loud Vegan Deli. The name says it all.

I shift a bit in the hard, wooden chair, trying to keep my growing erection from getting too painful inside my boxers. The lunch line trails right out the door, disappearing beyond the long expanse of windows that cross the front of Moe’s.

My venture capital will do well here. It will be my last handpicked baby before I turn over the reins of my company completely. I’ve got zero worries about making sure our return on our investment pans out on this one.

Even without me to handhold things from here on out, it’s a solid play for a few million and the guidance from my team on the expansion. Fuck, the first time I took a bite of Moe’s portabella and tofu chipotle burger two months ago, I knew I would invest in this little chain of vegan delis, and nothing I’ve seen since has changed my mind.

The day I came here was the day I was sent to meet the young lady who was to be my newest individual sponsorship through my Count On program for low-risk offenders on probation. For each sponsorship, I pick a new state from an old hat that belonged to someone special to me, which I keep in my office. Inside are the remainder of the fifty states I’d written down on folded scraps of yellow legal paper six years ago when I started this.

New geography for each mentee immerses me in their world. Allows me to focus on them and to see life from another perspective. Every city has a soul and a vibe of its own.

My program has been successful for years, with over six thousand mentors across the country. It’s another baby of mine, and that day I was here to meet her.

Little did I know how much my life would change that day.

Lexi Chase.